Pueblo Revolt

In August 1680, the Pueblo peoples of what is now New Mexico rose against their Spanish colonizers and drove them out of the province. It was one of the most successful Indigenous uprisings in the history of the Americas. For roughly twelve years the Pueblos governed themselves again, and the revolt reshaped how Spain and later settlers dealt with Native communities in the Southwest. At the time, New Mexico was a northern outpost of New Spain, which is why the event is often filed under Mexico, though the revolt took place in the upper Rio Grande valley and surrounding areas.

Spain had colonized the region beginning with Juan de Oñate's expedition in 1598, and Santa Fe became the capital around 1610. The Pueblos, who lived in dozens of independent towns and spoke several different languages, were made to provide labor and goods under the encomienda system, which demanded tribute from Native communities. Franciscan missionaries also pressed them to abandon their ceremonial life, and friars destroyed ritual objects and suppressed kiva ceremonies. Droughts, famine, disease, and raids by Apache and Navajo groups worsened conditions through the 1670s, and many Pueblos came to feel that the colonizers' demands and their god had failed to protect them.

In 1675 Spanish authorities arrested and punished dozens of Pueblo religious leaders on charges of sorcery. One of them, a man from San Juan Pueblo named Popé, became a principal organizer of the uprising. Working in secret, and reportedly sending knotted cords to mark the countdown to a coordinated date, leaders drew many separate towns into a joint plan. The date was set for early in the month, but Spanish officials learned of it, and the revolt began a little earlier, on about August 10. Pueblo warriors killed hundreds of colonists, including around twenty-odd Franciscan missionaries, and then besieged Santa Fe. Governor Antonio de Otermín and the survivors withdrew south toward El Paso del Norte, and some Pueblo allies went with them.

In the years that followed, the Pueblos worked to remove Spanish influence, destroying churches and in many cases reviving traditional ceremonies. Unity proved hard to sustain. Historians note that Popé's leadership became contested, and drought and Apache and Navajo raiding continued. Accounts of his rule come largely from Spanish sources and should be read with caution.

Spain launched a failed attempt at reconquest in 1681, and Diego de Vargas returned in 1692 and retook Santa Fe, largely through negotiation. A further Pueblo revolt followed in 1696 but was put down. Even so, the colonial relationship afterward was noticeably different. The Spanish tended to be more tolerant of Pueblo religious practice and less reliant on forced labor, and Pueblo communities preserved their languages and traditions into the present day.