PUEBLO INDIANS

The Pueblo are American Indians of the Southwest. Their ancestors were the prehistoric Anasazi Indians. Beginning in about A.D. 700–1000, the Anasazi, who had settled in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, began building aboveground dwellings made of stone or adobe blocks. The more permanent shelters reflect a change in lifestyle: as they became increasingly dependent on agriculture (cultivating corn or maize), they also became more stationary. By A.D. 1000 the structures were more sophisticated; the Anasazi had begun to build multistoried houses in the rocky sides of mesas (flat-topped hills) and in canyon walls. For this reason they are sometimes called Cliff Dwellers. The Anasazi continued to farm the lands below their dwellings, which could easily be defended in case of raids. Their descendants, the Pueblo, were living in these areas when the Spaniards arrived in 1540. (Observing the settlements, the European explorers gave the natives the name "Pueblo," which means "village.")

During the next 100 years missionaries in the Southwest converted about 60,000 Pueblo Indians to Christianity. In August 1680 Popeé;, a Pueblo Indian, led an attack on Santa Fe, New Mexico, killing almost 500 Spaniards and driving the rest out. In what is known as the Pueblo Revolt, the Southwestern Indian group had reclaimed their territory, eradicating all Spanish-Christian influences and restoring their own culture in the region. This period of reclamation lasted 12 years: Upon Popé's death in 1692, the Spanish recaptured New Mexico and reestablished colonial rule. A band of Pueblos escaped to the west, remained free, and came to be called Western Pueblos. Few traditional (pre-Spanish) Pueblo villages remain today.