Juan de Onate was born in 1550 in Zacatecas City, Mexico and he died on 3rd June 1626 (aged 76 years) in Seville, Spain. Juan de Onate established the colony of New Mexico for Spain. His request to conquer and govern New Mexico was approved in 1595 but his expedition started only three years later. This became one of Spain’s most important outposts and he was named the governor. Juan de Onate was considered a failure by his monarch because the colony did not prosper and the natives revolted. He spent a lot of time looking for the riches in North America which did not exist and ended up exploring what is now the south western United States.
Do you know: Juan de Onate was married to the grand-daughter of Hernan Cortes, the famous explorer and the great-grand daughter of the Aztec King.
