In 1680, Pueblo Natives in the Southwest Launched the First Successful, Although Short-Lived, American Revolution

After enduring more than a century of suppression, the Indigenous tribes of modern-day New Mexico united to expel the Spanish colonists from their lands

Early humans inhabited what is now New Mexico for over 12,000 years as evidenced by the man-made Clovis point stone tools, arrow and spear heads unearthed from the Paleolithic period. The Pueblo people are believed to be descendants of the Anasazi ("the ancient ones"), Hohokam and Mogollon cultures, and live in one of the oldest continually inhabited regions in North America. In prehistory, they lived in cliffside fortresses as well as communities on top of mesas and in the open desert in multi-storied housing made of timber, clay, straw and stone. As many as 100 Pueblo villages spanned throughout what is now New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

In 1540, the first European expedition into present-day New Mexico was led by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, who was motivated by stories of the legendary Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. During his expedition, the Tiguex War was fought with some of the Tiwa Pueblos, which started the demise of Pueblo and Spanish relations. After two years of searching for the Golden Cities with no results, Coronado returned to New Spain (Mexico) without establishing permanent settlements.

In 1598 Juan de Oñate revisited the upper Rio Grande valley of what is now New Mexico, led by 129 soldiers, 10 catholic priests, and colonizers, to begin the establishment of multiple Spanish settlements. During Oñate’s occupation, the new Spanish occupiers sought land, labor and food from their sophisticated agriculture and attempted impose religious control over the Pueblo people who followed their traditional religious practices. Realizing that their way of life was being disrupted and overrun, small skirmishes of rebellion occurred from individual Pueblo villages.

In 1599, 70 Spanish soldiers were ordered to the clifftop village of Acoma Pueblo to punish the Pueblo inhabitants for killing 12 soldiers. After two days of battle, many Acoma were slain. In addition, approximately 600 Acoma men, women and children were captured and enslaved. From these captives, 25 Acoma men were selected to have one foot cut off as punishment for crimes against the Spanish Crown. News of the Ácoma Massacre  spread throughout all the pueblos, instilling anger among villagers. In addition, Franciscan missionaries established Catholic churches in several of the Pueblo villages, Christianizing the Natives while abolishing their traditional worship practices under the protection of armed Spanish soldiers. From 1656 to 1665, Franciscan missionary leader Alonso de Posada forbid traditional ceremonies by the Pueblo people and ordered the Spanish missionaries to invade the sacred Pueblo kivas (dwellings of spiritual worship), burn their masks and confiscate or destroy their sacred objects.

Additional attempts of rebellion were met with severe reprisals targeting medicine men and spiritual leaders. In 1675 Juan Francisco Treviño, Spanish Governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, ordered the arrest of 47 medicine men for practicing sorcery. Four of them were sentenced to death by hanging; in the end, three were hanged and one committed suicide. The remaining spiritual leaders were humiliated and publicly whipped before being sent to prison. When news reached the pueblo villages, they organized and travelled to Santa Fe to demand the release of the remaining prisoners. The Spanish complied. Among those released was a leader from Ohkay Owingeh a Tewa Language phrase meaning “Village of the Strong People.” His name was Po'pay. 

Upon his release, Po'pay sought refuge in the northernmost Taos Pueblo, to plan a united and synchronized revolt of Pueblo villages. The Towa, Tiwa, Tewa,  Tano and Keres language-speaking pueblos, as well as Zuni, Hopi and even some Apache pledged their support. Integral to the revolt, Po'pay sent runners carrying knotted ropes to the distant villages. A knot was unraveled each day until all the knots were gone, to synchronize the revolt. The day all the knots were untied signaled the time to begin the revolt, which was set for August 11, 1680. On the morning of August 8, Pedro Omtua and Nicolas Catua, two young runners from Tesuque Pueblo, meaning “village of the narrow place of the cottonwood trees” in the Tewa Language, set out for Tanogeh (Tano villages) with the ropes. The first pueblo they reached was Pecos. Upon their departure from Pecos, Christian Indians informed Franciscan missionary leader Fernando De Velasco that two Tewa messengers had visited the war chief's house.

On August 9, the Spanish captured Pedro Omtua and Nicolas Catua and tortured them to make them reveal the significance of the knotted cord. Learning of their capture, Po'pay ordered the revolt to begin a day early. The Hopi villages located in what is now Arizona did not receive the advance notice. On August 10, the Ohkay Owingeh began their revolution by attacking Spanish settlements. When they were finished, approximately 400 people were killed, including 21 of the 33 Spanish priests in Nuevo México. Tusayan (Hopi) Christian churches at Oraibi, Awatovi and Shungopavi were also obliterated and their priests were killed. In Nuevo México the surviving Spanish immediately sought refuge in Santa Fe and in Isleta Pueblo, a village that did not participate in the revolt, located south of present-day Albuquerque.

By August 13, almost all the Spanish settlements in Nuevo México had been destroyed. Santa Fe was surrounded by Pueblo warriors who cut off its water supply. In desperation, on August 21, Governor Antonio de Otermín, who had been barricaded in Santa Fe’s Palace of the Governors, gathered the remaining Spanish to force the Pueblo warriors to momentarily retreat, to give them time to escape farther south. The remaining 2,000 settlers fled the province of Nuevo México south to El Paso del Norte, present day El Paso, Texas.

After their expulsion, the Spanish churches were destroyed and the traditional religious practices of the Pueblo people were restored. The Pueblo Revolt effectively ended Spanish rule in the region for 12 years. Upon their return, the Spanish adopted more accommodating policies toward Pueblo customs. Today, most Pueblo feast days include a combination of Pueblo and Spanish customs such as receiving a blessing by the Catholic priest before beginning a traditional Pueblo dance. The 1680 Pueblo Revolt is considered the most successful Native American uprising in North America and illustrates the complexity of historical colonialism, Indigenous resistance and cultural survival.

Dennis Zotigh | Read More

Dennis W. Zotigh (Kiowa/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo/Isanti Dakota Indian) is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Clan and San Juan Pueblo Winter Clan and a descendant of Sitting Bear and No Retreat, both principal war chiefs of the Kiowas. Dennis works as a writer and cultural specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.