What is a controversial part of this passage? Oñate’s Place in New Mexico History What do New Mexicans think of Don Juan de Oñate? The answer depends on who answers the question. Oñate was a Spanish soldier and conquistador. He was sent to the northern frontier of New Spain in the late 1500s. He established the first Spanish settlements in what is now New Mexico. Yet many think this achievement is tarnished. His treatment of the American Indian people of New Mexico’s pueblos was harsh.

Oñate is an important figure in the state’s history. Statues and portraits of him are common. One such monument is a 12-foot-tall (4 m) statue of Oñate on a horse at a monument near Espanola. For a while in 1998, it was missing a foot.

Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. A large rocky plateau is in the background with a city on top of the plateau. Small green shrubs are in the foreground. The land resembles an airy desert plain. An act of great cruelty centuries ago at this location, Acoma Pueblo, was responsible for a modern-day protest. On a December night in 1997, two American Indian men from a group called the Friends of Acoma visited the statue. They sawed off its right foot in an act of protest. New Mexicans were celebrating the 400th year anniversary of Spanish settlements in the state. For the Hispanic people of New Mexico, it was a joyous celebration of their heritage. For the American Indian people, it was not. It was a celebration of the destruction of their culture.

The removal of the statue’s foot was a call back to an act of great cruelty at Acoma Pueblo in 1599. During December 1598, the people of Acoma killed several Spanish soldiers. The soldiers were under the command of one of Oñate’s men. The Acoma people accused the men of stealing and violating one of the local women. Spanish soldiers returned to the pueblo a couple of months later. They killed several hundred people. Then they burned much of the village. As a last act of punishment, the soldiers cut off the right foot of several young men.

The damage to the statue highlights the conflict over whom history honors. The first Spanish settlers like Oñate were brave. They faced many obstacles and persevered. But they were also quite ruthless. The Spanish conquest of New Mexico came at a cost to the native people. Oñate was even controversial in his own time. The Spanish named him governor of New Mexico, the territory he conquered. But his methods as governor were so brutal that he later was put on trial for them.

Whom should history respect and revere? This question is not unique to New Mexico. Activists damaged a statue of Christopher Columbus in New York City. They recalled his cruelty in the Caribbean. In California, protestors damaged statues of Junípero Serra. Serra was a Spanish friar in the 16th century. He established some of California’s first Spanish settlements. The Spanish missions under Serra destroyed native cultures. They also introduced diseases that killed thousands of people.

The statue of Oñate was repaired. A replacement foot was welded to the statue. But the questions raised by the protest remain. Descendants of the Spanish and the American Indian pueblos have lived side by side in New Mexico for centuries. The people of New Mexico share a unique culture. It honors both rich traditions. But whom history honors and why is still a question New Mexicans debate.