Introduction

This Chapter presents an overview of Juan de Onate’s life. It seeks to present him as more than an evil, failed colonizer or a misunderstood but well-intentioned saint. On the night of January 7, 1998, in the small New Mexico town of Alcalde, just north of Espanola, two individuals approached a bronze statue of Spanish colonizer Juan de Onate and sawed off its right foot. The next day the Santa Fe Reporter received a letter stating the foot was removed on behalf of the Acoma People. The Acoma reservation sits sixty miles west of Albuquerque and the actual “Sky City” pueblo is located fifteen miles from Interstate 40. New Mexico’s tourism economy relies on and heavily emphasizes the state’s ties to Indian cultures, colonial Spain, and Anglo settlers, while it simultaneously downplays the state’s Mexican/American peoples. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.