Hawikuh Ruins
Encyclopedia
Zuni language
Zuni is a language of the Zuni people, indigenous to western New Mexico and eastern Arizona in the United States. It is spoken by around 9,500 people worldwide, especially in the vicinity of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, and much smaller numbers in parts of Arizona.Unlike most indigenous languages in...
) is a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
located 12 miles southwest of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, on the Zuni Indian Reservation
Zuni Indian Reservation
The Zuni Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Zuni tribe of Native Americans. It lies in the Zuni River valley and is located primarily in McKinley and Cibola counties in western New Mexico, about west of Albuquerque. There are also several smaller non-contiguous sections in Apache County,...
. It is included within Zuni-Cibola Complex
Zuni-Cibola Complex
Zuni-Cibola Complex, which comprises Hawikuh, Yellow House, Kechipbowa, and Great Kivas, is a set of sites near Zuni, New Mexico.It was declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1974.Hawikuh Ruins is itself a National Historic Landmark....
, a larger National Historic Landmark District that includes other ruins as well.
Hawikuh was one of the largest of the Zuni pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
s at the time of the Spanish entrada. It was founded around 1400 AD. It was the first pueblo to be visited and conquered by Spanish explorers
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
.
Estevanico
Estevanico
Estevanico , "Black Stephen", "Esteban", "Esteban the Moor", "Estevan", "Estebanico", "Stephen the Black", "Stephen the Moor", "Stephen Dorantes" after his owner Andres Dorantes, and "Little Stephen") was the first known person born in Africa to have arrived in the present-day continental United...
, a North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n slave assigned to Fray Marcos de Niza
Marcos de Niza
Fray Marcos de Niza was a Franciscan friar. He was born in Nice , which was at that time under the control of the Italian House of Savoy....
's expedition, was the first non-native to visit Hawikuh, in 1539. He was killed when he unwittingly alarmed Zuni tribesmen with decorations that symbolized death.
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, who visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542...
conquered the pueblo in 1540, hoping it was one of the legendary "Seven Cities of Gold
Seven Cities of Gold (myth)
The Seven Cities of Gold is a myth that led to several expeditions by adventurers and conquistadors in the 16th century. It also featured in several works of popular culture.-Origins of myth:...
". He recorded its native name at the time as Cevola, though others who accompanied him wrote it as Cibola in their accounts. It has been conjectured that this name comes from a word meaning "buffalo". Coronado was severely disappointed by the lack of gold, but wrote that, "As far as I can tell, these Indians worship water, because it makes the corn grow and sustains their life." About the pueblo, he reported that, "Although they are not decorated with turquoises, nor made of lime or good bricks, nevertheless they are very good houses, with three, four, and five stories, where there are very good apartments... and some very good rooms underground [ Kiva
Kiva
A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies....
s], paved, which are made for winter and have something like hot baths."
In 1628 the Mission La Purisima Concepcíón de Hawikuh was established. The Spanish attempted to suppress the Zuni religion, and introduced the encomienda
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....
forced-labor system. In 1632, the Hawikuh Zunis rebelled, burnt the church, and killed the priest. In 1672, the church was burnt again, by Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
raiders, and it was burnt a final time in 1680 during the Great Pueblo Revolt
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of several pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.-Background:...
, when all the Nuevo Mexico
Nuevo México
-In Mexico:*Nuevo México, Chiapas*Nuevo México, Jalisco*Santa Fe de Nuevo México ; the province or kingdom of which Santa Fe was the capital....
pueblos rose against the Spanish. After this revolt, Hawikuh was permanently abandoned.
The ruins of Hawikuh were excavated during the period 1917-23 by the Heye Foundation under the leadership of Frederick Webb Hodge
Frederick Webb Hodge
Frederick W. Hodge was an editor, anthropologist, archaeologist, and historian born in Plymouth, England to Edwin and Emily Hodge. His parents moved to Washington, D.C. when Frederick was seven years old....
. The records and artifacts from this excavation are now at the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
. Hawikuh was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
Hawikuh is located on the Zuni Indian Reservation
Zuni Indian Reservation
The Zuni Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Zuni tribe of Native Americans. It lies in the Zuni River valley and is located primarily in McKinley and Cibola counties in western New Mexico, about west of Albuquerque. There are also several smaller non-contiguous sections in Apache County,...
near Zuni, New Mexico. The site may be visited with advance permission from the Zuni tribal office and a guide: 505-782-7022.
External links
- Hawikuh Historic Site by the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
- Hawikuh by the Center for Desert Archeology
- The Battle of Hawikuh at Cibola