Meet the Southwest Native Americans

The Spaniards claimed sovereignty over the vast land of the Southwest, settlements and people.  They saw the native tribes as incapable of assimilating true civilization and therefore easily exploitable.
Oh not so fast Spain!

These Native American tribes included:
*Pueblo - sedentary with terraced towns and well-tended farms.  Predates the Spanish arrival.
*Apache, Navajos - nomadic, raiders
*Comanche - nomadic, raiders and greatly feared by both Spanish and other tribes
*California tribes and Coahuiltecans (Texas) - primitive hunters of small game and plant gatherers who adapted rather easily to mission life.  Disease virtually wiped these peoples out in later years.

The Pueblo lived in what is now is Arizona and New Mexico and had a well-developed culture and extensive agriculture even before the Spanish arrived.  Tribal name - Hopi (peaceful ones).  The Pueblo taught the Navajo farming, herding and weaving. 

In August 1680 they finally rebelled against the Spanish rulers in one of the truly successful Indian rebellions in North American history.  Led by obscure medicine man Pope` Tewa who had ben publicly flogged twice for speaking out against Spanish rule, the rebellion exploded, routing the Spanish in a few weeks and sending those not killed back to Mexico.  The revolt had enormous significance to the nomadic for the tribes of the Southwest...

Next time...the significance of that victory
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Today in Pioneer History: On June 23, 1878, Martin Sweeny, a former Indian agent and Arizona mining entrepreneur, is murdered near Tombstone, Arizona, in a dispute over a mining property.

The Adobe Home

The settlers of the 1700s in the Southwest had little resources to build so they made homes of adobe brick.  Pulverizing the soil, adding water to form a thick paste, the settlers then molded the mixture into  four inch thick bricks which weighed 40-50 pounds each.  On a foundation of uneven stones, the dried bricks were laid in rows and mortared with thick mud. When it dried, a coat of mud plaster was applied over the bricks to make a smooth surface.  On the roof, pine log beams supported crisscrossed poles which were covered with bricks and a thick coat of mud plaster and earth was applied.

The settlers clustered their dwellings in multi-family compounds where each one story building was attached and all windows faced the inside courtyard.  Pueblo Indians taught them how to raise both cattle and sheep inside the courtyard.  They also grew gardens and orchards.

The lower quarter of the walls inside were sometimes painted with ocher mixture of dirt and water applied with sheepskins.  (this photo is not a authentic original!) The clay floor was soaked in animal blood to harden the surface.  The family slept on the floor and also sat on the floor to eat at a low table.  The fireplace served for cooking and heating the home.  Corn and chili peppers were baked outdoors in a beehive shaped earthen oven.  Cooking utensils were mostly of copper.

In each home in a carved in niche was a statue of a revered saint which served as their worship center.  The inside of Spanish homes differed little from the inside of pioneer settlers in the west 100 years later - only the materials changed.

Next time...California Missions
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On this Day in Pioneer History:  On June  13, 1805, Meriwether Lewis and four men arrive at the Great Falls of the Missouri River, confirming that the explorers are headed in the right direction.

First Southwest Settlements

Juan Onate brought along to California with his settlers, slaves, and missionaries, grain and fruit tress, 7000 Spanish cattle (ancestors of the Texas Longhorn), sheep, goats, burros and most importantly a herd of horses.  The descendants of these horses transformed the culture of the Plains Indians.

As he moved east, Onate commandeered a native "pueblo" or town (the name gives the area's Indians their names) and here just south of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama, he established the first Spanish settlement in the Southwest - San Juan in 1599.

Onate was appointed governor and the settlers had trouble from the beginning like most farming settlers.  Instead of cattle, sheep seemed to survive better.  There were droughts and crop failures that forced them to move across the Rio Grande to San Gabriel where they were just as hungry and defeated.  Many settlers returned to Mexico without any gold, without any food either.

Onate was accused of mismanaging the colony.  He told the government to send him necessary supplies for the settlers or relieve him of his duty. And Madrid's answer arrived in 1609 as the new governor moving the entire colony to Santa Fe..  The new governor lead the settlement to such prosperity that it became a major Spanish outpost for decades.

Next time...Missionaries
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On this Day in Pioneer History: On May 26, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signs an act establishing the Montana Territory. Sidney Edgerton, the territory’s first governor, fled after suffering through several months of Indian raids.