![[Pasted image 20250202091017.png]] Farther west, the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) also looked north to expand its territory into the lands of the [Pueblo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo) Indians. [[Juan de Oñate]] explored throughout the region that is now the southwestern United States for Spain in the late 1590s. The Spanish hoped the region would yield more gold and silver, but found little of value to them. In 1610, Spanish settlers established themselves at Santa Fe where many Pueblo villages were located. Missionaries got to work converting the natives to Christianity. The Pueblo adopted parts of Catholicism that dovetailed with their own practices and views of the world. But Spanish priests insisted that natives discard their old ways entirely and angered the Pueblo by focusing on converting the children, drawing them away from their parents. This attack on Pueblo culture, combined with an extended period of drought and increased hostility from their rivals the [[Apache]] and [[Navajo]] in the 1670s, inspired the Pueblo to try to push the Spanish and their religion out of the area. Pueblo leader [[Po'Pay]] called for a return to native ways, believing that then the hardships his people faced would end. To him and to thousands of his followers, it seemed obvious that “when Jesus came, the Corn Mothers went away.” Expelling the Spanish, they hoped, would bring a return to prosperity and a purer native way of life. In 1680, the Pueblo launched a coordinated rebellion against the Spanish. The Pueblo Revolt killed over four hundred Spaniards and drove the rest, between one and two thousand, to flee south toward Mexico. However, when droughts and attacks by rival tribes continued, the Spanish sensed an opportunity to regain their foothold. In 1692, they returned and reasserted their control of the area. Some of the Spanish explained native success in 1680 as the work of the Devil, who had stirred up the Pueblo to take arms against God’s chosen people. The Spanish congratulated themselves that they and their God had prevailed in the end. --- Next: [[3.5 New France]] Back: [[3.3 St. Augustine]]