Supply of Franciscan missions in New Mexico

[1] Oñate pioneered the route called the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road of the Interior) which would be the lifeline of the colony of New Mexico for more than 200 years.

With Oñate were 10 Franciscan friars led by Alonso Martinez who would attempt to Christianize the Puebloan people residing in New Mexico.

[2] Despite deaths and departures, the number of Franciscans in New Mexico increased to 46 in 1631, including 35 friars and 11 lay brothers.

[5]) In 1609, influenced by the favorable report of progress in Christianization, Spain accepted responsibility for supplying the New Mexican missions, the costs to be paid by the government of New Spain in Mexico City, thereby formalizing a system of regular supply of goods and personnel for New Mexico's Franciscan missions and missionaries.

However, the viceroy was concerned about excessive costs of the supply which in 1629 totaled 81,000 pesos (about 2 million dollars in 2023 silver prices).

The wagons carried back products of New Mexico such as bison hides, salt, piñon nuts, and mantas woven by the Puebloans.

[13] In 1664, as a cost saving measure the supply caravans were put under secular control and the number of wagons sent each three years to New Mexico was reduced to 22.

[14] The supply caravans came to a sudden, albeit temporary, end in 1680 when the Puebloans revolted in New Mexico, killing 400 Spaniards and their Indian allies, including 21 of the 33 Franciscan priests in the colony, and forcing the remaining 2,000 Spaniards and Indian allies to flee to El Paso.

The Franciscan missionaries had lost their enthusiasm for making New Mexico a theocracy and had a more tolerant attitude toward the Puebloan religion and customs.