Essay on the Cristobal Nieto Grant, the family history and origins. "When Cristobal Nieto’s father, Alcalde José Nieto, heard the news of the Pueblo Indian uprising at Galisteo on August 10, 1680, he rounded up his family at his nearby estancia and tried to escape. Tragically, José Nieto, his…
By Robert Torrez Former New Mexico State Historian The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was one of the most significant events in New Mexico history. But 1680 was not the first time New Mexico's Pueblos had attempted to rebel against the Spanish government. Beginning with the Acoma Revolt of 1599,…
By Samuel Sisneros Twelve years after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, half of the refugees in El Paso del Norte returned to northern New Mexico. Those who stayed either remained in the refugee colonies or migrated further into Chihuahua and established new communities along the Camino Real. They opened and…
By Kim Suina In the late seventeenth century a brewing revolt orchestrated by the Pueblos to remove the Spanish gripped communities along the Camino Real. Under the primary leadership of Pueblo leader Po’pay, a spiritual head from San Juan Pueblo, Pueblos and Apache allies attempted to expel Spanish settlers…
By Robert J. Torrez Spanish missions were churches established by Franciscan Friars in Indian villages called pueblos, the Spanish word for town. The purpose of these missions was to have a place in each pueblo where the Indians could be taught about Christianity. When New Mexico was settled by…
By Robert J. Torrez Former New Mexico State Historian Governor Antonio de Otermin and approximately 2000 Spanish refugees spent the winter following their expulsion from New Mexico at what was supposed to be a temporary camp near El Paso de Norte, present day Cuidad Juarez. Here Otermin established his…
By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint A major player in the re-conquest of New Mexico in the 1690s under Diego de Vargas was Antonio de Valverde Cosío. He became interim governor of the province in 1715 and was named to the post in his own right in 1718….
1630 by Matthew Martinez, Ohkay Owingeh Popé is revered as the leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Pueblo scholars refer to him as the one who carried out the first successful American revolution against a foreign colonial power, Spain. Popé (Ripe Pumpkin) was from Ohkay Owingeh (known today…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint The decades of the 1660s and 1670s were ones of looming catastrophe for the Spanish province of New Mexico. There had been repeated disputes between Franciscan clergy and royal governors over use of Indian labor and conflicting attitudes toward native religious practice….
