Hispanos of New Mexico

The descendants of these New Mexican settlers make up an ethnic community of more than 340,000 in New Mexico, with others throughout the historical Spanish territorial claim of Nuevo México. Alongside Californios and Tejanos, Neomexicanos are part of the larger Hispano community of the United States, who have lived in the American Southwest since the 16th century. These groups are differentiated by time period from the population of Mexican Americans that arrived after the Mexican–American War and later Mexican Revolution. They also differ genetically in their indigenous heritage, as Mexican Americans tend to be more related to Mesoamerican groups, whereas New Mexicans are more often related to Oasisamerican indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}


Neomexicanos speak New Mexican English, Neomexicano Spanish, or both bilingually. Culturally they identify with the culture of New Mexico, practicing Pueblo Christianity,^[10][11] and displaying patriotism in regional Americana through pride for cities and towns such as Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Further cultural expression includes New Mexican cuisine and music, as well as Ranchero and US Route 66 cruising lifestyles.^[12]


Hispanos identify strongly with their Hispanic heritage, and have pride for their varying levels of Spanish and Indigenous ancestry, and are focused on their aforementioned New Mexican identity.^[13] Exact numbers for the population size of New Mexican Hispanos is difficult, as many also identify as Mexican Americans (with a small minority identifying with the Chicano movement) or Spanish Americans.^[14]


For most of its modern history, New Mexico existed on the periphery of the viceroyalty of New Spain (1598—1821) with its capital in Mexico City, and later independent Mexico (1821–1848). However, it was dominated by Comancheria politically and economically from the 1750s to 1850s. Due to the Comanche, contact with the rest of the Spanish empire was limited, and the settlers developed closer trading links with the Comanche than the rest of New Spain. In the meantime, some of the colonists coexisted with and intermarried with Puebloan peoples and Navajos, enemies of the Comanche.^[15]


New Mexicans of all ethnicities were commonly enslaved by the Comanche and Apache of Apacheria, while Native New Mexicans were commonly enslaved and adopted Spanish language and culture. These natives, called Genízaros, served as house servants, sheep herders, and in other capacities in New Mexico including what is known today as Southern Colorado well into the 1800s. By the late 18th century, Genízaros and their descendants, often referred to as Coyotes, comprised nearly one-third of the entire population of New Mexico.^[16][17] After the Mexican–American War, New Mexico and all its inhabitants came under the governance of the English-speaking U.S., and for the next hundred years, English-speakers increased in number. By the 1980s, more and more Hispanos were using English instead of New Mexican Spanish at home.^[12][18]