Reconstruction
Spanish Missionaries and the Pueblo Indians
Sep 14, 2008 Jeffrey R Gudzune
By the early 1600s, Spain had affirmed its dominance over indigenous tribes in New Mexico through a series of oppressive decrees and armed deterrence. After declaring all the tribes surrounding the capital city of Santa Fe to be wards of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Governor Juan de Onate outlawed native religion as paganism and sent forth missionaries to educate the inhabitants. Those who resisted were put down by force and enslaved, made to live under the heel of Spanish soldiers as examples to other pueblos who might dare resist. The pueblos (consisting of the Hopi, Zuni, Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, and Keres) were compelled to adhere to Onate’s edict and as missionaries began to infiltrate their domain their status as serfs within their own country became apparent. In addition to submitting to instruction by Catholic missionaries, the tribes were also required to pay tribute in the form of labor to the colony. Since the colonists were unable to successfully cultivate the land that they had occupied, they relied on their indigenous captives to provide them with adequate sustenance. This repartimiento system was maintained by the threat of brutal reprisal in the event of Indian reluctance.
Unable to resist, the tribes of the pueblos had little choice but to weather Spain’s rule. At first, the practitioners of native religion ignored the missionary effort to curtail their culture and continued to practice secretly in underground kivas. However, this soon came to the attention of the colonial authority and efforts were made to convince the pueblos to abandon their practices. Indigenous leaders who refused to convert to Catholicism were subject to scrutiny and even arrest by Spanish authorities. For close to a century, the colonial administration exploited the pueblo tribes by exacting tribute in the form of taxes and labor and actively sought to redesign native culture in order to fit the European example. Still, many pueblos endured this occupation environment and secretly held on to their unique religious beliefs.
Those tribes that converted to Catholicism soon grew out of touch with their historical religious beliefs. Often referred to as Mission Indians, some were assimilated by the Spanish colony in New Mexico. Incidentally, the term Mission Indian actually refers to several tribes in Southern California who resettled within Spanish missions and abandoned their traditional beliefs. By the 1650s, the pueblo tribes surrounding the colony in New Mexico were in danger of losing touch with their traditional beliefs. Poverty and disease ravaged entire pueblos, and many were carried off by epidemic and lost to history. Those that still carried on an outward resistance were subject to the admonishment of the colonial government. Those religious leaders who insisted on practicing their traditional beliefs were soon subject to arrest.
The pueblo tribes had endured Spanish occupation for close to a century before any effort at collective resistance was put forth. Why was this? The underlying issue was not the subjugation of political rights. In fact the, tribal governments continued to exist and were even acknowledged by colonial authorities so long as they offered tribute to Spain. Furthermore, the efforts of missionaries to introduce Catholicism to the pueblos did not necessitate revolution. Many Indians gave tacit acknowledgement of missionary teachings and even went through the motions of converting to Catholicism. The true cause of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was the attack on indigenous religious leaders like Pope.
Mark C Carnes, U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996).
Peter Nabokov, Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations From Prophecy to Present. (New York: Penguin Book, 1978).
Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2000).
Carl Waldman, Encyclopedia of Native Tribes. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006).
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