Acoma Pueblo is regarded as the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. Access to the Pueblo is difficult as the faces of the mesa are sheer. Before modern times access was gained only by means of a hand-cut staircase carved into the sandstone.
Acoma Pueblo Shield
Cochiti Pueblo
One of the Pueblo’s renowned members is the late Helen Cordero, who revived the popular storyteller pottery figurine in 1964. The Pueblo is also well known for its deep-toned ceremonial drums, which can be heard on July 14, the Pueblo’s San Buenaventura Feast Day.
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is comprised of the descendants of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches who lived in southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico until they were removed from their homelands and held as Prisoners of War by the United States from 1886–1914. Fort Sill Apache Tribal members are descended from 81 former Prisoners of War who received allotments in Oklahoma after their release.
Isleta Pueblo
Originally established in the 1300s, Isleta Pueblo is home to more than 3,000 members today. The name Isleta is Spanish for “little island”.
Jemez Pueblo
In the 1830s, survivors of Pecos (Cicúye) Pueblo, a once-mighty trading center now in ruins, joined Jémez. Many Pecos Pueblo warriors at first resisted the invading Spanish forces under Diego de Vargas, but 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, they allied with the conquerors.
As many as 70% of the 1,890 Jémez Indians were living on their reservation lands in the early 1970s. Though by this time an increasing number were switching to wage-earning work rather than agriculture. The Pueblo residents continued to raise chili peppers, corn, and wheat, to speak their Native language, and to maintain customary practices
Jicarilla Apache Nation
“Apache” is the collective name used for several related groups of Native Americans.
These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan (Apachean) language and are related linguistically to the Athabaskan speakers of Alaska and western Canada.
Laguna Pueblo
Historians believe the ancestors of the Pueblo have occupied the Laguna homelands since at least A.D. 1300. Pueblo history teaches the occupation since time immemorial.
The area around the villages produced evidence that Indians lived there as far back as 3000 B.C. As was Acoma, Laguna seems to have been a boundary between the Ancestral Pueblo people to the north and Mogollón cultures to the south. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they found an agrarian lifestyle and sophisticated system of self-governance.
Mescalero Apache Tribe
The Mescalero Apache Tribe was established by Executive Order of President Ulysses S. Grant on May 27, 1873. There are three sub-bands that comprise the Tribe: the Mescalero Apache, the Chiricahua Apache, and the Lipan Apache. Prior to the reservation period, the Mescalero people were nomadic hunters and gathers and roamed the Southwest. The Apachean Tribes were historically very powerful, constantly at enmity with the Spaniards and Mexicans for centuries. The first Apache raids on Sonora appear to have taken place during the late 17th century. The U.S. Army, in their various confrontations, found them to be fierce warriors and skillful strategists. They were experts in guerilla warfare and highly skilled horsemen. The women were known for their ability to find and prepare food from many different plant sources.
Nambe Pueblo
This Pueblo is one of the Tewa-speaking Tribes in northern New Mexico and was settled in the earlier part of the 14th century. The Pueblo has been historically known for its strong agriculture, traditional textiles, and pottery production.
Navajo Nation
The Navajo people call themselves Diné, which in their own language, meaning “The People.” The Spanish, it is believed, started using the term Navajo when they entered the Southwest. They have endured much suffering in their past, including the infamous Long Walk in 1860, when the U.S. Army forcibly marched more than 8,000 Navajos to Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner, where they were incarcerated for four years before being allowed to return to their homeland. The Navajos and the U.S. government signed the Treaty of 1868, creating the basis for relations still honored today.
Ohkay Owingeh
Ohkay Owingeh is one of the largest Tewa-speaking Pueblos with a population of about 6,748. Today, the Pueblo is the headquarters of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council and home to the Oke-Oweenge Crafts Cooperative, which exhibits the art of the eight northern pueblos. The main art focus of this Tewa village is redware pottery, weaving, and painting.
Picuris Pueblo
Picurís was once one of the largest Tiwa Pueblos, but today it is one of the smallest with about 1,801 inhabitants.
Spanish colonizer Juan de Oñate originally named the pueblo Pikuria—those who paint. Like those at Taos Pueblo, the people of Picurís were influenced by Plains Indian culture, particularly the Apaches.
Pojoaque Pueblo
The Pueblo of Pojoaque is a community whose Native American culture dates back centuries.
Sandia Pueblo
Established in the 1300s, the Pueblo’s full Tiwa name is “Tuf Shur Tia,” meaning “Green Reed Place.” Sandia derived its modern name when the Spanish first visited in 1539.
The mountains glow with a deep red color at sunset, which the Spanish likened to sandia, the Spanish word for watermelon. The Pueblo was deserted in 1680, when the residents fled to Hopi Pueblo during the Pueblo Revolt. The people of Sandia did not return until the mid-1700s; their old village is evident in ruins near the church.
San Felipe Pueblo
The most conservative of the Keresan villages, San Felipe is extremely protective of its traditions. The Pueblo is well-known for its beautiful dancing, particularly on the Feast Day of San Felipe on May 1, when hundreds of men, women and children participate in traditional Green Corn Dance. It is said by the end of the day that the plaza is worn down into a bowl from a day of dancing.
San Ildefonso Pueblo
Historians believe the original San Ildefonso people abandoned their original villages at Mesa Verde and Bandelier due to drastic changes in the environment.
It was on top of nearby Black Mesa, across the Río Grande from San Ildefonso that the Pueblo held off Spanish soldiers during their reconquest of New Mexico in 1694.
Santa Ana Pueblo
The Santa Ana Pueblo people, who have occupied their current site in central New Mexico since at least the late 1500s, believe their ancestors originated from a subterranean world to the north.
Santa Clara Pueblo
Santa Clara Pueblo offers visitors a number of highly diverse attractions, from tours of the prehistoric cliff dwellings of Puye to sightseeing, fishing and camping in the nearby canyon.
Santo Domingo Pueblo
Santo Domingo Pueblo also known as Kewa Pueblo is located near the ancient Cerrillos turquoise mines and its people have an entrenched history of making fine jewelry and heishi out of the colorful stones.
Taos Pueblo
Also known as the place of the red willows, this community sits at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The village, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America, was designated a World Heritage Site and a National Historic Site in 1992.
Tesuque Pueblo
Situated in the soft red-brown foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Tesuque Pueblo has stood on its present location since 1200 A.D. As such, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Zia Pueblo
To anyone traveling along the road eighteen miles northwest of Bernalillo, New Mexico, Zia Pueblo is almost invisible. It is situated on a rocky knoll, where it blends into the landscape like a natural feature of the terrain.
Zuni Pueblo
The Zuni, like other Pueblo peoples, are believed to be the descendants of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples who lived in the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Colorado and Utah for centuries.
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