The Rebellion
Okay, last time, I had us at the Taos Pueblo. It was just after Spanish conquistadors had arrived (about 1540). And, unfortunately, alas, things were not good. The conquistadors set out to turn the inhabitants of what is New Mexico into a peasant population, working the land for resident masters.
But that wasn’t possible. Even if the Puebloans and others had been willing to go along with their own enslavement, there simply wasn’t enough water, good land, wood lots, fertile pastures, and crops to support a feudal economy. It simply couldn’t be done. Soon, people were starving.
About the photos: First, this is a shot of the land west of Albuquerque in what is known as the Petroglyph National Monument (so called because ancient Native American inscriptions can be found there). Much of New Mexico looks a lot like this. Once you get beyond the river and carefully constructed irrigation networks, it is SOP. It is beautiful, but, clearly, you are not going to support a large population there without serious industrial technology. That’s what the Spanish imperial officials found out the hard way.
Second, an irrigation canal in the North Valley near Albuquerque. Water is what makes life possible here. As such, channels such as these -- called acequias locally -- are vital. Some of them date back hundreds or even thousands of years.
Third and finally, Martha in a Flying Star restaurant in Albuquerque back in 2024. She is looking wonderfully tolerant of her photo snapping husband, don’t you think?
Then, too, the conquistadors who came to New Mexico were simply not nice. There’s no easy or polite way to say that. There was war and oppression, and not a few massacres along the way. (1) Soon, the Spanish were hated.
And, finally, there was a religious angle. A major component of the Spanish elite ideology at the time was religion. The elites saw themselves as soldiers of the King, but also of the Church. They were the heirs to the warriors of Christ who had retaken Spain from the Muslims. Imposing the Church and its practices on local peoples was very much part of one’s Christian duties. That made things, shall we say, complicated in their dealings with the locals. (2)
Things drifted along, though, until the 1670s, when two things happened. First, there was a drought, which meant that food got scarce. Second, the Spanish authorities -- both secular and in the Church itself -- turned with particular fury on Pueblo religious practices. For quite a long while, the Church had practiced a sort of easy toleration of the Pueblo religion. It was willing to sort of close one eye and then look the other way so long as the Pueblo peoples built churches and at least pretended to go to mass now and then.
But, that all changed in the 1660s, when the Franciscan brothers, who were running the area’s religious establishment, took a turn for hardcore Christianity.(3) Soon, Pueblo spiritual practitioners were labeled as criminals and made subject to severe penalties -- up to and including death by hanging.
Everything hit the fan in 1675. A newly appointed governor of the territory, Juan Francisco Treviño, set out to eliminate Pueblo religion and practices.(4) He began the process that year by ordering that kivas (Pueblo ceremonial spaces) and kachina images be destroyed. Then he arrested 47 medicine men and charged them with witchcraft. Three of the men were hanged, one committed suicide before he could be executed, and the others were whipped and publicly humiliated. They were sentenced also to be sold into slavery.
From this fate they were saved when a number of Pueblo men appeared and politely, but firmly, suggested the arrested men be released. The fact that the governor’s troops were mostly away fighting Apache raiders made the decision an easy one. Treviño yielded with as much grace as he could and the medicine men went home.
After that, Treviño spent a few more years in office as governor. He continued his attempts to stamp out Pueblo religion but, it seems with only limited success -- though, he did manage to alienate more and more of the local folk. Then, he returned to Mexico City, and quietly faded into obscurity.
However, he had won a place in history. He may not have been aware of it, and he might not have liked it had he known, but he had, indeed, gained it.
By humiliating those men, the 43 medicine men who had survived his none-too-tender attentions, he had created a hero...
...as well as the greatest enemy that the Spanish Empire in Nuevo México (New Mexico) would ever face.
More to come.
Footnotes:
For just one example, see “1599 Acoma massacre,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1599_Acoma_massacre
For more on this see: “Pueblo Revolt,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Revolt
The villain in the story seems to be Alonso de Posada, who became the head of the Franciscans in what is now New Mexico in 1661. Not to put too fine a point on it, he seems to have been a bigot and a tyrant. He demanded tha the Pueblo peoples give up their traditional practices entirely. When secular authorities got in his way, he accused them of heresy and set the Inquisition on them.
See “Alonso de Posada,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_de_Posada
Another not so nice person. See “Juan Francisco Treviño,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Francisco_Trevi%C3%B1o
Copyright©2026 Michael Jay Tucker
Care to help out?
I provide these blog postings for free. That’s fine and I’m happy to do so. But, long ago and far away, I was told that if you give away your material, that means you don’t really think it has any value.
So, to get beyond that, I’ve decided to make it possible for you to leave me a “tip” for my posts.
If you like what I write or the videos I produce, and feel you could make a small contribution to support my efforts, please go here:
That will take you to a Gumroad page where you’ll have the option of leaving me a few pence by way of encouragement.
Again, I don’t mind if you don’t. I just want to provide you with the option so that I won’t feel quite so much like I’m just tossing my works into the wind.
Either way, thanks hugely for dropping by the blog :-)
~mjt
#StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #Saint_Michael #Michael_The_Archangel #NewMexico #Taos #Albuquerque #SantaFe #Kiva_fireplace #Ski_Area #Taos_Ski_Area #Nicolai_Fechin #Fechin_House #Eya_Fechin #Taos_Art_Museum #Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial_(New_Mexico) #Angel_Fire #Eagle_Nest #Taos_Pueblo
Comments