View source for Pueblo

{{Short description|Native settlements and societies of Southwestern United States}}
{{About|the Native American settlements and societies|the Indigenous peoples|Pueblo peoples|the city in Colorado|Pueblo, Colorado|other uses}}
[[File:Acoma Pueblo Sky City 2.jpg|thumb|[[Acoma Pueblo]] in northern New Mexico, one of the oldest pueblo towns]]
'''Pueblo''' refers to the settlements of the [[Pueblo peoples]], [[Native American tribes]] in the [[Southwestern United States]], currently in [[New Mexico]], [[Arizona]], and [[Texas]]. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlements in the United States, are called pueblos (lowercased).

Spanish explorers of northern [[New Spain]] used the term ''pueblo'' to refer to permanent Indigenous towns they found in the region, mainly in [[New Mexico]] and parts of [[Arizona]], in the former province of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México|Nuevo México]]. This term continued to be used to describe the communities housed in apartment structures built of stone, [[adobe]], and other local material.<ref>{{cite book |title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |last=Stewart |first=George |author-link=George R. Stewart |orig-year=1945 |year=2008 |publisher=NYRB Classics |location=New York |pages= 23–24 |isbn=978-1-59017-273-5}}</ref> The structures were usually multistoried buildings surrounding an open plaza. Many rooms were accessible only through ladders raised and lowered by the inhabitants, thus protecting them from break-ins and unwanted guests. Larger pueblos are occupied by hundreds to thousands of [[Puebloan]] people.

Several [[federally recognized tribes]] have historically resided in pueblos of such design. Later [[Pueblo Deco]] and modern [[Pueblo Revival architecture]], which mixes elements of traditional Pueblo and [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Hispano]] design, has continued to be a popular architectural style in [[New Mexico]], expanding to surrounding states over time. 

The term is part of the official name of some historical sites, such as [[Pueblo of Acoma]].

==Etymology and usage==
{{Administrative divisions of the United States}}

The word {{lang|es|pueblo}} is the Spanish word both for "town" or "village" and for "people". It comes from the Latin root word {{lang|la|[[people|populus]]}} meaning "people". Spanish colonials applied the term to their own civic settlements, but to only those Native American settlements having fixed locations and permanent buildings.<ref name="Fletcher" /> 

In the [[Rio Grande Valley (New Mexico)|Rio Grande Valley]] of New Mexico, specifically in the region between Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos, the word "pueblo" defines a "distinct cultural group in the Southwestern United States" and their villages. The Holmes Museum of Anthropology defines this specific group as a "common culture with individual variances [that] connects them.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite web |title=About the pueblos |url=https://www.wichita.edu/museums/holmes/southwest-pottery.php |website=Morgan Museum of Anthropology, Collection of Southwest Pottery |access-date=15 March 2024}}</ref>

Less-permanent Native settlements (such as those found in California) were often referred to as ''rancherías'',<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/ra/rancheri.html Rancheria.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050111071216/http://www.bartleby.com/65/ra/rancheri.html |date=2005-01-11 }} ''The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.''  2001-07 (retrieved 12 April 2009)</ref> however, the oldest area of [[Los Angeles]] was known as [[Pueblo de Los Ángeles|''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Rio de Porciúncula'']] or [[El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument|El Pueblo de Los Angeles]] for short.<ref name="laalmanac a">{{cite web | title=Origin of the Name Los Angeles | website=laalmanac.com | url=https://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi03a.php | access-date=9 March 2023}}</ref><ref name="LAT-name">{{cite news |last1=Pool |first1=Bob |title=City of Angel's First Name Still bedevils historians |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-26-me-name26-story.html |access-date=9 March 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=26 March 2005}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|sign=|source=|On the central Spanish ''Meseta'' the unit of settlement was and is the ''pueblo''; which is to say, the large [[nucleated village]] surrounded by its own fields, with no outlying farms, separated from its neighbors by some considerable distance, sometimes as much as ten miles [16 km] or so. The demands of agrarian routine and the need for defense, the simple desire for human society in the vast solitude of (rocky plains, or the desert), dictated that it should be so. Nowadays the pueblo might have a population running into thousands. Doubtless, they were much smaller in the early [[Middle Ages|middle ages]], but we should probably not be far wrong if we think of them as having had populations of some hundreds.<ref name="Fletcher">Fletcher, Richard A. (1984) ''Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-822581-4}} ([http://libro.uca.edu/sjc/sjc.htm on-line text, ch. 1])</ref>}}

== Pueblo tribes ==
Of the federally recognized Native American communities in the Southwest, those designated by the [[King of Spain]] as pueblo at the time Spain [[Spanish Cession|ceded territory]] to the United States, after the American Revolutionary War, are legally recognized as Pueblo by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]. Some of the pueblos also came under the jurisdiction of the United States, in its view, by its treaty with [[Mexico]], which had briefly gained rule over territory in the Southwest ceded by Spain after Mexican independence. There are 21 federally recognized Pueblos<ref>[http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2002-07-12/pdf/02-17508.pdf "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs; Notice" ''Federal Register'' 12 July 2002, Part IV, Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs]</ref> that are home to [[Pueblo people]]s. Their official federal names are as follows:

* [[Hopi Tribe of Arizona]] ([[Uto-Aztecan]])
* [[Ohkay Owingeh]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Acoma]], [[New Mexico]] ([[Keresan]])
* [[Pueblo of Cochiti]], New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Pueblo of Isleta]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Jemez]], New Mexico ([[Kiowa-Tanoan]])
* [[Pueblo of Laguna]], New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Pueblo of Nambe]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Picuris]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Pojoaque]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of San Felipe]], New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Pueblo of San Ildefonso]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Sandia]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Santa Ana]], New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Pueblo of Santa Clara]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Taos]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Tesuque]], New Mexico (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Pueblo of Zia]], New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Santo Domingo Pueblo]] (also [[Kewa Pueblo]]), New Mexico (Keresan)
* [[Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo]], Texas (Kiowa-Tanoan)
* [[Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation]], New Mexico ([[Zuni language|Zuni]])<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Indian Affairs Bureau |title=Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs |journal=Federal Register |date=8 January 2024 |volume=89 |issue=944 |pages=944–48 |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/01/08/2024-00109/indian-entities-recognized-by-and-eligible-to-receive-services-from-the-united-states-bureau-of |access-date=8 March 2024}}</ref>

One [[unrecognized tribe]], the [[Piro/Manso/Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan Guadalupe]] is currently{{When|date=June 2025}} petitioning the US Department of the Interior for federal recognition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Petition #005: Piro/Manso/Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe, NM |url=https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/ofa/005-pimati-nm |website=Indian Affairs |date=29 September 2015 |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs |access-date=9 March 2024}}</ref>{{Update-inline|date=June 2025}}

== Civic institutions ==
[[File:Indian Pueblo Cultural Center - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|[[Indian Pueblo Cultural Center]], Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
Each Pueblo is autonomous with its own governmental structure. Several organizations serve to unite the interests of difference Pueblos including the Albuquerque-based [[All Pueblo Council of Governors]]<ref name="nmdia">{{cite web |title=New Mexico Pueblos: Pueblo Organizations |url=https://www.iad.state.nm.us/pueblo-tribes-and-nations/pueblos/ |website=New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs |access-date=9 March 2024}}</ref> who collectively negotiates for land and water rights and advocates for Pueblo interests with the state and federal government. The interests of [[Eight Northern Pueblos]] are served by the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council based in Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo).<ref name="nmdia" /> Cochiti, Jemez, Sandia, Santa Ana, and Zia are served by the Five Sandoval Indian Pueblos, a nonprofit organization based in Rio Rancho.<ref name="nmdia" />

The [[Indian Pueblo Cultural Center]], founded in 1976 in Albuquerque, educates the public about all Pueblos through art, dance, and educational experiences.<ref name="nmtrue">{{cite web |title=Indian Pueblo Cultural Center |url=https://www.newmexico.org/listing/indian-pueblo-cultural-center/73/ |website=New Mexico True |access-date=9 March 2024}}</ref> The center has a museum that presents Pueblo history and artifacts, and an interactive Pueblo House museum. An archive holds a collection of photographs, books, and tape recordings of oral histories.<ref name="JoW">{{cite journal |last1=McCullah |first1=Tazbah |title=Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico |journal=Journal of the West |date=Winter 2007 |volume=46 |issue=a |pages=30–31 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=31h&AN=24769920&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=10 March 2024}}</ref> It also has a café and a restaurant,<ref name="nmtrue" /> Indian Pueblo Kitchen, serving [[Indigenous cuisine of the Americas|Indigenous cuisine]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Pueblo Kitchen |url=https://indianpueblo.org/restaurant/ |website=Indian Pueblo Cultural Center |access-date=10 March 2024}}</ref>{{Infobox subdivision type
| name               = Pueblo
| alt_name           =  
| map                = [[File:Taospueblo002.jpg|300px]]
| category           = [[Federal State|Federal Unit]] District IV<ref name="BIA district">{{cite web |title=District IV |url=https://www.bia.gov/bia/ojs/districts/district-iv |website=Bureau of Indian Affairs |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=9 March 2024}}</ref>
| territory          = 
| start_date         = 1000 CE or earlier{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}
| current_number     = 19 in New Mexico<ref name="State NM">{{cite web |title=23 NM Federally Recognized Tribes in NM Counties |url=https://www.sos.state.nm.us/voting-and-elections/native-american-election-information-program/23-nm-federally-recognized-tribes-in-nm-counties/ |publisher=Secretary of State of New Mexico |access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref> unknown amount in Arizona, Colorado, Utah or Mexico. 21 of them are federally recognized: 19 in New Mexico, 1 in Arizona, and 1 in Texas 
| number_date        =
| government         = [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]
}}
==Historical places==
[[File:She-we-na (Zuni Pueblo) (Native American). Kachina Doll (Paiyatemu), late 19th century.jpg|thumbnail|upright|She-we-na ([[Zuni (tribe)|Zuni]] Pueblo), [[katsina tihu]] (''Paiyatemu''), late 19th century. [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]
{{Main|Ancestral Puebloan dwellings}}
[[Pre-Columbian era|Pre-Columbian]] towns and villages in the Southwest, such as [[Acoma Pueblo|Acoma]], were located in defensible positions, for example, on high steep [[mesa]]s. [[Anthropologist]]s and official documents often refer to ancient residents of the area as pueblo cultures. For example, the [[National Park Service]] states, "The Late Puebloan cultures built the large, integrated villages found by the Spaniards when they began to move into the area."<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/sapu/learn/historyculture/index.htm NPS with link to PDF file: "The Origins of the Salinas Pueblos"], in ''In the Midst of a Loneliness: The Architectural History of the Salinas Missions'', U.S. National Park Service</ref>
The people of some pueblos, such as [[Taos Pueblo]], still inhabit centuries-old adobe pueblo buildings.<ref name="Gibson">Gibson, Daniel (2001) ''Pueblos of the Rio Grande: A Visitor's Guide'', Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, Arizona, p. 78, {{ISBN|1-887896-26-0}}</ref>

Contemporary residents often maintain other homes outside the historic pueblos.<ref name="Gibson"/>  Adobe and light construction methods resembling adobe now dominate architecture at the many pueblos of the area, in nearby towns or cities, and in much of the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]].<ref>[http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/pueblo/ Paradis, Thomas W. (2003) ''Pueblo Revival Architecture''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210212621/http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/pueblo/ |date=2008-02-10 }}, Northern Arizona University</ref>

In addition to contemporary pueblos, numerous [[ruins]] of [[Archaeology|archeological]] interest are located throughout the Southwest. Some are of relatively recent origin.  Others are of prehistoric origin, such as the [[cliff dwelling]]s and other [[Human settlement|habitations]] of the [[Ancestral Puebloans]], who emerged as a people around the 12th century BCE and began to construct their pueblos about 750–900 CE.<ref name="UNCO">[http://hewit.unco.edu/DOHIST/puebloan/begin.htm Hewit "Puebloan History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021105534/http://hewit.unco.edu/DOHIST/puebloan/begin.htm |date=2016-10-21 }}, University of Northern Colorado</ref><ref name="Gibson2">Gibson, Daniel (2001) "Pueblo History", in ''Pueblos of the Rio Grande: A Visitor's Guide'', Tucson, Arizona: Rio Nuevo Publishers, pp. 3–4, {{ISBN|1-887896-26-0}}</ref>

== Feast days ==
Many pueblos participate in [[syncretism]] between Indigenous Pueblo religion and Roman Catholicism. The pueblos welcome outsiders to participate in feast days, in which the Pueblo communities hold seasonal ceremonial dances, and certain households volunteer to feed visitors meals. Photography is forbidden.<ref name="travel">{{cite web |title=Calendar of Pueblo Feast Days & Other Events at the Pueblos |url=https://santafeselection.com/annual-events/pueblo-feast-days-calendar |website=Santa Fe Selection Travel Guide |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref> Visitors are advised to confirm events in advance with the Pueblos.<ref name="feast">{{cite web |title=Feast Days |url=https://indianpueblo.org/feast-days/ |website=Indian Pueblo Cultural Center |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

Dances include the antelope, bow-and-arrow, Comanche, corn, basket, buffalo, deer, harvest, [[Matachines]], and turtle dances.<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
;January
* 1: Transer of Canes: dances at most pueblos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 6: King's Day Celebration: Nambé, Picuris, Sandia, Santa Ana,<ref name=feast/> Santo Domingo, Taos<ref name=travel/>
* 22–23: [[St: Ildephonsus]] feast: San Ildefonso<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 25: Picuris, San Ildefonso<ref name=travel/>

;February
* 1st or 2nd weekend: Governor's Feast: Old Acoma, Ohkay Owingeh<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 2nd weekend: [[Virgin of Candelaria|Caldelaria Day]]: Picuris,<ref name=feast/> San Felipe<ref name=travel/>

;March
* 19: [[St. Joseph]] feast: Laguna<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

;April
* Easter weekend: most pueblos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* Easter Sunday: Jemez,<ref name=feast/> Nambé, Santo Domingo, San Ildefonso, Zia<ref name=travel/>

; May
* May 1: [[Philip the Apostle|St. Philip]] Feast: San Felipe<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* May 3: [[Feast of the Cross]]: Taos<ref name=travel/>
* First Sunday: [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Santa Maria]] Feast: Acoma<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

; June
* First Sunday of the month: Blessing of the fields: Tesuque<ref name=travel/>
* 13: [[Anthony of Padua|San Antonio]] feast: Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Sandia, Santa Clara, Taos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 13: Ysleta del Sur{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
* 24: [[St John the Baptist]] feast: Ohkay Owingeh, Taos<ref name=feast/>
* 29: [[St. Peter|San Pedro]]/[[St. Paul]] feast: Santa Ana, Santo Domingo<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

; July
* 14: [[St. Bonaventure]] feast: Cochiti<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 25: [[James the Great|Santiago]] feast: Taos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 26: [[St. Anne]] feast: Laguna, Santa Ana, Taos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 28: Peoples' Day: Pojoaque, Santa Ana<ref name=feast/>

;August
* 2: [[St. Persingula|San Persingula]] feast: Jemez<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 4: [[Saint Dominic|Santo Domingo]] feast: Santo Domingo<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 9: [[St. Lorenzo|San Lorenzo]] feast: Picuris<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 10: [[Pueblo Revolt]] anniversary and [[St. Lorenzo|San Lorenzo]] feast: Acoma, Picuris<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 12: [[Clare of Assisi|Santa Clara]] feast: Santa Clara <ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 15: [[Assumption of Our Blessed Mother]] feast: Laguna, Zia<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 28: [[St. Augustine|San Augustine]] feast: Isleta<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

;September
* 2: [[St. Stephen|San Estevan]] feast: Acoma<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 4: [[St. Augustine|San Augustine]] feast: Isleta<ref name=travel/>
* 8: [[Nativity of the Blessed Virgin]] feast: Laguna,<ref name=feast/> San Ildefonso<ref name=travel/>
* 14: Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo<ref name=travel/>
* 19: [[St. Joseph]] feast: Laguna<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 25: [[Elizabeth of Hungary|St. Elizabeth]] feast: Laguna<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 29: [[St. Jerome|San Geronimo Eve]] feast: Taos<ref name=travel/>
* 30: [[St. Jerome|San Geronimo]] feast: Taos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

; October
* 4: [[St. Francis of Assisi]] feast: Nambé<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 17: [[St. Margaret Mary]] feast: Laguna<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 24–27: Laguna<ref name=travel/>

; November
* 12: [[St. Diego|San Diego]] feast: Jemez, Tesuque<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* Thanksgiving Weekend: Acoma<ref name=travel/>
* Thanksgiving Day: Christmas light parade: Zuni<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

; December
* 11: [[Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe]] feast: Pojoaque<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 12: [[Our Lady of Guadalupe]] feast: Jemez, Pojoaque,<ref name=feast/> Santa Clara, Tesuque<ref name=travel/>
* 24: Christmas Eve celebration: Acoma, Laguna Nambé, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Taos, Tesuque<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 25: Christmas Day: Cochiti, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Santo Domingo, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Zia<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 25–27: Cochiti, Laguna<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 26: Ohkay Owingeh<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 26–28: Christmas dances at most pueblos<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>
* 28: [[Holy Innocents Day]]: Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris<ref name=travel/><ref name=feast/>

== See also ==
*[[All Pueblo Council of Governors]]
*[[Ancestral Puebloan dwellings]]
*[[Ancestral Puebloans]]
*[[Pueblo Revolt]]
*[[Pueblo music]]
*[[Pueblo architecture]]
*[[Pueblo pottery]]
*[[Aboriginal title in New Mexico|Pueblo Lands Act]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*The [http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/search/collection/sit SMU-in-Taos Research Publications] collection contains nine anthropological and archaeological monographs and edited volumes representing decades of research, primarily on Pueblo Indian sites near Taos, New Mexico, including [http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sit/id/24 Papers on Taos archaeology], [http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sit/id/25 Taos Archeology], [http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sit/id/27 Picuris Pueblo through time: eight centuries of change in a northern Rio Grande pueblo] and [http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sit/id/19 Excavations at Pot Creek Pueblo].

{{Pueblos}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pueblos| ]]
[[Category:Traditional Native American dwellings]]