Colonial/ Pueblo life

Santa Fe had native Pueblo Indians and was then colonized by Spain.

Spain owned and controlled Colonial New Mexico  Spain appointed the governor.  Spain controlled Mexico to the south  Troops could be dispatched into New Mexico from there to keep the peace and to keep the Pueblos from revolting.

The Franciscan Monks built churches  In those churches the Franciscans converted Pueblo Indians to Christianity  Taught them Spanish  Educated them in their ways

Colonists and Pueblo Indians lived in adobe houses.  Adobe was a type of clay that when hardened turned into a cement like substance.  They had dirt floors and were cool in the summer and warm in the winter

Colonists benefitted in many ways from the Pueblo Indians.  The colonists used Pueblos as cheap labor.  The colonists also claimed the right to take supplies from the Indians.  Pueblos taught the settlers how to make adobe to build better homes for the climate.

Pueblo Indians benefitted in some ways from the Colonists  Spanish Colonists brought horses here which helped with agriculture.  Access to supplies.  Spanish brought ironworking techniques.

Colonists received needed supplies from caravans from New Spain (Mexico)  Caravans came in the spring bringing news and supplies

Most Colonists and Pueblos were farmers or shepherds.

The Pueblo revolt  The pueblo revolt was an uprising of the Pueblo Indians against the Spanish settlers.  It took place in 1680  It was led by a man named Pope  In early Pueblo Indians were charged with planning to start a revolution.

Summary  Something I learned while doing this project was that the Spanish didn’t let the pueblo Indians practice their religion freely and they tried to force them all into being Christian and they forced them to work for them like slaves so eventually the pueblos got tired of it and they started plotting against them. This caused the pueblo revolt where the Indians upraised and tried to fight back. I also didn’t know that the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish were shepherds. I also leaned that both the Pueblos and the Spanish lived in adobe houses. I didn’t know that the Spanish lived in them I thought only the Indians did. I also learned that from reading the book that not all of the Spanish hated the pueblo Indians. Also I did not think these pueblo Indians did kachina dances and had sacred masks I thought that was more the north west Indians and the Incans and the Aztecs, but I was wrong. I did not know that they got supplies from new Spain (Mexico) I thought they got them from boats coming from Spain but they came from caravans in the Spring. Another thing I learned was that the Spanish clamed for themselves the right to take pueblos as slaves or take their belongings and stuff and supplies so the Spanish took tons of their food for the winter so the Indians were often hungry. I did not know that the Spanish had hot chocolate, it was considered a delicacy and some people could not afford it. I also did not know how long it took for the supplies to get from new Spain to Santa fe, it took months so a lot of the stuff that was transported was quite expensive. I also did not know that the Spanish had governors I thought they had some king or lord or something. Some thing I can apply into my life is don’t rely on others to take care of you be as self reliant as possible and be prepared for who I'm relying of to get mad and stop doing work to get you what you need or want. I also learned why so much of Mexico, new Mexico, some of Texas and Arizona speak Spanish its because Spanish were who settled there. Also I had no idea that the settlers on this side of the country were scared that people were witches and that they even knew what they were or believed in them. I also found out that they didn’t know this at the time but the Indians actually had the advantage over the Spanish because of the accuracy of their bows and the inaccuracy of the Spanish guns, but the Spanish tried to keep the guns from the Indians but it would have been smarter to give them guns so they were equal in power.

Sources  City-data.com  Stanford news  Wikipedia  Common place  Pages.towson.edu  New Mexico genealogical society