High plains rambling

New Mexico is a land of faith. It is as James Salter put it in Solo Faces “The major philosophies were founded in the cold, mostly in Europe. Religions are founded out in the desert. We may lose our minds under this sun, but we’ll find god.” Everyone has a different experience of these things though with the Spanish Conquistador / missionary history it is hard to ignore the big questions out there.

I think this is because of the vast seemingly empty quiet of the high desert. The open desert is actually teeming with life. Less so than the rain forests of the NorthWest but the trained eye finds no shortage of animal tracks and plant life. Carrion birds, jack rabbits, snakes and desert mice all keep busy. The human mind, though, wanders in the desert. Stay out of towns long enough and it changes you. Perhaps best to head back to Santa Fe, where so much of the regional history begins…

Santa Fe was originally inhabited by Pueblo Indians between the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1540 it was claimed by the Spanish. In 1680 the Puebloans grew tired of the Spanish imposition and 400 of 2500 Spaniards were killed in the uprising. For twelve years Europeans abandoned the city because of the violence, though it was eventually re conquered. It would remain Spanish until Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1810. In 1824, Santa Fe had become the capital of Nuevo Mexico, a Mexican province.

In 1846 the U.S. declared war on Mexico. By 1848 an American flag flew in Santa Fe, the newly conquered state’s capital. It remains the oldest capital city in the United States. It is also one of the cities longest occupied by Europeans.

Today, Santa Fe is a peaceful if smallish city of 90,000 or so. It celebrates its cultural history, has derived much of its current relevance from it. The town is still a center for crafts trading though now it is luxury craft more than subsistence items. The baskets, rugs, blankets and jewelery are much the same. The area still serves as a cultural and social lead in the region. After almost five hundred years of European inhabitance, Santa Fe continues to be relevant. Shouldn’t you go see why?