“The Pueblo Revolt” presents the evolution of the relationship between Indians and Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. Spanish colonization of the southwestern part of North America in many ways affected the fate of the local Indian population. Indian Pueblo colonization gave great economic changes, untold suffering along with the cultural innovations. Spanish colonialists favored the political situation in the region. The Spaniards subdued significant number of tribes and received tribute from them. However, many tribes feuded among themselves and rebelled against each other. Various economic and geographical conditions of the life of tribes, some physiological and linguistic differences have contributed to the aggravation of inter-tribal conflicts.
J. Page stated that in 1675, Governor Juan Francisco Treviño ordered the arrest of forty-seven Pueblo witch doctors and accused them of witchcraft practices because Spanish colonialists “represented the revolts as the work of the devil rather than as millenarian movements” (Reff, 1995, p.63). Four witch doctor were sentenced to death by hanging; three of these executions were carried out, and the fourth prisoner committed suicide. The remaining people were publicly beaten and sentenced to prison. Governor Treviño released prisoners since a significant number of Spanish soldiers were away fighting the Apaches. One of the prisoners was a man known among Indians as Pope. After his release Pope along with several other leaders of the pueblo planned and organized the Pueblo revolt. He was preparing a revolt to the top of Taos, New Mexico. Pope sent messengers to all the pueblos with ropes tied to them with hosts; nodes means the number of days remaining before the scheduled date of the uprising. Every morning, the leaders of Pueblo untied one knot, and when the last node would be unleashed, it would be a signal for them to work together to rise up against the Spaniards.
This article does not show that until the middle of the XIX century, the inhabitants of the North American did not touch closely with Europeans and thus preserved the characteristics of their culture. By the middle of the XVI-century dominance of Spanish in New Mexico was almost absolute, colonial possessions brought huge revenues of the royal treasury. At the same time, despite the constant rivalry between the secular and religious authorities, the Spanish colonizers for decades ruthlessly exploited indigenous peoples (primarily Indian Pueblo) and even sold them into slavery. Infectious diseases brought by the Europeans, sharply decreased the population of indigenous peoples. This region has undergone under the influence of the Europeans and save more distinctive features of particular interest as a specific example of a society that has survived in the eyes of history the transition from matriarchal to patriarchal relations and at the same time, in many ways different from other US regions. The author showed that before the uprising of the traditional rites were strictly forbidden, the Inquisition was raging. Indians were required to pay taxes, natural fabrics and home-made corn and work on the construction of forts, prisons, churches. The hardest work was in the lead mines. Indians were sold into slavery, killed for the slightest infraction. Spaniards imported diseases were not a lesser evil than the excesses and violence of the conquerors.
They lived in settled villages, cultivated corn, cotton and some other crops. They have seen tremendous progress in the development of social and political organization, a complicated religious views associated with the worship of the forces in the eyes of believers able to influence on the yield and the like. Usually authors who examine the problem of early colonial history of the region, considering the relationship between the colonists and the Indians in the larger examples relating to the middle of XVII century.
It should be noted that in 1696 14 Pueblo Indians attempted to organize a second uprising, starting with the murder of five missionaries and settlers 34, using weapons that are the Spaniards themselves were selling Indians for many years. However constant tribal wars led to a decrease in the number of men and the usurpation of the people's government promoted the priests and chiefs. By the end of the last century, resisting Pueblo were scattered, and the Spanish conquest of territory was almost complete. Total domination of the Spanish pueblo were under the effective control of Spanish authorities and missionaries. However, they did not accept Christianity and expelled the missionaries and Spanish officials, from time to time to try to subordinate them to their influence.
References
Page, J. (2002). THE PUEBLO REVOLT. American History. Vol. 36, Issue 6, p.30-36. Retrieved 1 February 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=3f8529f2-4c14-41aa-b8a8-2dba3aa048ca%40sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4201&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=31h&AN=5576301
Reff, D. T. (1995). The Predicament of Culture and Spanish Missionary Accounts of the Tepehuan and Pueblo Revolts. Ethnohistory. Vol.42, Issue 1, p.63-90. Retrieved 1 February 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=6fdd48aa-3059-4464-9bda-965bd30db2a4%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4201&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=9503202611&db=31h
