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Pueblo Indian History
History.-Of the pueblo tribes the Zuñi
were the first to become known to civilized people. In 1539 Fray Marcos of Niza,
a Franciscan, journeyed northward from the City of Mexico, accompanied by a
Barbary Negro known as Estevan, or Estevanico, who had been a companion of
Cabeza de Vaca and the two other Spanish survivors of Narvaez's expedition,
shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico in 1528. The Negro went ahead of the friar to
prepare the way, but contrary to instructions reached a province that became
known as the Seven Cities of Cibola, unquestionably identified with the Zuni
villages of west New Mexico, far in advance of Fray Marcos. Here Estevanico,
with some of the Indians who had followed him, was killed by the Zuni. A few
days later the friar viewed from an adjacent height a town identified as
Hawikuh, the first one seen in journeying toward the north east; then planting a
cross and taking formal possession of the new country in the name of Spain, he
hastened back to the City of Mexico, where he presented a glowing report of what
he had seen and heard.
Fired with enthusiasm at the report of riches in the
northern country, the Viceroy Mendoza organized an expedition, under Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado, which, for wealth of equipment and for the prominence of
the men who accompanied it, has never been equaled in the annals of American
exploration. Guided by Fray Marcos of Niza, the expedition departed from
Compostela, Feb. 23, 1540, and reached Culiacan Mar. 28. On Apr. 22 Coronado
departed from the latter place with 75 horsemen, leaving the main force to
follow, and reached Hawikuh, which he named Granada, on July 7. The Indians
showing hostility, the place was stored by the Spaniards and the inhabitants
were routed after Coronado had almost lost his life in the attack. Exploring
parties were sent in various directions-to the Hopi villages of Tusayan, the
Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Rio Grande valley, and the buffalo
plains-no-where finding the expected wealth but always encouraged by news of
what lay beyond. The main army reached Cibola in September, and departed for
Tiguex (the country and chief village of the present Tigua Indians), about the
present Bernalillo, on the Rio Grande, where winter quarters were established.
The natives revolted owing to atrocities committed by the Spaniards, but the
uprising was quelled after a long siege and the killing of many Indians. In the
following April (1541) Coronado started with his entire force, under the
guidance of an Indian nicknamed "The Turk," evidently a Pawnee whom he had found
living among the Pueblos, to explore a province to the far eastward called
Quivira (q. v.). The Spaniards were led astray by the guide, whom they later
executed; the main force was sent back to the Rio Grande, and a picked body
finally reached the buffalo country of east Kansas. In the spring of 1542
Coronado's force started on their return to Mexico. Two missionaries were left
behind-Fray Juan de Padilla, who went to Quivira, and Fray Luis, a lay brother,
who remained at Pecos. Both were killed by the natives whom they expected to
convert. In Coronado's time the Pueblos were said to occupy 71 towns, and there
may have been others which the Spaniards did not enumerate.
The Pueblos were visited successively by several other
Spanish explorers. Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado, in 1581, escorted three
Franciscan missionaries to the Tigua country of the Rio Grande, but they
were killed soon after. Antonio de Espejo, late in 1582, started with a small
force from San Bartolomé in Chihuahua for
the purpose of determining the fateof the missionaries. He traversed the Pueblo
country from the Hopi villages of north east Arizona to Pecos in New
Mexico, and returned to San Bartolomé by way
of Pecos river. Espejo's itinerary is traceable with no great difficulty, and
most of his tribal names are readily identified. His estimates of population,
however, are greatly exaggerated-in some cases at least ten times too large.
Following Espejo, in 1590, was Gaspar Castaflo de Sosa, who with a party of 170
persons followed up the Pecos as far as the pueblo of that name, which is
described as having five plazas and sixteen kivas; the pueblo was provided with
ranch maize, and the pottery and the garments of the men and women aroused
admiration. One of the most important of all the expeditions was that of Juan de
Orate, the colonizer of New Mexico in 1598 and founder of Santa Fe seven years
later; for by reason of it the Pueblo tribes were first definitely influenced by
civilization. Traveling northward, Orate reached on May 22 the first pueblos of
the Rio Grande-those of the Piro in the vicinity of the present Socorro. A party
was sent to visit the pueblos of the Salinas, east of the Rio Grande, and the
main body reached the Tigua country a few weeks later, finding there, at Puaray
village, evidences of the murder of the friars in 1581. Other pueblos were
visited, the natives taking the oath of obedience and homage in each instance,
and several saint names were applied that have remained to this clay. The Pueblo
country was divided into districts, to each of which a priest was assigned, but
little was done toward the founding of permanent missions during Oflate's stay.
The first settlement of the Snaniards was established, under the name San
Gabriel de los Espanoles, on the Rio Grande at the Tewa village of Yukewingge,
at the mouth of the Rio Chama, opposite San Juan pueblo; it remained the seat of
the colony until the spring of 1605, when it was abandoned and Santa Fe founded.
Active missionary work among the Pueblos was commenced early
in the 17th century, and although many baptisms were made by the few resident
friars little was done toward actual conversion. The condition of affairs in
1629 is set forth in the Memorial written by Fray Alonso Benavides, the
custodian of the Franciscan Order in the province, published in the following
year. The appeal of Benavides resulted in the sending of 30 new missionaries and
the founding of many new missions from the Hopi country and the Zuni in the west
to the pueblos of the Salinas in the east Substantial churches and monasteries
were erected with the aid of the natives, and much was done toward
concentrating the Indians with a view of more readily effecting their
Christianization. Toward the middle of the century difficulties arose between
the civil officials and the missionaries, in which the Indians became involved.
Finally the latter, led by a native of San Juan named Pope (q.v.), arose in
revolt in August, 1680, killing 21 of the 33 missionaries, about 375 other
colonists of a total of about 2,350, and destroying the missions, together with
their furnishings and records. Goverror Otermin and the surviving colonists took
refuge in the government buildings at Santa Fe, and withstood a siege by about
3,000 Indians for 10 days, when, after a desperate sortie, the Indians were
forced back with a loss of 300 killed and 47 captured. The prisoners were
hanged, and the next day (Aug. 21) the Spaniards, numbering about 1,000,
commenced their long retreat to El Paso. Evidently in fear lest the Spaniards
should return at any time with a strong force, many of the Pueblos abandoned
their settlements and took refuge in new ones on less pregnable sites, leaving
the former villages to crumble. For 12 years the Pueblos remained independent of
the Spaniards, but not free from dissension among themselves or from
depredations by their old enemies, the Navaho and the Apache. In 1692 Diego de
Vargas reconquered the province after severely chastising many of the natives
and destroying some of their towns. Of all the pueblos of New Mexico at the
beginning of the revolt (at which time there were 33 active missions, while
others were mere visitas) only Acoma and possibly Isleta continued to occupy
their former sites after the conquest. In 1696 some of the Pueblos once more
rebelled, killing several missionaries, but they surrendered after having been
again severely punished by Vargas. From this time the Pueblos have been notably
peaceful toward the whites, the only exception being in Jan. 1847, when the Taos
Indians, instigated by some misguided Mexicans, killed Gov. Charles Bent and
some other Americans and took refuge in their fortified town and mission church,
which were stormed by troops with a loss to the Indians of about 150 killed
outright, while a number were later tried and hanged.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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