The early history of Pueblo Indians in postcontact times is interwoven with that of the Spanish, who first claimed the region and gave it the name New Mexico. A Spanish explorer named Marcos de Niza reached Zuni country as early as 1539, only 18 years after the colony of New Spain was founded in North America. Then Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the region in 1540, and Antonio de Espejo in 1582.
These early expeditions did not alter the Pueblo Indian way of life. In 1598, however, Juan de Onate and 129 colonists—entire families—arrived to establish the colony of New Mexico. They brought horses, goats, and sheep with them. In 1610, Onate founded the capital of this colony, Santa Fe. The Spanish made the Indians pay taxes in cotton crops, cloth, and work and taught them to grow new crops, such as wheat, peppers, and peaches; to tend flocks; and to spin and weave wool. Catholic missionaries also tried to eradicate Native religions and spread their own.
During his first year in New Mexico, Onate sent word to the various Indians that they were henceforth subjects of the Spanish monarch. When the Keres Indians of the Acoma Pueblo rose up and killed the soldiers who brought this command, he sent others to punish them. The soldiers, after scaling the steep cliffs of the mesa and capturing the pueblo, massacred hundreds of inhabitants. Onate sentenced the survivors in a public trial. He ordered his soldiers to cut off one foot of all the males over 25. All females plus boys over 12 were to serve as slaves for 20 years. Children under 12 were to be placed in missions. Onate’s action against Acoma’s people made it easier for the Spanish to subjugate the other pueblos because the Indians now feared Spanish reprisals.
World History
