LOCAL CONTEXT BRIEF ORIGINS HISTORY: FROM TO INDEPENDENT VILLAGES TO SOVEREIGN NATIONS The 19 Pueblo tribes in present day geographically spans across nine counties in the state of New Mexico and borders large cities such as cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Cumulatively the Pueblo tribal land encompasses over 3585.44 square miles.13 Historically ancestral Puebloan civilizations date back to 7000-1500 BCE and spanned across the present-day territories of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. Prior to Pueblo tribes contact with European settlers in the 16th century. Puebloan communities lived dispersed amongst approximately 40+ villages predominantly clustered along the Rio Grande River, in present day New Mexico. Villages were generally composed of members of the same family lineage and linguistic group.14 According to scholars it is believed the Taos Pueblo first encountered the Spanish in 1540. In 1598, the Spanish established their first settlement in Pueblo Country.15 Interestingly enough, the word “Pueblo” comes from Spanish origins and means “village or town”, in reference to the permanent dwelling complexes Puebloan communities built and lived in.16 From 1598 to 1680, the Spanish promoted Christianity and over time began to brutally punish Puebloans, who practiced their traditional religion and customs. It is important to note the Spanish Crown also claimed title to Pueblo Country land. The Spanish Crown land title provided Puebloans ownership of land and legal protection from conquest from other colonizers, as wards and vessels of the Spanish Empire.17 Mounting pressure to assimilate to Christianity practices and brutality from the Spanish ultimately led to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The Pueblo Revolt resulted in the Spanish being ousted from Pueblo Country.18 Scholars believe much of modern-day Pueblo settlements and unification of multi-clan tribes came about as a result of Pueblo villages uniting together to oust the Spanish.19 Almost two centuries following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Mexican Republic would come to rule over Pueblo Country from 1821-1848. Unlike the Spanish, the Mexican Republic granted full citizenship to Puebloans which enabled non-Indian Mexican Republic citizens to purchase and encroach on Pueblo land.20 This is important to note because following the Mexican Republic defeat in the Mexican-American War of 1848. A clause of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo-Article IX, stated all Mexican Republic citizens shall have the choice to choose citizenship between the Mexican Republic or the United States, and maintain control of their land.21 The question of what to do with the Pueblo Indians following the Mexican13 Ibid. U.S. Census Information for Native Americans. (2020). 14 Liebmann, Matthew., Ferguson, T.J., & Preucel, Robert. (2005). Pueblo Settlement, Architecture, and Social Change in the Pueblo Revolt Era, A.D. 1680 to 1696. Journal of Field Archaeology, 30(1), 45-60. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/ stable/40025825 15 Tiller, E. Veronica. (1994). American Indian Reservations and Trust Areas. Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. 16 Ibid. Tiller, E. Veronica. (1994) 17 Lucero, Robert. (2007). State v. Romero: The Legacy of Pueblo Land Grants and the Contours of Jurisdiction in Indian Country. New Mexico Law Review, Volume 37, Issue 3 18 Brown, Tracy. (2004). Tradition and Change in Eighteenth-Century Pueblo Indian Communities. Journal of the Southwest, 46(3), 463-500. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/40170299 19 Ibid. Liebmann, Matthew., Ferguson, T.J., & Preucel, Robert. (2005) 20 Ibid. Lucero, Robert. (2007) 21 Ibid. Lucero, Robert. (2007)
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