Across the Northern Frontier: Spanish Explorations in Colorado

by Phil Carson

Book Overview

In lean, swift-moving prose, Across the Northern Frontier chronicles the compelling adventures of the Spaniards who ventured north from colonial New Mexico into the unknown, and their contacts and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555662161
• ISBN13: 9781555662165
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Bower House
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Good Book On Early Colorado History

Good book about The Spaniards in Northern New Mexico and what is now Colorado...Well researched...great writing...cool pictures...the only Juan de Ulibarri map I have ever seen too!!!

Spanish New Mexico's Frontier Examined

This book interested me if only because it described an under appreciated facet of American history: Spanish occupation of the Southwest and her attempts to understand and defend the frontier.Carson's "Across the Northern Frontier..." examines chronologically the period of first Spanish and then Mexican domination of the lands centered on Santa Fe, the principal outpost in the province. It is largely a tale told through the adventures of governors and explorers. For three centuries the Spanish had an uneasy hold on the area. It was far away from present day Mexico, the hub of Spanish domination of the region. Spain wanted New Mexico first to satisfy its appetite to forever expand. Later, the region was seen as a buffer against the many tribes to the north and later still against encroaching French and English (later Americans). Life and occupation were hard. Numerous Indians lived in the region. Settled farmers in pueblos that predated Spanish settlements as well as roaming plains/desert and mountain tribes who dominated the outlands. The first were easier for the Spanish to dominate because of their fixed location. Sometimes allies, sometimes in rebellion, the pueblo Indians had an uneasy relationship among the colonists. They also provided the man power for agriculture, commercial enterprises and armed militia. The plains Indians, although in some periods in commercial or military alliance with the Spanish against other tribes, were generally an over the horizon threat that had to constantly be guarded against or actively punished in order to maintain a somewhat secure area around greater Santa Fe.The book focuses on forays made by the Spanish over three centuries to "Colorado" (the name used to describe the area above Santa Fe and beyond -- much larger than the present day state). Some of these forays involved exploration, trail-blazing or trade. Most, however, involved a military interest -- either retaliating or punishing plains tribes who made war on the colony or showing strength in the hopes that plains tribes would fear the wrath of Spain more than the entreaties of French trappers and traders who mingled with native peoples to the north.This is an interesting book - principally because I had only the most general understanding of this history. The book does have sort of an adventure/exploration quality to it as foray after foray into relatively unknown and completely natural areas of present day Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Oklahoma are examined. The book does stick to it's mission -- the focus is on these outward thrusts of the colony. Administration, Indian relations and everyday life are sketched over, usually as they relate to the security concerns of the area and it's ability to survive as one of the "furthermost outposts of Christiandom" as it was described by many of the Spanish.