Pueblo peoples

The Pueblo peoples or Puebloans are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common ways of farming, making things, and practicing their faith. Some well-known Pueblo groups include Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi. These people speak many different languages and each group has its own customs, but they all grow corn, which is very important to them.

Pueblo peoples have lived in the American Southwest for thousands of years and come from the Ancestral Pueblo peoples. The word "Pueblo" comes from the Spanish language and means "village". When Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s, they found big villages made from adobe, stone, and other local materials.

Today, Pueblo nations still keep many of their old traditions. They focus on farming, strong family ties, and respecting their history. Even though exact numbers are not known, around 75,000 Pueblo people live mainly in New Mexico and Arizona, with some also in Texas. They have been very good at keeping their culture and beliefs alive.

Etymology

The word "Pueblo" comes from the Spanish language and means "village" and "people." Spanish explorers used this word to describe the special way the Pueblo peoples built their homes.

Earlier, people studying history often used the word "Anasazi" to talk about the Pueblo peoples and their ancient culture. This word came from the Navajo language and means "enemy ancestors." But today, the Pueblo peoples do not like this word because they find it disrespectful.

Subdivisions

Pueblo peoples speak languages from four different language families, which means each language is quite unique and not easy for speakers of other Pueblo languages to understand. English is now the common language used in the region.

Anthropologists have studied Pueblo peoples and created different ways to group them. One way looks at their farming methods: the Zuni and Hopi focus on dry farming, while others use irrigation. All Pueblo peoples grow corn, along with squash and beans.

Another way of grouping them looks at family and marriage customs. Some groups, like the Hopi and Zuni, have children join their mother's clan and must marry outside it. Others have children join their father's clan and marry within it. These differences also show up in their stories, directions they consider sacred, and important numbers in their rituals.

History of the Pueblo peoples

Origins

Main article: Ancestral Puebloans

Pueblo societies grew from three big cultures in the Southwest United States before Europeans arrived. These were the Mogollon culture, who lived near the Gila Wilderness; the Hohokam culture; and the Ancestral Puebloan culture, who lived in the Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde regions of the Four Corners area.

People in the Mogollon culture started by gathering food but later began farming. By the first millennium CE, farming became their main way to get food. They built homes called hamlets with pithouses, which were houses dug into the ground with roofs made of sticks and thatch. Over time, these villages grew bigger, and by the 11th century CE, they lived in houses made of rock and earth with wooden roofs.

The Hohokam culture used irrigation canals to water their crops as early as the 9th century CE. This helped them grow more food and become one of the largest groups in the Southwest by 1300. They lived in villages and grew corn, using clever ways to bring water to their fields.

The Ancestral Puebloan culture is famous for the stone and earth homes they built along cliff walls from about 900 to 1350 CE. These homes were hard to reach, often needing ropes or climbing to get inside. Their villages had many rooms and were built around open spaces called plazas.

Development of architecture and city-states

Further information: Ancient dwellings of Pueblo peoples and Pueblo architecture

Around 700 to 900 CE, Pueblo people started building connected rooms made of adobe clay instead of living in cliff houses. By 1050, they created big villages with many rooms, often placed in safe spots like rocky ledges or high flat areas to protect themselves from attacks. One of the biggest villages was Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, which had around 700 rooms and could hold up to 1000 people.

Spanish contact and colonization

Before 1598, Spanish explorers visited the Pueblo areas but did not stay long. In the late 1500s, Spanish leaders arrived to change the Pueblo religion to Catholicism. This made the Pueblo people very unhappy, and over time, the Spanish became harsher, leading to many revolts by the Pueblo.

Pueblo Revolt

The Pueblo Revolt in 1680 was the first time Native Americans successfully drove out European colonists from North America for many years. It happened because the Pueblo people were upset about Spanish actions, including taking away their leaders and forcing their religion.

Return of the Spanish

Comancheria

Mexican period and Rio Arriba Rebellion

Main article: Río Arriba Rebellion

Mexican–American War and Taos Revolt

Main articles: Mexican–American War and Taos Revolt

Debate over legal status as Indians

Main article: United States v. Sandoval

Pueblo Lands Act and Pueblo Lands Board

Main article: Pueblo Lands Act

Self-determination era

Main article: Federal Indian Policy

21st century

On September 22, 2005, a statue of Po'pay, the leader of the Pueblo Revolt, was placed in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. It was the last statue added to the National Statuary Hall Collection and was made by Cliff Fragua, a sculptor from the Jemez Pueblo. In 2018, Deb Haaland became the first Pueblo woman elected to the United States House of Representatives and later the first Native American Secretary of the Interior from 2021 to 2025.

Culture

Pueblo people have a rich culture with special ways of making clothes, growing food, and practicing their beliefs.

They make beautiful woven clothes from natural fibers and animal hide. For everyday work, their clothes were simpler. The men often wore breechcloths.

Corn is very important to Pueblo people. They have grown corn for thousands of years. It came to the Southwest from Mexico a long time ago. Pueblo people are skilled at growing crops and raising animals like cattle and horses.

Pueblo people also make special pottery. Each group has its own style of making and decorating pottery. Their religious beliefs include stories about spirits and nature. They have special dances and ceremonies to honor these beliefs and connect with their ancestors. Some of these ceremonies are open to visitors, but there are rules to follow.

Main article: Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest

Further information: Hopi mythology

List of federally recognized Pueblo tribes

New Mexico

Some well-known Pueblo tribes in New Mexico include:

• Acoma Pueblo – Keres speakers. Known for its location atop a mesa. Established in the 12th century, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the United States.
• Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo (formerly San Juan) – Tewa speakers. Home of Popé, one of the leaders of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonizers.
• Taos Pueblo – Tiwa speakers. Known for its UNESCO World Heritage Site architecture. Established in the 11th century, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the United States.
• Zuni Pueblo – Zuni speakers. Known for being the first Pueblo visited by the Spanish in 1540.

Arizona

Further information: List of ancient dwellings of Pueblo peoples in Arizona

• Hopi Tribe – Hopi language speakers.

Texas

Further information: List of ancient dwellings of Pueblo peoples in Texas

• Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, El Paso, Texas – originally Tigua speakers. This Pueblo was established in 1680 as a result of the Pueblo Revolt. Some members of Isleta, Socorro, and neighboring pueblos were forced out or accompanied the Spaniards to El Paso as they fled Northern New Mexico.

Endonyms and exonyms

Although most present-day pueblos are known by their Spanish or anglicized Spanish name, each Pueblo has a unique name in each of the different languages spoken in the area. The names used by each Pueblo to refer to their village usually differ from those given to them by outsiders, including by speakers of other Pueblo languages. Centuries of trade and intermarriages between the groups are reflected in the names given to the same Pueblo in each of the languages.

Population history

Before European contact, the Pueblo peoples may have had up to 313,000 people living in at least 110 pueblos. By 1907, their numbers had dropped to just over 11,300 people. However, their population has grown since then. As of 2020, there were 78,884 Pueblo people in the USA, with 52,369 living in New Mexico.