The Galisteo Basin was a difficult and dangerous area for many centuries, as it served as a buffer between the plains tribes and the Rio Grande pueblos. The Spanish entrada complicated the problem, as the Galisteo Basin lay in the path of El Camino Real. Eventually, the Tano inhabitants gave up their homes and became assimilated with other pueblos. After the reconquest, the Galisteo basin was repopulated with Christianized Indians, birthing the communities that still exist today.
Early explorers visited the Galisteo pueblos, primarily en route to Pecos Pueblo, which dominated the region. The first historical record of the Galisteo pueblos comes from Pedro Castaneda of the Coronado expedition, who described them in 1541 as lying between the Quirix (Queres) province and Cicuye (Pecos), and as being almost depopulated on account of depredations by the Teya, possibly an Apache plains tribe, 16 years previously. Only 3 pueblos are mentioned by Castaneda as located along their route, Ximena (Galisteo), a small, strong village; the Pueblo de los Silos, large but almost deserted; and another farther eastward, abandoned and in ruins. The last mentioned was probably the one called Coquite by Mota Padilla. In addition to these, he mentioned 7 other Tano pueblos in the "snowy mountains," toward Santa Fé.Antonio de Espejo also wrote of the region in 1583, but recorded significantly fewer inhabited pueblos than Castaneda. Although his record is not wholly reliable, this may indicate that the depradations recorded by Castaneda had continued in the interim. Gaspar Castano de Sosa, lieutenant governor of Nuevo Leon, was the first to describe the people of the Galisteo Basin, when he conducted an illegal expedition to the area in December 1590. In 1598, the Oņate expedition stopped at San Marcos pueblo, which remained a popular paraje, or campsite, on the Camino Real for another century. Within 25 years of their arrival, the Spanish had established missions at Galisteo, San Cristobal, San Marcos, and San Lazaro Pueblos. The missions conscripted Tanoan people to make stockings and cloth to trade to the Mexican city of Parral and to Mexico City. Some Tanoans were also sent to Parral to work in the mines. The missions remained active until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when they were sacked and burned. Many of the inhabitants of the San Marcos Pueblo formed refugee communities among the Apache, Navajo, Acoma, and Hopi people.
After Mexico claimed independence from Spain in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail opened for business, skirting the north edge of the Galisteo Basin and connecting New Mexico to the eastern United States through high volume commerce.General Stephen Watts Kearney annexed New Mexico to the United States in 1846 during the Mexican War. The annexation was formalized with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The Civil War came to New Mexico soon after: The Union won the definitive battle of Glorieta at the north end of the Galisteo Basin in 1862, ending the brief Confederate occupation of New Mexico.In 1880, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in Santa Fe via the Galisteo Basin, with a major depot in the village of Lamy. At about the same time, gold, silver, and lead strikes caused a mining boom in the Cerrillos Hills, and the towns of Madrid and Cerrillos flourished. The beef industry also boomed through new markets created by the railroad and the army, bringing renewed vigor to this area of rich grasslands. During the Great Depression, families left Galisteo seeking work, and the Ortiz y Pino family consolidated many small ranchitos.The past fifty years have seen changes as a new wave of migrants -- mostly creative professionals escaping city life -- settled in the all-but-abandoned towns of Cerrillos, Madrid, and Galisteo and in subdivisions that serve as bedroom communities for Santa Fe. Outside of these villages, the Galisteo Basin is mostly still family ranches, and most of the archeological areas lie in part or entirely on private land.
The people of the Galisteo Basin were primarily Tano, or southern Tewa, which refers to a language group that is culturally extinct today. The Tano shared many of the customs and beliefs with other pueblos, but linguistically most resembled Tiwa, Piro, and Jemez. This area has always been a middle ground between the nomadic, buffalo-hunting tribes of the Great Plains, and the sedentary, agrarian tribes of the Rio Grande and Colorado Plateau. The Tanoan language was also related to the language spoken by the Apache and Comanche tribes with whom they both traded and fought. During the pre-ceramic and early Basketmaker periods (AD 400-600 and before), hunters camped in the San Cristobal drainage during fall and winter. Later, people favored tillable areas near permanent water and with nearby mesa-top views, which may indicate the variable nature of their relationship with their Apache neighbors. Although at least one permanent settlement was built beside the Santa Fe River between AD 850 and 950, the population boomed in the Galisteo Basin around AD 1250, and many sites such as Piedra Lumbre, San Cristobal and Pueblo Largo were established. These sites featured rectangular roomblocks built of stone and adobe, and kivas. Pottery found in the area includes Red Mesa Black- on-white, Galisteo Black-on-white, Chupadero Black-on- white, Lino gray and Peņa Blanca gray. San Cristobal was apparently a trade center for a popular glaze ware. The reasons for population growth during this period remain poorly understood.During the two centuries before the Spanish entrada, the population in the Galisteo Basin continued to grow. San Marcos Pueblo became a major trade center for the region, featuring roomblocks around a central plaza where the kivas were also located. Inhabitants constructed an irrigation reservoir.The people of the Galisteo gathered into increasingly large settlements. AD 1425 seems to have been a drought year with particularly scarce resources. The pottery from this period is increasingly colorful and diverse.The Plains Jumano Indians hunted buffalo on the llanos of west Texas and met other hunters from southeastern tribes like the Caddo. They took the buffalo hides, meat, shells, pecans, Osage orange wood for bows, and other products they had obtained through hunting and trade with southeastern tribes to the Pueblos for barter. The Pueblo villages traded mineral pigments, turquoise, other gem stones, salt, textiles, pottery and agricultural products for these items. The Jumano also traded with the Spaniards for their metal items and horses.
After the reconquest, only San Cristobal and San Lazaro were occupied. All the other large Galisteo pueblos were abandoned. Many Tanos were impressed into service by the soldiers, and many others scattered to live with other pueblos elsewhere. In 1695, Don Juan de Vargas seized the remaining pueblo farms. The San Cristobal inhabitants were sent to Chimayo, and the San Lazaro inhabitants were sent to Yunque (San Juan Pueblo).In 1709, Galisteo was resettled with genizaros, or Christianized Indians. Governor Francisco de Cuerbo y Valdes writes, 'I settled the old pueblo of Galisteo with one hundred and fifty Christian Indians of the Tano nation who were found dispersed since the year 1702 and living in other pueblos. very happy in their pueblo entitled Santa Maria de Gracia de Galisteo, and it has been completely rebuilt, and also the church and convento, but there is no minister, church bells, or ornaments.'These genizaros engaged in raising livestock, hunting, and traditional farming. Traders, called 'comancheros,' and buffalo hunters, known as 'ciboleros,' continued the age-old commerce with the Plains tribes. In 1728 a terrible epidemic killed many inhabitants. A smallpox epidemic struck in 1780, halving the population of the once-powerful Pecos pueblo and killing about 5000 Puebloans altogether. The devastation of disease, combined with continued attacks from the Comanches (particularly in 1749, 1751, and 1775), demoralized the remaining population enough that the resettled pueblo was totally abandoned, and the final Tanos relocated to Santo Domingo. After Juan Bautista de Anza negotiated a peace treaty with the Comanche, the Galisteo Basin was eventually reinhabited with Spanish farmers, beginning with Juan Aragon in 1799. An additional 19 families settled there in 1816, and the current village of Galisteo was established.
