point in 1598 by Juan de Onate in his quest for gold, under the pretense of bringing Christianity to the indigenous peoples. On a side note,
I find it interesting that the indigenous tribes, while never having seen a European, were already quite aware of who and what the early
Spanish Conquistadors were up to, by this time, and had a rough idea who they were, and that they weren't gods. As the unfortunate Onate traveled
Northward, in search of El Dorado, the local indian populations generally said to the effect, "thank you very much for the religion, but the
gold you are seeking is just over that horizon over there." By subterfuge of his translator guide, an enslaved Pawnee Indian from Kansas, Onate
was led on a merry goose chase to central Kansas, some 2,000 miles inland, in the hopes he and his soldiers would perish from starvation and exposure. However easily fooled, he was quite difficult to kill. When he realized that he had been played, he murdered the guide and made the 2,000 mile
return journey (a 4,000 mile round trip), getting revenge where ever he could. Say what one will about his motives, one has to credit him and
his entourage for being exceptionally rugged.
This spot on the Rio Grande River is also claimed to be where the first European horse was introduced to the western United States, then part of
New Spain. Over the ensuing centuries it served as a major European outpost, then home to the U.S. Army, and in 1881 the first entrance point
for the Southern Pacific Railroad into El Paso, which was then a tiny collection of mud huts. The railroad rather changed all that, as it became
a major hub for commerce in and out of Mexico.
Well, I've got this far with it. I am using British inspiration: everything is compressed to fit into a square of 1 metre by 0.8 metres.
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