El Paso's Origins: Spanish Founding, Not Mexican

El Paso was not established by Mexico. The settlement was founded in 1659 by Spanish colonists led by Fray García de San Francisco and Don Juan de Oñate, though Spanish explorers documented Native American settlements in the area as early as 1583. The Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Mansos del Paso del Norte—established at the strategic Rio Grande crossing—became the nucleus of what would grow into modern Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) and El Paso, Texas (USA).

Mexico as an independent nation did not exist until the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821), more than 150 years after El Paso's founding. Following Mexican independence, the settlement became part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, established the Rio Grande as the international boundary, dividing the original settlement into two cities: Ciudad Juárez on the south bank (Mexico) and El Paso on the north bank (United States).

Thus, El Paso's origins are Spanish colonial, its 19th-century history was Mexican, and its modern identity as a U.S. city dates from the mid-19th century border settlement.