WManuel Antonio Chaves or Chávez, known as El Leoncito, was a soldier in the Mexican Army and then became a rancher who lived in New Mexico. His life was full of incident, and his courage and marksmanship became literally legendary in his own time. In documented history, as an American soldier he helped win the American Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass and was in command during an important fight in the Navajo Wars. As a Mexican soldier he probably negotiated the surrender of a large part of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition.
WDionisio "Dennis" Chávez was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1935, and in the United States Senate from 1935 to 1962. He was the first Hispanic person elected to a full term in the US Senate and the first U.S. Senator to be born in New Mexico.
WA Cibolero was a Spanish colonial buffalo hunter from New Mexico. The Spanish word for buffalo as used in New Mexico is cibolo; hence, the name Cibolero for buffalo hunter.
WThe Hispanos of New Mexico, also known as Neomexicanos, or "Nuevomexicanos" are an ethnic group primarily residing in the U.S. state of New Mexico, as well as the southern portion of Colorado. They are typically variously of Iberian, Criollo Spaniard, Mestizo, and Genízaro heritage, and are descended from Spanish-speaking settlers of the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, which makes up the present day U.S. states of New Mexico, southern Colorado, and parts of Arizona, Texas, and Utah. Neomexicanos speak New Mexican English, Neomexicano Spanish, or both bilingually, and identify with the culture of New Mexico displaying patriotism in regional Americana, pride for various cities and towns such as Albuquerque or Santa Fe, and expressing through New Mexican cuisine and New Mexico music, as well as in Ranchero and U.S. Route 66 cruising lifestyles. Alongside Californios and Tejanos, they are part of the larger Hispano communities of the United States, which have lived in the American Southwest since the 16th century or earlier. The descendants of these culturally mixed communities make up an ethnic community of more than 340,000 in New Mexico, with others in southern Colorado.
WAntonio José Martínez was a New Mexican priest, educator, publisher, rancher, farmer, community leader, and politician. He lived through and influenced three distinct periods of New Mexico's history: the Spanish period, the Mexican period, and the American occupation and subsequent territorial period. Martínez appears as a character in Willa Cather's novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop.
WBernardo de Miera y Pacheco was "perhaps the most prolific and important cartographer of New Spain" as well as an artist, particularly as a Santero. He has been called a polymath, being "proficient in astronomy, cartography, mathematics, geography, geology, geometry, military tactics, commerce, husbandry, oenology, metallurgy, languages, iconology, iconography, liturgy, painting, sculpture and drawing."
WMariano Sabino Otero was a Congressional delegate from the Territory of New Mexico, nephew of Miguel Antonio Otero (I) and cousin of Miguel Antonio Otero (II).
WMiguel Antonio Otero was a prominent American politician of the New Mexico Territory and instrumental in the economic development of the territory.
WPopé or Po'pay was a Tewa religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh, who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule. In the first successful revolt against the Spanish, the Pueblo expelled the colonists and kept them out of the territory for twelve years.
WCeran St. Vrain, born Ceran de Hault de Lassus de Saint-Vrain, was the American son of a French aristocrat who immigrated to the United States in the late 18th century; his mother was from St. Louis, where he was born. To gain the ability to trade, in 1831 he became a naturalized Mexican citizen in what is now the state of New Mexico. He formed a partnership with American traders William, George and Charles Bent; together they established the trading post of Bent's Fort. It was the only privately held fort in the West.
WGaspar Pérez de Villagrá (1555–1620) was a captain and legal officer in the Juan de Oñate expedition that first colonized Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598. Between 1601 and 1603, he served as the Alcalde mayor of the Guanacevi mines in what is now the Mexican state of Durango. He is better known for his authorship of Historia de la Nueva México, published in 1610.