who is don juan de onate
oÃate, juan de (ca. 1550â1626). Juan de OÃ±ate, explorer and founder of the first European settlements in the upper Rio Grande valley of New Mexico, son of CristÃ³bal de OÃ±ate and Catalina de Salazar, was born around 1550, most likely in the frontier settlement of Zacatecas, Mexico.