Te Pretenders: An account of the frst Europeans who sought Nuevo México Samuel Temkin* Unpublished —————— *Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University Nearly sixty years after Francisco Vazquez Coronado ended his discovery expedition through the lands then known as Cíbola, Don Juan de Oñate and his colonizers arrived in Nuevo México, a province of New Spain. 1 It was not diffcult for them to fnd that province; other European groups had gone there during the previous ffteen years. On the other hand, he had to wait for more than three years before Philip II approved his appointment as its frst Governor and General Captain. Although Oñate was the frst to receive that honor, he was not the frst to seek it. Since the re-discovery of those lands in 1580 by a small group led by Fray Agustín Rodríguez and Captain Juan Sánchez Chamuscado, several other individuals had wanted to “discover, pacify, and settle” them. This three-fold purpose was the stated goal of the Crown regarding new discoveries in the New World. However, for one reason or another the king denied or ignored the requests of several Spaniards before granting Oñate’s. The process by which Philip II selected the frst governor of Nuevo México lasted many years and involved four viceroys, one of whom served two separate terms. During that period, at least ten individuals expressed interest in that province: fve petitioned the viceroy of New Spain, four approached the king directly, and one thought he did not need permission to colonize it. Although the names of these individuals are known, only the efforts by the last two who sought the award have been considered in detail; 2 those of others have been given only cursory attention or have been portrayed incorrectly. Also disregarded is the fact that their efforts were not independent, but affected each other, sometimes in a destructive manner. The present study considers the salient points about the efforts of these individuals to be awarded Nuevo México. Several observations and clarifcations emerge from the study.