and was banished from New Mexico forever.
Only exaggerated reports of mass religious
conversions convinced Spain to maintain
New Mexico as a colony, leaving some of
Oñate’s legacy intact.
LA SALLE’S THREAT
During the late 1600s, a period of uncertainty
about the fate of New Mexico, Spain faced
threats elsewhere, inspiring exploration of
lands it had claimed as part of its empire for
more than a century. France was Spain’s chief
nemesis, especially in the person of René-
Robert Cavelier, better known by his aristo-
cratic title, sieur de La Salle.
In1682 La Salle had canoed down the
Mississippi River from Illinois to the Gulf of
Mexico, claiming the countryside for France
as a territory he named in honor of the
French king, Louis XIV—LaLouisiane,now
known as Louisiana. La Salle returned to
France in 1683 and proposed to establish a
fort at the mouth of the Mississippi River,
from which to challenge Spain, perhaps to
invade New Spain itself. Apartfrom the
ongoing rivalry between the two nations, La
Salle’s idea appealed to the French because
of his mistaken assumption that the Missis-
sippi was close to the rich silver mines of
Zacatecas. When Spain declared war on
France in October 1683, Louis XIV approved
the operation. By the time La Salle departed
with a force of 280 on August 1, 1684, how-
ever, the war was over and royal support for
the venture was withdrawn.
La Salle sailed anyway, but was unable to
find the mouth of the great river he had pre-
viously descended. When his four ships
reached the Gulf of Mexico in late December,
his faulty calculations took them west of the
Mississippi to the barrier islands of the Texas
New Mexico and the Gulf Coast B 139