Cause Of The Pueblo Revolt

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In August of the year 1680, around present day New Mexico, the Pueblo Indians had begun an uprising against Spanish colonists which resulted in the death of over 400 Spanish. The remaining 2,000 settlers were driven out of the area. The reason for this war was due to the constant oppression and violent treatment of Pueblo by Spanish colonists. For nearly 100 years, starting in 1540, the Pueblo Indians were subjected to successive waves of soldiers, missionaries, and settlers. There was much conflict between the Pueblo and the Spanish due to differences in religion and culture. The most important cause of the Pueblo Revolt was because the Spanish attempted to destroy their religion, banning traditional dances and religious icons. Today we will cover the Pueblo Revolt and why it is an important chapter in American history. (Wikipedia.org) New Mexico was the site of the first large scale uprising by Native Americans against Europeans. …show more content…

Franciscan Friars who were trying to convert the natives became increasingly militant about stomping out all traditional religion. Local Pueblo people were beaten in public to show other pueblo the consequence of resisting the church. Some people even went as far as killing Pueblos. The worse punishment, through the eyes of the Pueblo, was not death but having long hair cut in public to be ridiculed and embarrassed. Residents were ordered to attend mass every Sunday, native and non-native. Although many Pueblo had converted to Catholicism, there were still many more that held strong to ceremonial ways. The oppression of religion lead to secret ceremonies in disclosed locations. The Pueblo people continued to hold their rituals and dances and prayer services in private hidden mesas in the desert. As more Christian churches were built, the Pueblo began tearing down these churches and started replacing them with Kivas, a Pueblo place of

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