1527 |
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes
the first European to explore North America and leave a written
record. |
1598 |
Spain plans permanent missions,
military posts, towns, and ranchos in New Mexico |
1632 |
The Zuni pueblo of Hawiku revolts
against Spanish colonialis; it is followed by the Hopi pueblo
of Awatovi in 1633 and the Taos pueblo in 1639 |
1680 |
Pope leads a major revolt against
Spanish colonialism in New Mexico, expelling the Spanish for
a dozen years |
1700 |
Spanish settlement of Arizona
begins |
1716 |
Spanish settlement of Texas begins |
1769 |
Spanish settlement of Alta California
begins; the first California mission is built |
1781 |
The Yuma revolt expelling all
Spanish missions from Arizona |
1810 |
Mexico's struggle for independence
against Spain begins |
1821 |
Mexico wins its independence from
Spain; William Becknell opens the Santa Fe Trail, tying the Southwest
to the United States |
1825 |
Mexico gives land to American
land agents who bring settlers to Texas |
1834 |
The California Indian population
falls to just 100,000; the Mexican government begins to confiscate
California mission properties and exiles Franciscan friars |
1835 |
The Texas Revolution begins |
1842 |
Mexico twice attempts to invade
Texas |
1845 |
Magazine editor John L. O'Sullivan
uses the phrase "Manifest Destiny" to describe American
expansion; the United States annexes Texas; the U.S. offers Mexico
$5 million to recognize the Rio Grande river as Texas' southwestern
boundary, $5 million for New Mexico, and $25 million for California |
1846 |
The Mexican War begins |
1847 |
Disaffected Mexicans and Pueblo
Indians in Taos, New Mexico, stage an unsuccessful revolt |
1848 |
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
ends the Mexican War; gold is discovered in California |
1853 |
Through the Gadsden Purchase,
the United States acquires 30,000 acres in southern Arizona and
New Mexico from Mexico |
1859 |
Juan N. Cortina leads a raid on
Brownsville, Texas |
1861 |
Congress creates Colorado territory
out of New Mexico |
1862 |
Congress creates Arizona territory
out of New Mexico |
1884 |
Helen Hunt Jackson publishes Ramona |
1894 |
The Alianza Hispano-Americana
is founded in Arizona |
1903 |
Mexican beet workers carry out
a successful strike in Ventura, California |
1911 |
The Mexican Protective Association
is founded in Texas, and becomes one of the first successful
Mexican American agricultural unions |
1920 |
Over two years, nearly 100,000
Mexicans are shipped across the border or forced to leave voluntarily |
1929 |
LULAC is formed in Corpus Christi,
Texas, from three earlier Texas organizations; the U.S. government
requires Mexicans to obtain visas to enter the country |
1930 |
Repatriation of 400,000 Mexicans
and Mexican Americans begins |
1942 |
Bracero program begins, providing
for Mexican laborers to enter the United States as short-term
contract workers; the program ends in 1964; Sleepy Lagoon incident
in Los Angeles |
1943 |
Zoot Suit Riots take place in
Los Angeles |
1947 |
Mendez decision prohibits school
segregation on the basis of Mexican descent |
1950 |
"Operation Wetback"
begins to deport undocumented workers |
1966 |
Cesar Chavez forms the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee |
1968 |
Chavez initiates a grape boycott |
1970 |
National Chicano Moratorium to
protest the Vietnam War |
1974 |
Two Mexican Americans are elected
to governorships, Jerry Apodaca in New Mexico and Raul Castro
in Arizona |
1986 |
The Immigration and Reform Act
prohibits hiring undocumented aliens and proclaims an amnesty
for those in the country since 1982 |
1994 |
California Proposition 187 would
prevent undocumented immigrants from using public services |