Acoma Pueblo
The settling of the American West first by Europeans and then Americans is a story of conquest--both of land and of people. But it's also a story of perseverance and resilience. The Pueblo Indians are one chapter in this tale.
In 1598, Mexican-born conquistador Juan de Oņate set out from Mexico City with an entourage of 83 wagons, 7,000 animals and 600 people--families, soldiers, priests, Africans and Indians--to claim lands to the north for the King of Spain. He was also charged with converting natives to Christianity and setting up a colony. Traveling for months, he followed the Camino Real (Royal Road) to its end, then kept pushing north an extra 600 miles over punishing desert terrain.
Finally, Oņate and an advance party reached an Indian pueblo called Ohkay Owingeh (Place of the Strong People) where the local tribe received them kindly, even giving up their homes as living quarters. This became the first Spanish colony of New Mexico. But relations soured when the rest of the colonists arrived and the natives realized such great numbers in a place of scarce food could mean starvation.
Oņate renamed the Indian pueblo San Juan de los Caballeros. He then set about scouting the region for food and treasure. He soon came upon Acoma Pueblo, a daunting clifftop town that had intimidated the Coronado expedition 60 years earlier:
...it was up on a rock out of reach, having steep sides in every direction, and so high that it was a very good musket that could throw a ball as high. There was a broad stairway for about 200 steps, then a stretch of about 100 narrower steps, and at the top they had to go up about three times as high as a man by means of holes in the rock. There was a wall of large and small stones at the top, which they could roll down without showing themselves, so that no army could possibly be strong enough to capture the village.
The Acoma Indians already had word that Oņate meant to seize and colonize their lands. They invited him and his men to climb up to the village, where assassins waited in a chamber to kill
Oņate's retribution was terrible. The Spaniards returned to the Acoma stronghold with a heavily armed force of 72. The ice, stones, arrows and spears the Acomas launched from their cliff at the Spaniards were not enough to keep them at bay. In horribly violent, hand-to-hand combat that lasted three days, the Acomas fought with their prehistoric weapons against Spanish cannon, firearms, swords and daggers. Some committed suicide by leaping to their deaths rather than surrender. Of the 2,000 Acomas, only 600 survived, while only one Spaniard was lost. The village was burned to the ground.
But the suffering of the survivors had just begun. Oņate punished the rest of the tribe by cutting off the right foot of every male over 25. He enslaved most of the others, and sent 60 young girls to be raised as Christians in convents in Mexico City. They never saw their families again.
Nevertheless, survivors of the Acoma massacre began to rebuild their town and replant fields. Oņate was eventually banished from New Mexico and Mexico City after standing trial for excessive cruelty, immorality, and false reporting. He died in exile in Spain.
Acoma Pueblo is now among the oldest continuously occupied towns in America. The Acomas succeeded in keeping their language, their spiritual practices and their independent government alive. Native Americans at San Juan de los Caballeros recently changed their village's name back to Ohkay Owingeh. And a statue of Juan de Oņate, erected in 1998 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first Spanish settlement in northern New Mexico, had its right foot removed in the middle of the night by electric saw.
The Acoma: People of the White Rock
By the time the Spaniards encountered them, the Acomas and their forebears had been living atop a 350-foot mesa since before the 10th century. This cliff-top home, a series of stone and mortar buildings reached by ladders and steps, was known as Sky City. Wrote a Spaniard in 1540 of the
Photos of Acoma Pueblo courtesy of Denver Public Library www.denver.lib.co.us/whg/index.html
Pueblo Indians such as the Acoma--which means "People of the White Rock"--had sophisticated irrigation systems in place for farming on the plains below their natural fortress homes. They raised domesticated animals, grew crops, and lived a life in tune with the cycle of the seasons. The men organized and directed ceremonies, hunted game and wove textiles. The women tended the children, ground corn, prepared food, carried water, wove baskets and created ceramics.
About Acoma Pueblo Carrot Muffins
America's first Thanksgiving was not celebrated by the Mayflower Pilgrims. It actually took place 23 years earlier, at the Rio Grande River. It was 1598 when conquistador Juan de Oņate and a party of Spanish-Mexican colonists reached the river after traveling from Mexico City. There they rested, claimed all the land before them for King Phillip of Spain, and gave thanks with a meal shared with local Indians.
The meal could have included carrots. Oņate is credited with being the first to introduce the vegetable on American soil. It quickly gained favor among both European and Indian inhabitants. The Iroquois in upper New York State had stores of carrots by 1779. Children of Oregon's Flathead tribe liked carrots so well that they could not resist stealing them from the fields. Thomas Jefferson grew several varieties in his garden in Monticello.
The carrot has been in constant use for 5,000 years. Its leaves and roots have been used a medicine for stomach ailments and dog bites...as food for livestock...as adornment for ladies' hair and hats...and as food. Patriotic Dutch farmers found a way to cultivate them with orange roots, to honor the House of Orange.
It wasn't until after World War I, when American travelers returned from Europe after tasting the uncommon root vegetable, that the popularity of carrots took off. Today, most are grown in California, Michigan and Florida.
Our carrot muffins are the perfect balance of savory and sweet. They're also rich in beta carotene. Enjoy them with one of our teas or coffees at breakfast or for a snack.
