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Show Santa Fe the Oldest City ""j There Is no doubt that St. Augustine Augus-tine Is the oldest settlement of white men in this country, but Santa Fe Is called the oldest city because it was a city before the coming of the whito men. When the Spaniards first made their way to the heart of this country, coun-try, about 1542, the site of the present city of Santa Fe was occupied by a prosperous and populous pueblo (town) of the Indians. The expedition of Alvar Nunez penetrated New Mexico Mex-ico in 1537, that of Marco de Niza followed fol-lowed In 1539 but Coronado is believed to havo been the first to push his jour-noy jour-noy as far as the Canta Fe town. Several Sev-eral other expeditions, more or less unsuccessful, un-successful, entered the country, endeavoring en-deavoring to establish missions among tho natives. These explorers uniformly uniform-ly reported that these people were considerably advanced In civilization, that they manufactured clothing and weapons, built houses of stone several sever-al stories high, and cultivated tho soil vtth diligence, and worked mines of gold and silver. It was not until aliont 1590 that any permanent Spanish settlements set-tlements wero made. The Spaniards then lltorally took possession of tho country, built towns, laid out roads, Increased the commerce of the country, coun-try, and especially Increased the yield of the mines by extensive workings. They literally enslaved tho natives, compelling them to serve them In every ev-ery way. In 1C48 the Spaniards mado Santa Fe tho capital of their new dominions, do-minions, which they called Now Mexico. Mex-ico. Hut the Indians rebelled against their now masters, especially because of the toilsome labor in the mines, and In 1(180 they roso In numbers, massacred massa-cred nearly all or tho oppressors and drove the remainder from the country coun-try as far louth as El Paso del Norte. After several attempts the Spaniards regained possession of the country In 1C98. Santa Fe was a Mexican city until it was taken by the United States under Gen. Kearney In 184G. A Confederate army from Texas captur-i cd tho city March 10, 18G2, but wero forced to evacuate It on April 8, following. |