Pueblo Revolt

Pueblo Revolt (1680).This uprising against Spanish rule in New Mexico, resulting in a rare retreat by a European colonial power, involved a complex mix of ethnic, religious, administrative, and economic grievances rooted in the Pueblo Indians' and mixed‐bloods' resentment of European rule. Spanish colonizers and Franciscan missionaries had established themselves in New Mexico by 1598. Initially most of the Pueblos adapted to Spanish rule and Catholicism, but drought in the 1660s led to anti‐Spanish unrest and a revival of traditional religion. Tensions worsened when Spanish soldiers under Governor Juan Francisco Trevino sacked the Pueblos' sacred kivas, publicly whipped native religious leaders, hanged three, and arrested others. One arrestee, Popé, of San Juan Pueblo, escaped to Taos Pueblo, a center of anti‐Spanish resistance. Taos's economy, dependent on trading corn to the Apache to the north, had been disrupted by Spanish demands for corn. Under Popé and others, Taos fostered anti‐Spanish agitation from the 1670s on. Trevino, confronted with armed insurgents, released the prisoners but tensions continued. Beginning on 10 August 1680, the insurgents killed sixty‐eight Spanish colonists, destroyed Catholic churches and killed missionaries, and besieged Santa Fe. The surviving Spanish fled to Mexico.

After the violence came negotiations over the precipitating grievances. Some Pueblos, fearing Apache raiders, reestablished their Spanish ties. In 1692, Spanish authorities under Governor Diego de Vargas returned to New Mexico, having negotiated reforms that curbed Spanish power and benefited some of the revolt's mixed‐blood leaders. Even so, Pueblo resistance erupted again in 1696. Contemporary historians, emphasizing the complexity of the issues and groups involved, view the revolt as a microcosm of sociocultural differences and amalgamation in a colonial setting.
See also Indian History and Culture: 1500 to 1800; Spanish Settlements in North America.

Bibliography

Charles W. Hackett and and C.C. Shelby , Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin's Attempted Reconquest, 1680–1682, 2 vols., 1942.
David J. Weber, ed., What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680?, 1999.

Juan Gomez‐Quinones