History of Picuris Pueblo

According to archaeologists, the Picuris village has occupied its present location since AD 750, after our ancestors abandoned an earlier larger village known as Pot Creek.  They had a thriving population of over  5,000 people.  Before the coming of Europeans, Picuris already had established a form of tribal government, including a Governor, a Lieutenant Governor, and a Tribal Council of eight.

The first expedition of Europeans to come was that of Castano de Sosa in the winter of 1583.  In his diary he wrote it was the coldest reception both in climate and human relations he had ever received, because he was not welcome.  Thinking he could get the attention of the Picuris leader, he camped overnight.  The next morning to his surprise he found out the Picurisians were preparing for battle.  Looking at the number of men he had versus the number of Picurisians, he packed up and left.  Before leaving  he described the Picurisians as the most indomitable and treacherous of the whole kingdom.  He also noted the house blocks he saw, like condominiums of today, structures of anywhere from 7 to 12 stories high.

Over time other nearby Pueblos, such as San Juan, were being converted by the Spanish to Christianity and in time that slowly reached Picuris.  Two churches were eventually built.  Picuris people who opposed the church were taken as slaves and forced to build missions.  On the morning of August 10^th, 1630, the second church in Picuris was burned to the ground, and thus began the first day of the Pueblo Revolt.  The Rio Grande Pueblos, 18 other pueblos in all, waited on the outskirts of Santa Fe, the center of the Revolt, for the Picurisians to arrive before attacking.  The first thing that Picuris did was to cut off the water supply to the Palace of the Governors where the Spanish were held up.  The united Pueblos then attacked, and after five days the nearly 2,000 surviving Spanish fled to El Paso del Norte.

In the next few years the people reclaimed much of their ways, but much intermarriage had already occurred so it was difficult to fully reunite the people.  Then in 1692, Don Juan de Onate led a bloodless Spanish reconquest.  After reaching the Rio Grande Pueblos, he asked the people who was responsible for the Pueblo Revolt and everyone pointed north to Picuris, the Grand Pueblo.  When the Spanish arrived at Picuris they placed the brunt of the punishment for the Revolt on Picuris.  They put a tremendous stress on the people by collecting an impossible tax of 98% of whatever food was grown, which pushed the people to near starvation.  They also willfully brought in small pox and the people died in great numbers.  In 1696 our surviving people abandoned our Pueblo and fled eastward onto the plains because of fear of retribution from the Spanish.  To this day some of the Plains Indians have put into their dialect Picuris words and songs.

In the early 1700’s, surviving Picuris were forced back to the Pueblo by a Spanish general, but the Spanish had already taken for themselves all the prime farming land and reduced the reservation land to a small fraction of its original size.  Only 1,700 acres remained of what was once a great expanse of beautiful land for as far as the eye could see.  Of a tribe of 5,000 people or more, now only just over 300 people survived the oppression brought by the Spanish.

On a more contemporary note, the first car arrived at Picuris in the 1950’s.  Electricity and water came about the same time to two houses and an old school.  This brought great change, and the population declined to about 175.  This then brought about more intermarriage, because there was no choice.  With more intermarriage the language began to decline, and because English was the common language it became the more prevalent language spoken.  Alcohol became legal and became a problem for the Native Americans.  The hippie rebellion erupted and with it came other drugs to Picuris.  But through all of these changes our traditions remain strong, and there is now great movement to restore and preserve the health, language, and culture for our people today and for generations to come.