Oñate served as the first governor of the Nuevo México Province from 1598 to 1610. As governor, he mingled with the Pueblo people and was responsible for the establishment of Spanish rule in the area. He was unable to find any riches, however. Other expeditions had taken place before Oñate's 1598 expedition. Though the Spanish believed that cities of gold such as the ones of the Aztecs, whom they had previously conquered, lay to the north in the unexplored territory, the major goal was to spread Catholicism. The expedition had been authorized by Philip II to survey the region. On July 12, 1598, Don Juan de Oñate Salazar established the New Spain colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico at the new village of San Juan de los Caballeros adjacent to the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo at the confluence of the Río Bravo (Rio Grande) and the Río Chama. See also: Spanish missions in New Mexico 16th century Many of these regions are now US counties and metropolitan areas.
Except for the first decade of the province's existence, its capital was in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the ancient city of La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís ( modern day Santa Fe). Actual Spanish settlements were centered at Santa Fe, and extended north to Taos pueblo and south to Albuquerque. states: western Texas, southern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and the Oklahoma panhandle. It had variably defined borders, and included sections of present-day U.S. Nuevo México was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte): from the crossing point of Oñate on the river south of Ciudad Juárez, it extended north, encompassing an area that included most of the present-day U.S. Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east of Santa Fe: a winter sunset after a snowfall However, it was named by Spanish explorers who believed the area contained wealthy Amerindian cultures similar to those of the Aztec Empire (centered in the Valley of Mexico), and called the land the "Santa Fe de Nuevo México". Nuevo México is often incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The New Mexican citizenry, primarily consisting of Hispano, Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and Comanche peoples, became citizens of the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The name of "New Mexico", the capital in Santa Fe, the gubernatorial office at the Palace of the Governors, vecino citizen-soldiers, and rule of law were retained as the New Mexico Territory and later state of New Mexico became part of the United States. The first capital was San Juan de los Caballeros (at San Gabriel de Yungue-Ouinge) from 1598 until 1610, and from 1610 onward the capital was La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.
Santa Fe de Nuevo México (English: Holy Faith of New Mexico shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. military occupation in September 1846, after the surrender by Mexican interim governor Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid to General Stephen W. While the Mexican territory theoretically existed until the Mexican Cession under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, the New Mexico Territory had been annexed under U.S.