Despite numerous obstacles, in 1680 the Pueblo people of New Mexico united and led the first ever successful revolt against the ruthless Spanish colonizers and reclaimed their land, and their lives.
Storified by Tara B ·
Wed, Aug 12 2015 15:33:50
Today in history: August 10, 1680 - The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the Pueblo Indians against the Spanish settlers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, present day New Mexico. The Pueblo killed 400 Spanish and drove the remaining 2,000 settlers out of the province. (image: Popé, leader of the rebellion)
As the caption states, on August 10, 1680, the Pueblo people of New Mexico, led by the courageous Popé united and led a rebellion against the Spanish colonizers, killing 400 and forcing the rest to flee to El Paso. This Facebook page is obviously not credible and has a bias, but its facts are correct and it presents the commemoration of the rebellion which is still remembered today.
For decades, the native people of New Mexico had been exploited, unfairly taxed, abused, and even killed, all at the hands of the Spaniards come to colonize the area.
Spanish control was brutal for the native people. Many of them were forced into hard labor. Even more of them were subjected to an unfair taxation system which left them with barely the means to get by. If not forced into labor and taxed to the breaking point, the rest fell victim to diseases carried over by the Spanish, like small pox. Further troubling to the people of the Pueblos, was the destruction of their religious items and the forbidding of them to practice their own religion. If caught trying to practice their religion or to rebel, many natives were tortured, hanged, or beaten. Life for the Pueblo people under Spanish tyranny was unbarable.
The precedent set by the Acoma battle, in which 800 of about 1300 Acoma Indians were killed by Spanish and the rest mutilated and forced into servitude, as well as decades of mistreatment for other Pueblo Indians, forced the Pueblo people to unite. Despite being spread out by miles and speaking several different languages, the people united under the leadership of Popé and fought back. Although 400 Spanish were killed, among them Catholic religious leaders, the Pueblo Revolt was clearly justified and necessary for the Pueblo people to regain their lives and freedom.
In this academic reference, Jack Page outlines the events that led up to the Pueblo Revolt, the revolt itself, and the implications of the rebellion. He asserts that the Spaniards' treatment of the Indians, beginning with Coronado, warranted the violence the Indians used during the revolt. The Spanish demanded food and labor, refused the natives their religion, and any refusals of their requests were met with beatings, mutilation and death. The resentment for the Spanish, he says, had a long time to build up and because of this came to a climax in such an extreme way. This source can be considered very credible because it is an academic one available for student researsh, and appears in a recent publication of American History.
![The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 - Rising up Against the Spaniards]()
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This website speaks of some of the atrocities committed by the Spanish. According to the cite, upon first arriving many natives were forced from their homes in order for the Spaniards to set up a capitol of the new Spanish colony. After setting up the capitol, the Spanish began to raid the Pueblos and taking anything of use or value. In the years to come, the Spanish oppressed the Indian people by forcing the Catholic religion, exterminating the Native's religion, forcing the people into labor, taxing them to the breaking point, and killing, mutilating, and torturing anyone who rebelled. The events at Acoma Pueblo demonstrate how ruthless the Spanish could be in punishing rebellious Natives. The cite is not entirely credible. It a .com cite, funded by Legends of America, which is a small business that started out as a hobby for the owner and also tells of ghost stories and popular attractions across America. The information contained within the cite, however, largely appears accurate and there is a vast amount of it indicating much research done.
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680Distilled from Knaut's Pueblo Revolt of 1680: The 1680 Pueblo Revolt was the culmination of decades of exploitation and mistreatment of the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico at the hands of their Spanish overlords.
This website presents and analyzes the history of and prior to the revolt. According to the source, the main catalyst for the revolt was the Spanish accusing several natives, one of which being Popé, of sorcery and trying to influence a Friar with their nonsense religion. In response to these accusations, 47 shamans were arrested, tortured, and starved, and four were sentenced to death. This one event, of course in addition to the decades of events prior, set into motion Popé's plan for the revolt. Having witnessed first hand the abuse of the Spanish, he would take it no more. The website, being funded by Duke University and the information based on the book by Andrew Knaut, seems to be credible. The ending of the URL is .edu, which somewhat limits biases since it is a University page.
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In this academic reference, Pedro Ponce tells of the discovery of many records from colonial New Mexico which were not intended for publication. In the primary source records, the many Spanish officials document original Indian testimony before, during, and after the revolt, as well as the many officials own account of the treatment of the native population. The accounts tell of the building tension between the Spaniards and the Natives. It also chronicles the revolt itself, taking care to indicate the amount of blood the Pueblo people spilled during the revolt and the fact that they killed Friars, raided Spanish homes, and destroyed churches and government buildings. The revolt was very violent, according to the source. The accounts can be considered somewhat bias, because they are written by Spanish officials,, as most natives could not write. The academic source itself is credible, being that it is an academic reference from a book entitled Humanities and relays information about research done by the University of California, Berkeley. Also, it is written in much more neutral language that many of the other sources and avoids presenting the Spanish as the villains, does not relay any of the horrors inflicted by the Spanish, but rather says the entire revolt was the result of two cultures colliding.
This source, a review of a by serves to shed light on the fact that in the case of the Pueblo Revolt, much of the information had today about the event comes from the Spanish. Since the Pueblo people had no way of writing down and keeping their own records, historians must piece together the events of, and leading up to, the revolt in other ways. Because of this, while a rather accurate idea of events can be formed, the feelings of the Pueblo people must be inferred. Clearly, they were angry and resentful enough to eventually unite and rebel, killing hundreds of Spanish, so while their exact feelings are mostly unknown, they can be assumed well enough. The source itself, being a published review of another legitimate source, is credible as it is the critical look at a book written by Andrew Knaut, a credible author, himself.
![The Pueblo Revolt | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History]()
The Pueblo Revolt | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryThree hundred and thirty years later, Pueblo people still live in ancient villages across the Southwest, in many ways on their own terms. A proud statue of the rebellion's leader, Popé (or Po'pay), is one of New Mexico's two pieces in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.
This website, again, reiterates how the Spanish ruled and forced their will on the Pueblo people with cruelty,, saying "Spaniards had dominated them, their lives, their land, and their souls for eight decades. The Spanish had established and maintained their rule with terror..." This source goes further, though, to evaluate the immediate and lasting implications of the revolt. The most immediate implication being that for the first time, thousands of Indians were able to rise "virtually as one." The second being that the revolt led to the complete removal of the Spanish for 12 years, something never before done. The lasting implication of the revolt is that many natives to the Southwest still reside in Pueblos today, living freely, and remember Popé with statues and memorials. This site seems as if it would be very credible given that it is curated by THe Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, however further inspection of it reveals that the source is an essay by Edward Countryman, and the comments below reveal his information may not be entirely accurate. While opinion, the notion that the Spanish dominated the natives and the revolt freed them remains the same.
This blog by Tracy V. Wilson focuses on the things the history textbooks may not have told. In her blog, Wilson makes the important point that the Pueblo revolt defies the norm because the underdog is victorious. She says that usually, history is written by the victor, but this in not the case with the revolt. In the link to the podcast, Wilson tells of each individual Pueblo having their own language, religion, and ways of governing themselves. Spanish settlers came with the intent to get rich, and conquer and colonize, caring little of the individuality of the Pueblos, and despite their hopes, Spain did not get rich. Because of the lack of gold, the Spanish furthered their goal of converting to Catholicism by ruining Kevas, and building churches over Kevas, and then torturing the Natives for refusing to convert. The site, being a blog and linked with a podcast, is not entirely credible.Her podcast, however, contained dates and facts based on extensive research cited in her blog.
