The Revolt of the Pueblo Indians
The Revolt of the Pueblo Indians
The Pueblo Revolt was in 1680. The Pueblo Revolt was the result of Pueblo Indians rebelling against the mistreatment by the Spanish people. The Indians were starving and dying from disease because of the Spanish people. The Pueblo Indians did not want the Spanish people in New Mexico. They wanted to go back to their religion and the Indian ways. These actions by the Spanish people are what led to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
There were many reasons why the Indians wanted the Spaniards off their land. The Indians were mistreated in many ways. One of the reasons they wanted the Spaniards off their land was that they were forced to work for the Spaniards as well as raise their own crops. Another reasons they wanted them off their land was that the Spanish people brought diseases to the Indian people. The diseases killed many Indians. The diseases that were brought to the Indian people were small pox, measles, whooping cough, and many other diseases. In one year 3,000 Indian people died from small pox alone. The Pueblo Indians did not have an immune system built up to fight against these diseases.
Another reason was that the Navajos and Apaches were raiding the Pueblo Indians. The Pueblo Indians blamed the Spanish for this because they couldn’t defend them. They raided them because they wanted their food. They wanted their food because they could not trade with them anymore. The last reason they wanted the Spanish out was the weather. There was a five year drought between 1667 and 1672. The crops would not grow and the Indians were starving to death. They were not allowed to do their rain dance either because the Catholic priests would not allow them. The Indians were also forced to become Christianized. The Spaniards burned down the kivas and forced them to become Christians. The Indians wanted to go back to their own religion to bring rain.
In 1675 the priests asked the governor to arrest the Pueblos religious leaders because the priests did not want the Indians to practice their religion. The governor sent out soldiers to arrest the religious leaders called medicine men. They arrested 47 men and brought them to Santa Fe....