The New International Encyclopædia/Pueblo (Indians)

PUEBLO, pwĕb′lō̇ (Sp., village). A name first used by the Spaniards, and later adopted by the Americans, to designate the semi-civilized agricultural and sedentary Indians dwelling in adobe or stone-built communal houses in the arid region of the Southwestern United States, chiefly along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The term ‘village Indians’ was used in distinction from the ruder wandering tribes, without reference to political or linguistic affiliations. The existing pueblos, or settlements, now number 27, besides the Mexicanized colonies of Isleta in Texas and Senecú in Mexico, together with several sub-pueblos, representing in all four distinct stocks, with about twice as many languages and several additional dialects. With the exception of Zuñi, the seven Moki villages in Arizona and the two Pueblo colonies below El Paso, all the existing pueblos are within a limited area of north central New Mexico, but the hundreds of ruins, together with traditional and historical evidence, prove that the area of Pueblo culture formerly comprised the whole region from the Pecos to the middle Gila, and from central Colorado and Utah southward into Mexico. This does not mean that all of the ruins were occupied at the same time, but that at one time or another every part of the region in question was within the sphere of Pueblo culture. There seems to have been a gradual withdrawal from the northern and other more exposed sections and a concentration upon central points, due to the invasion of the savage Apache and Navaho. Some Pueblo tribes have distinct traditions of their former occupancy of particular ruins, frequently remote from their existing villages.

The recorded history of the Pueblos begins with their discovery by Father Marcos de Niza in 1539, followed up by the expedition of Coronado (q.v.) the following year. Later on the occupation and conquest of the country was begun in earnest. Within the next century missions were established in nearly every pueblo, and the whole country was mapped out into districts, held under close subjection by Spanish garrisons. The exactions of the commanders, the outrages of the soldiers, and the interference of the missionaries with the old-time pleasures and ceremonies of the Indians, bred discontent, and in 1680, under the leadership of Popé, a medicine man of the Tewa, there was a simultaneous rising of the Pueblos from the Pecos to the Hopi villages so sudden and complete in its surprise that priests, soldiers, and civilians were everywhere butchered, and the survivors after holding out for a time under Governor Otermin at Santa Fé fled to El Paso, leaving not a single Spaniard in New Mexico. A few of the Piro and Tigua tribes who adhered to the Spaniards followed them in their retreat, and were afterwards colonized respectively at Senecú and Isleta, below El Paso. The people of Awátobi, one of the Hopi towns, who had refused to dismiss or butcher their missionaries, were massacred by their kindred of the other Hopi villages, and their town was destroyed. Taking care to make their preparation complete, the Spaniards gathered their forces together for another invasion of the country, and this time with such success that by 1692 the reconquest of the Pueblos was complete. The missions, however, were not reëstablished, and most of the tribes relapsed into their primitive religion and ceremonial. Their history from that period until the Mexican War brought them under American jurisdiction is of little outside importance. By the treaty with Mexico they were declared American citizens on the same terms as their Mexican neighbors, but the new territorial administration refused to admit them to equal rights, and they continue to be treated as Indians under Government control according to the regular agency system. They are entirely self-supporting, however, and ask and receive little beyond schools and recognition of certain village and farming reservations.

Physically the Pueblo Indians are small in stature, but very strong, being able to walk or even run long distances, or climb steep or difficult mountain trails, under burdens that would tax the strongest white man. They are darker than the Plains Indians, with mild and friendly countenances, indicative of their disposition. They are not aggressive warriors, fighting usually only in self-defense, and preferring rather to avoid trouble with the wild Apache and Navaho by building their settlements upon the tops of high cliffs, to be ascended only by narrow and easily defended trails. Hence the name ‘Cliff Dwellers’ frequently applied to them and more particularly to the extinct inhabitants of the northern cañon ruins. Since the Government has interfered to restrain the predatory tribes, most of the Pueblos have come down upon the plain, but the Hopi of Arizona still have their villages upon mesas several hundred feet above the surrounding level. Their houses are solidly built communal structures of adobe or stone set in clay mortar, with square rooms and flat roofs, through which trap-doors with ladders give access to the interior, the outer walls being frequently without door or window as a precaution against attack. Rooms are added to the original structure as needed, and a whole village frequently forms one compact building, with stories in terrace style, one above another. An important feature of each pueblo is the kiva or underground chamber for the use of the various ceremonial societies.

Their dress is of buckskin or of cotton or woolen fabrics of their native weaving. In some tribes, as the Hopi, the unmarried women are distinguished by a peculiar arrangement of the hair. They are all basket-makers, each pueblo having its own method or design. In variety of pattern and beauty of decoration they have developed the pottery art to a higher stage than was found anywhere else in the United States. Their men are also skillful wood-carvers, particularly in the shaping of ceremonial figurines. Their main dependence is agriculture, each pueblo cultivating its fields in common, usually by aid of irrigation from an adjoining stream, and producing corn and beans in many native varieties, with melons, squashes, and other vegetables, chile, tobacco, as well as peaches, introduced by the early Franciscan missionaries. The grinding of the meal upon stone metates and the baking of the bread upon heated slabs of stone occupies a large share of the woman's indoor time, while pottery and the field occupy her attention outside. The men, besides their field work, do the weaving and carving, besides procuring the wood, which must generally be brought from long distances on the backs of burros. The interval between crop seasons is given to a succession of elaborate and spectacular ceremonials, one of which, the snake dance (q.v.) of the Hopi, has achieved a national reputation. Most of these ceremonials are of a sacred character, being either invocations or thanksgiving for the rain and the crops, and each is in the keeping of a special secret society.

Family life is based upon the clan system, the number of clans being very large in proportion to the population, and the woman is the ruler of the household. The marriage ceremonial is elaborate, including feasting, processions, and dances, and only one wife is allowed. The government is by villages rather than by tribes, each pueblo having a peace chief or governor, assisted by councilors, together with a war chief.

The present number of the Pueblos is about 10,000. Excluding the seven Hopi (Moki) villages in Arizona, with 1840 souls, and the two Mexicanized pueblos of Isleta and Senecú below El Paso, the existing inhabitated pueblos number 18, all in New Mexico, as follows: Acoma, 650; Cochiti, 300; Isleta, 1120; Jemez, 450; Laguna, with sub-pueblos of Pahuate, Paraje, Casa Blanca, and others, 1080; Nambe, 100; Picuris, 125; Sandia, 75; San Felipe, 550; San Ildefonso, 250; San Juan, 425; Santa Ana, 230; Santa Clara, 325; Santo Domingo, 1000; Sia, 125; Taos, 425; Tesuque, 100; Zuñi, 1540. They are classified by linguistic stocks as follows: Shoshonean; Mashongnivi, Shumopovi, Shupaulovi, Sichumovi, Oraibi, Walapi, Tañoan; Isleta (New Mexico), Isleta (Texas), Jemez, Nambe, Pecos (extinct), Picuris, Pojoaque (extinct), Sandia, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, Senecú (Chihuahua, Mexico), Taos, Tesuque, Tewa or Hano (with Hopi, Arizona). These are grouped under five cognate languages, viz.: Tano or Tigua (Isleta, New Mexico; Isleta, Texas; Sandia); Taos (Taos, Picuris); Jemez (Jemez, Pecos); Tewa or Tegua (Nambe, Pojoaque, San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Tesuque, Tewa or Hano); Piro (Senecú); Keresan (Acoma, Cochiti, Laguna, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, Sia); Zuñian (Zuñi). See colored Plate of American Indians, under Indians; also the accompanying plate showing a Zuñi Pueblo.

PUEBLO OF ZUÑI INDIANS

1. ZUÑI PUEBLO FROM THE SOUTH

2. VIEW IN THE PUEBLO