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Juan Bautista de Anza : the King's Governor in New Mexico

Title: Juan Bautista de Anza : the King's Governor in New Mexico / Carlos R. Herrera.
Author: Herrera, Carlos R., 1961-
Publication: Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, [2015]

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFE 17-632	Schwarzman Building - Milstein Division Room 121

Details

Description

xii, 308 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

Juan Bautista de Anza arrived in Santa Fe at a time when New Mexico, like Spain?s other North American colonies, faced heightened threats from Indians and international rivals. As governor of New Mexico from 1778 to 1788, Anza enacted a series of changes in the colony?s governance that helped preserve it as a Spanish territory and strengthen the larger empire to which it belonged. Although Anza is best known for his travels to California as a young man, this book, the first comprehensive biography of Anza, shows his greater historical importance as a soldier and administrator in the history of North America. Historian Carlos R. Herrera argues that Anza?s formative years in Sonora, Mexico, contributed to his success as a colonial administrator. Having grown up in New Spain?s northern territory, Anza knew the daily challenges that the various ethnic groups encountered in this region of limited resources, and he saw both the advantages and the pitfalls of the region?s strong Franciscan presence. Anza's knowledge of frontier terrains and peoples helped make him a more effective military and political leader. When raiding tribes threatened the colony during his tenure as governor, Anza rode into battle, killing the great Comanche war chief Cuerno Verde in 1779 and later engineering a peace treaty formally concluded in 1786. As the colonial overseer of the imperial policies known as the Bourbon Reforms, he also implemented a series of changes in the colony?s bureaucratic, judicial, and religious institutions. Charged with militarizing New Mexico so that it could contribute to the maintenance of the empire, Anza curtailed the social, political, and economic power the Franciscans had long enjoyed and increased Spain?s authority in the region. By combining administrative history with narrative biography, Herrera shows that Juan Bautista de Anza was more than an explorer. Devoted equally to the Spanish empire and to the North American region he knew intimately, Governor Anza shaped the history of New Mexico at a critical juncture.--Amazon.com.

Alternative Title

King's Governor in New Mexico

Subject

Genre/Form

Biography.
History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-292) and index.

Call Number

JFE 17-632

ISBN

9780806146447
0806146443

LCCN

2014017089
40024569773

OCLC

879329779

Author

Herrera, Carlos R., 1961-

Title

Juan Bautista de Anza : the King's Governor in New Mexico / Carlos R. Herrera.

Publisher

Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, [2015]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-292) and index.

Chronological Term

To 1848

Other Standard Identifier

40024569773

Research Call Number

JFE 17-632

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