Popé
c.1625
San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico
c.1690
San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico
Tewa Pueblo medicine man and political leader
Popé was a seventeenth-century revolutionary leader of the Pueblos, a Native American group in present-day New Mexico. Defying laws established by Spanish conquistadors (conquerors), Popé practiced the traditional Pueblo religion and urged Native Americans to reject Roman Catholicism. (Roman Catholicism is a branch of Christianity that is based in Rome, Italy, and headed by the pope.) Popé also advocated a return to the old Pueblo way of life that had existed before the arrival of the Spaniards. In 1680 Popé organized a revolt at Santa Fe against Spanish forces. During the siege four hundred missionaries and colonists were killed, and the Pueblos forced the survivors to flee hundreds of miles southward. The Pueblos were finally rid of the Spanish. Popé then set about removing all traces of Spanish influence: he outlawed the Spanish language, destroyed Catholic churches, and "cleansed" the people who had been baptized by missionaries. Within a decade, however, Popé's power was weakened by Apache raids, internal Pueblo dissension, and his own tyrannical (being abusive with power) rule. In 1692, less than two years after Popé's death, the Spaniards once again conquered the Pueblos.
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