In 1776, two Spanish Friars led a team of 10 men throughout the American Southwest and covered more ground unknown to Europeans than even Lewis & Clark. Their goal was to reach California. In this episode of The American Southwest Podcast, I lay the groundwork for the expedition and cover some history of the Spanish Southwest up to that point, and especially since the reconquest of New Mexico.

This episode of the American Southwest Podcast is the 3rd in the series about the Spanish and the Native American inhabitants of the region and specifically about the 1692 Reconquest of the Territory of New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. I discuss the battles, the peoples, and most importantly, the Spanish leader of the Reconquest, a Spaniard named Don Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon y Contreras. The last male descendant in the Noble Vargas line of Madrid.

This episode of the American Southwest Podcast is the 2nd in the series about the Spanish and the Native American inhabitants of the region and specifically about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. I discuss Popay, Poseyemu, Otermín, the revolution, and the first few Spanish attempts at retaking the territory. It's chock full of great stuff about everyone involved using as much of the record that's been preserved for us.

This episode of the American Southwest Podcast is the 1st in the series about the Spanish and the Native American inhabitants of the region and specifically about the Spanish Discovery, Exploration of, & Conquering of the territory of New Mexico and the lands adjacent. I discuss Esteban, Coronado, The Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, The Last Conquistador that is Oñate, The Puebloans, the Church, & a whole lot more. It also sets up the factors and reasons behind the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which will be covered in the next episode. This is a long one, but it’s exciting, engaging, and chock full of Land of Enchantment history, stories, quotes, & more.

This episode of the American Southwest Podcast is the 8th in the series about the original Native American inhabitants of the region and specifically about the Puebloans of the Rio Grande Valley, Zuni, Hopi Mesas, and others after the Anasazi Civil War and the Great Migration at the end of the 13th Century. The episode begins by defining the region as the Spanish would have seen it, despite the episode covering the time period spanning hundreds of years before that. It covers the migration of tens of thousands of Ancestral Puebloans out of the Mesa Verde Region and into the area around modern day Santa Fe, with a few stragglers heading to Jemez, Hopi, and Zuni. Expansion, starvation, war, art, migration, language, the boom and bust cycle of the pueblo, belief systems, and the Kachinas are all discussed. I hate to say this is an in-between episode… but it’s sort of a Epilogue to the Anasazi Civil War and Migration and Prologue to the coming Pueblo Revolt Episode. But I assure you there is enough exciting, interesting, intriguing, and engaging topics in this episode to be an over 2 hour standalone episode by itself. Again, calling it an in-between is really doing the piece a disservice. I know y’all will enjoy this in-depth study of the amazing people of the Puebloan world and their beliefs and history.

This episode of the American Southwest Podcast is the 7th in the series about the original Native American inhabitants of the region and specifically about the migration of the Anasazi from the Four Corners region after the Anasazi Civil War down the Chaco Meridian to Northern Mexico and beyond. It discusses their interactions with the local Sinagua, Mogollon, Salado, Hohokam, and Paquime peoples they come into contact with and the destruction of burned pueblos, corn, and humans that they leave in their wake. It also discusses the possible origins of the Anasazi and the possible final iterations of that mysterious group of people after the Spanish arrive.