Science in Practice Portal

This volume represents a bridge between Colorado's prehistoric past and the time of Anglo-American settlement in our state. Few people realize that hundreds of years before the discovery of gold in Colorado during 1859, a highly developed European civilization had explored and settled the area now known as New Mexico and Colorado. Spanish conquistadors roamed the plains in the mid-1500s. They came here permanently in 1598 and founded the second oldest city in North America. This long cultural heritage was overshadowed when Colorado [and New Mexico] became part of the United States during the mid-1800s.