A Painting from

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• The Pueblo people are an indigenous Indian tribe that lived in the deserts located in the Southwest region of the United States or the Rio Grande Valley. There name means “village” in Spanish and the main tribes are the Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, and Taos but there are others that are listed on the map to the left.

• The Pueblo people believed in the natural forces, such as the earth and animals, and felt connected to these things spiritually. They had their own set of beliefs long before the Spanish conquistadors had arrived and brought Christianity with them. Their identity were intimately related to their religion.

• The Spanish imposed their will

and the encomienda system on

the Pueblo people which forced

them to become laborers for the

colonists. Despite these

negatives, they also brought along

some advancements in

agricultural techniques and

provided protection from rival

tribes such as the Apache and

Navajo as a positive.

• As a result of these factors they

lived in relative peace until 1680.

The Pueblo people took in

Christianity but still practiced their

own beliefs and traditions.

• There was a drought and famine during the 1670’s in the Pueblo region which resulted in more raids and attacks from local nomadic tribes. Now that life had a turn for the worse and the ruling Spanish colonists were not able to protect them from these conditions it caused a stir and antagonized the Pueblo people.

• A combination of not holding up their end of the deal and the forced labor on their encominendas it caused a very volatile situation ready to explode.

• Along with these factors, the Franciscan missionaries started to become hostile towards the Pueblo people’s traditions and idols. Once this sentiment of intolerance overtook the missionaries the seed of revolt was planted because their religious beliefs were sacred to them and important to their identity.

• The incident of 1675 where the Governor Juan Francisco Trevino had 47 Pueblo medicine men arrested for practicing witchcraft caused the Pueblo leaders to react and sent forces to Santa Fe to free their brothers. Among these was one of the leaders of the revolt, Pope.

• Pope and a number of other Pueblo leaders are credited for the planning of the timed attack. Based on a rope that was delivered by a runner, sent by Pope, to each tribe which was tied in knots. Each knot signified a day and once the last knot was untied it was time to begin the revolt. The original date of the attack was supposed to be on August 11, 1680 but because of captured intelligence of the attack it forced it to take place on August 10, 1680.

• Statue of Pope

• They killed twenty-one of the province's forty Franciscans, and

another three hundred and eighty Spaniards, including

men, women, and children. Eventually the Governor of New Mexico

and around 3,000 settlers left and the Pueblo people had control of

their lives again.

• It was a chance for the Pueblo people to live as they once

did, without the influence of colonial rule for a short period. The re-

conquest of this region would happen in July 1692 and along with it

their religion. But this time they were more tolerant of the Pueblo’s

traditions and promised not to try and eradicate it any longer.

• Now we can see that the ancestors of the Pueblo people today in

Southwestern United States region has a mixture of both Catholic

religious practices and their original Pueblo traditions. Both entities

have found a way to live in peace and acceptance of each other’s

differences.

• The fact that the Spanish threatened to eradicate the traditional practices of Pueblo life was the main cause for the revolt. It is a common theme that when a more advanced civilization brings a better quality of life to a more primitive people it is usually met with acceptance. This event explains the history of the people of this region and how they are a people of mixed traditions. We have learned that many of the Latin countries are like the Pueblo’s because they are all a mixture of European and Indian blood and have adopted Catholicism in their lives while still trying to hold onto their original beliefs, if possible. The Pueblo people can be viewed as fortunate because they were able to fight to keep their beliefs and were successful; the Mayans and Aztecs can’t say the same.