Three and a half centuries earlier, in 1598, Spanish settlers made a courageous thrust into the inhospitable environment of New Mexico. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish settlement along the upper Rio Grande was a tenuous thread unraveled from a stronger fabric in Mexico. Aridity and extremes in temperatures marked New Mexico's climate. Arable land was scarce and could be extended back from streams only by careful upkeep of the irrigation ditches. Plateaus rose from 1500 to more than 2500 meters in altitude. Building timbers were hard to obtain without roads or navigable rivers. Finally, distance itself was a challenge, sometimes insurmountable for the supply caravans from Mexico. Outfitted over a thousand miles to the south of Santa Fe, the Mexican caravans brought _presidio_ and mission supplies, but few goods for the common settler. By the end of the 18th century, Spanish authorities thought of the northern colonies (_provincias internas_) primarily as missionary fields and military buffer zones.[11] Cultural traditions and an insecure environment caused Spanish colonists to turn to religion for comfort. Again, however, a supply problem arose. Individual _ranchos_ were too scattered for clerical visits, and even settlements that were grouped for greater security, _poblaciones_ or _plazas_, became _visitas_ on little more than an annual basis, sharing two dozen Franciscan clergy with missions assigned to Indian _pueblos_ and Spanish villages. Before 1800, a shortage of friars prompted the Bishop in Durango to send secular clergy into the Franciscan enclave of New Mexico. In 1821 the Mexican Revolution formalized secularization with a new constitution. In brief, the traditional religious patterns of the _Hispanos_ were threatened. They needed reinforcement if they were to survive. By 1850, other conditions in New Mexico endangered the status quo of the Spanish-speaking residents. With the growing dominance of Anglo-Americans in the commercial, military, political, and social matters of Santa Fe, _Hispanos_ recognized the threat of Anglo culture to their own traditional way of life. This cultural challenge turned many _Hispanos_ back in upon themselves for physical and social security and for spiritual comfort. By the second quarter of the 19th century, _penitentes_ were common in _Hispano_ villages such as Abiquiú.[12] The immediate origins of penitentism were clearly present in early 19th-century New Mexico. Despite this evidence, historians of the Spanish Southwest have suggested geographically and culturally remote sources for the _penitentes_. Dorothy Woodward has pointed out similarities between New Mexican _penitentes_ and Spanish brotherhoods (_cofradías_) of laymen.[13] _Cofradías_ were not full church orders like the Franciscan Third Order, but they did conduct Lenten processions with flagellation.