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Nearly 100 years before the American Revolution, another war of independence took place on American soil-against Spanish colonizers. Coordinated by Tewa leader Po'Pay, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 saved Indigenous cultures from destruction under a feudal system that enslaved inhabitants of the region and forced them to convert to Christianity.

The rebellion, fought in what is now New Mexico, resulted in a rare victory for tribal nations against European colonizers. Although it succeeded in repelling the Spanish for only 12 years, that was long enough to secure the ancient traditions, languages and homelands of Pueblo people to this day.

"If they had lost, we would not be here. That is what was at stake in 1680. I would not be here, and the languages of our ancestors would not be here," says Jon Ghahate, cultural educator at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a member of the Laguna and Zuni Pueblos. Ghahate uses historical records compiled by the Spanish, as well as his peoples' own oral narratives, to tell the story of the revolt.

Conquistadors: 'We Will Do to You All the Harm and Evil We Can'

Ever since the arrival of conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540, Indigenous agrarian peoples of the desert Southwest had resisted incursions by the Spanish. The most famous resister, Po'pay (whose name means "Ripe Squash"), was born around 1630 into the Ohkay Owingeh, or San Juan Pueblo community near present-day Española. He became a prominent leader and member of a medicine society, but lived under the harsh Requerimiento (or"requirements")brought by the Spanish to the region.

This quasi-religious doctrine, established in 1513, authorized the Spanish to subjugate Native Americans and force them to abandon their own faiths. According to the document, meant to be read by conquistadors to the local Indian people, failing to submit would have dire consequences: "We will take you and your wives and children and make them slaves, and as such we will sell them, and will dispose of you...and will do to you all the harm and evil we can."

"It was their traditions, their cultures, the spirituality, their languages-thus their very existence-which were now under assault," Ghahate said. Unlike the Spaniards' dogmatic scriptural tenets and doctrines, Pueblo peoples believed that "all things living and inanimate are connected, are part of a big cosmic cyclical construct that has no beginning nor end. We as human beings are merely just a part of it."

The Revolt Took Extraordinary Coordination-and Knotted Ropes

In 1675, Po'pay and his followers met at Jemez Pueblo to discuss the Spanish encroachments on their lands, raids by their Apache and Navajo enemies and a drought, which the people thought could be ended by a return to traditional ceremonies and practices.

"In Pueblo thought and culture, when religion is suppressed, the natural order of life is disrupted," wrote Ohkay Owingeh member Matthew Martinez, meaning "a threat to the livelihood of the people."

Yet the Spanish outlawed traditional practices. Po'pay and 46 other Pueblo leaders were convicted of sorcery for continuing them; three were hung in public, one leader hanged himself in jail rather than face the same fate. Po'Pay was among those publicly flogged.

On his release, Po'pay went into hiding at Taos Pueblo, far to the north. From there, he spent four years organizing a rebellion that would involve almost all of the dozens of Pueblo communities scattered around the region. Secrecy was paramount. By some accounts, Po'Pay was said to have killed his own son in-law, who he suspected of treachery, to keep the plan secret.

'It was their traditions, their cultures, the spirituality, their languages-thus their very existence-which were now under assault.' - Jon Ghahate

"It took a unique individual to orchestrate the revolt across two dozen communities who spoke six different languages and were sprawled over a distance of nearly 400 miles-from Taos at one end to Hopi villages at the other," wrote Dr. Joe Sando, a pioneering Pueblo scholar who taught his people's history at the University of New Mexico.. And Po'Pay, he added, overcame other strategic disadvantages: "Pueblo people were prohibited from using horses. Moreover, during Spanish rule they were not allowed to use guns of any kind."

To coordinate the timing of the uprising, Po'pay dispatched runners to deliver knotted ropes to local leaders who, despite speaking divergent languages and dialects, could "read" the scheduled date by undoing one knot a day until they were all undone. But because two young messengers were caught by spies, tortured and killed, the revolt was moved up at the last minute from its original date of August 13 to August 10, when the Pueblos rose up in unison against their overlords.

Po'Pay had ordered his followers to take the Spanish horses to keep them from fleeing. They sacked haciendas, blocked roads and cut off the water supply to Santa Fe. In retribution for their religious oppression, they v andalized and set fire to Catholic churches. During the revolt, close to 400 Spanish were killed, including several dozen priests, as well as some settlers and some Pueblo people.

Under Siege, the Spanish Retreat

After about a week, the Spanish departed Santa Fe, some 2,000 people in all, including many Pueblo people who were either hostages or had converted to Catholicism and chosen to stay with the Spanish. The refugees were allowed to march south unmolested by the Pueblo revolutionaries. Many settled in El Paso.

Po'pay had promised that if the Spanish were driven out, the Pueblo communities would return to peace and prosperity. Although his vision of a united Pueblo culture didn't materialize as he hoped, for 12 years the Spanish were kept out of the region. During that time, relations between the Pueblos and the Spanish changed. The colonists' dreaded encomienda system of forced labor was abandoned and the Pueblo revolutionaries fighting under Po'pay were pardoned.

According to Ghahate, Po'Pay had been one of the "true traditionalists" who rejected everything the Spanish had brought-even horses, ranching practices and tools that made life easier. But not all Puebloans agreed. O ver time, Po'Pay lost popular support.

Po'Pay's Legacy

After the Spanish returned to Santa Fe, Ghahate says, they began to show more tolerance for a mix of Indigenous and Catholic traditions; such a mix is practiced at many Pueblos today.

In 2005, a statue of Po'Pay's likeness was unveiled in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. He was the earliest individual to be so honored, and one of a small handful of Indigenous people enshrined.

"To the Pueblo people here, Po'pay is our hero," said Ohkay Owingeh member Herman Agoyo. "Tribes were on the verge of losing their cultural identity when the Pueblo Revolt brought everything back on track for our people."

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Po'Pay: The Little-Known Pueblo Hero Who Led the First American Revolution | HISTORY

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The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 drove out the Spanish for 12 years-and saved many Indigenous cultures from being wiped out.

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For my cousins, growing up in New England, American history began with the Pilgrims and settlement at Jamestown. But for me, growing up in New Mexico, history began with the 16th century Spanish Conquest and the drive up into New Mexico territory followed, a century later, by the Pueblo Revolt. The history of the United States is not only the history of the English and French colonists but also of the 16th century Spanish incursions into Mexico and the American southwest and their engagements with the native peoples already inhabiting these regions. All of this has been brought to my mind since during the fall we commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month and National Indian American Heritage Month.

The Spanish conquistadors first arrived in what became New Mexico territory in 1540 led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. However, the first permanent Spanish settlements in New Mexico did not occur until the end of the 16th century. In 1595 King Philip II of Spain granted Juan de Onate permission to settle and explore the New Mexico region. In 1598, Juan de Onate proceeded from Mexico to the land that would become New Mexico and attempted to establish a permanent settlement. Onate, like many of the Spanish conquistadors, was mainly interested in finding mineral wealth. However, Franciscan missionaries accompanied him and began to establish missions and churches and to convert the Pueblo Indians. The importance of continuing this work led the Spanish crown to continue funding the New Mexico settlements even after it was clear there were no fabulous mines or cities of gold to be found. In 1607, the governor of the province, Don Pedro de Peralta, established La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís, more commonly known as Santa Fe, and in 1610 it was designated the capitol of the region.

But Spanish rule in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México was heavy handed. In 1599, a group of soldiers under Juan de Onate was sent to the Acoma Pueblo to punish them for the killing of 12 Spanish soldiers. Over 600 Acoma dwellers were captured and many of them mutilated as punishment. Onate was disciplined for this overly cruel behavior, but the Spanish still exploited the Pueblos. Under the system of encomienda, the Pueblos were forced to contribute a portion of their crops each year to the Spanish government and religious missions while under repartimiento, the Pueblo people were forced to work in Spanish households without pay. However, the greatest tension between the Spanish and the Pueblo Indians was the forcible conversion to Christianity and the supression of native religious practices. Add to these several years of drought and famine in the 1660s and 1670s and stir in a charismatic leader, Po'Pay, and in 1680 the Pueblos rose up and successfully pushed the Spanish out of New Mexico for over a decade.

Not much is known about the leader of the revolt, Po'Pay, known to the Spanish as Popé. The book, Po'Pay: Leader of the First American Revolution, identifies him as an Indian from Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo). He is first heard of during the 1670s when the Spanish rounded up a group of local religious leaders and brought them to Santa Fe for trial. Several of those arrested were hanged and the others whipped. Tension between the Spanish and Pueblos grew stronger after this incident and the Tewa leaders, including Po'Pay, made plans for a general uprising of the Pueblos against the Spanish.

The Revolt was scheduled to begin on August 11. The Spanish learned of the plot on August 9th but despite this setback, the Pueblos advanced their plans and launched attacks against the Spanish on August 10, 1680. The Indians laid siege to Santa Fe, which held out until September 21, 1680 when the Indians allowed the colonists to retreat south into Mexico. A letter from the then governor of the province, Don Antonio de Otermin, written on September 8, 1680, details the first part of the revolt.

The letter provides the Spanish perspective on the uprising with the governor stating such an event was wholly unexpected given the existing peaceful conditions:

I received information that a plot for a general uprising of the Christian Indians was being formed and was spreading rapidly. This was wholly contrary to the existing peace and tranquility in this miserable kingdom, not only among the Spaniards and natives, but even on the part of the heathen enemy, for it had been a long time since they had done us any considerable damage. This letter also makes it clear that despite the advance warning the Spanish had of the uprising, their response was inept.

By September 21, the governor was forced to withdraw from Santa Fe to El Paso:

Because we now found ourselves with very few provisions for so many people, and without hope of human aid, considering that our not having heard in so many days from the people on the lower river would be because of their all having been killed, like the others in the kingdom, or at least of their being or having been in dire straits, with the view of aiding them and joining with them into one body, so as to make the decisions most conducive to his Majesty's service, on the morning of the next day, Monday, I set out for La Isleta, where I judged the said comrades on the lower river would be ... we went as far as the pueblo of La Alameda, where we learned from an old Indian whom we found in a maizefield that the lieutenant general with all the residents of his jurisdictions had left some fourteen or fifteen days before to return to El Paso to meet the wagons.

It took 12 years before the Spanish were able to reoccupy Santa Fe and the surrounding territory. During those 12 years there were several punitive expeditions against the Pueblos as well as offers to negotiate - in 1683 the Picuris Pueblo sent an emissary to Governor Otermin offering aid in the Spanish reentry in exchange for peace and an agreement not to kill the natives or burn their homes. However, the Spanish continued to launch punitive expeditions against the Pueblos - attacking Santa Ana in 1687 and Zia in 1689. Finally in 1692, a new governor, Diego de Vargas left El Paso on route to Santa Fe. After surrounding the town with his army and two cannons, the Indians agreed to negotiate and De Vargas was able to reclaim Santa Fe without a fight. Despite this, there were two subsequent revolts against Spanish rule in 1694 and 1696 - both of which were crushed by De Vargas. Moreover, although the friars had returned with De Vagas, the forced labor practices and aggressive suppression of native religion did not. During the 1700s, the Spanish and Pueblo peoples began to live together in greater harmony and in 1820, the Pueblos were granted equal citizenship in the province. The leader of the 1680 rebellion, Po'Pay is commemorated in the Capitol's National Statutory Hall - the second statute given by New Mexico.

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1680 - the Pueblo Revolt | In Custodia Legis

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But for me, growing up in the New Mexico, history began with the 16th century Spanish Conquest and the drive up into New Mexico territory followed, a century later, by the Pueblo Revolt.

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Nzinga Brought to Life: Recreations Revealed, with History

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Queen Njinga Mbandi | Africa's Great Civilizations | PBS LearningMedia

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Njinga Mbandi (1581 - 1663) was a fearless warrior queen, skilled negotiator, and outstanding military general who fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in Central Africa. In her lifetime she ruled over two kingdoms - Ndongo and Matamba - and remains an icon in Angola today.