Belén

The panel's genízaros were Native people taken captive, ransomed or traded into Hispanic households and raised as servants, who could gain land by settling the frontier. Captain Diego de Torres led thirty-four petitioners from Santa Cruz to the grant made on November 15, 1740, and the panel's settlers from Albuquerque are not the record's. In 1746 two genízaros, Antonio Casados and Luis Quintana, sued Torres and his partners, arguing that the Belén lands belonged to a pueblo formed for genízaros. Nothing came of the suit, and the genízaro families were absorbed into the town.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Belén On the Camino Real Population 5,617 - Elevation 4,800 By the mid-18th century, Spanish colonization had begun along the Río Grande south of Albuquerque. The Belén land grant was made to encourage this expansion, and colonists from Albuquerque settled here around 1740. The early com- munity also included a group of genízaros, or Hispanicized Indians. Belén is Spanish for Bethlehem.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Belén — 0.3 mi
• Camino del Llano — 3.3 mi
• Tomé — 4.1 mi
• Nina Otero-Warren (1881-1965) — 7.3 mi