Pueblo Revolt Causes

What caused the Pueblo revolt of 1680? The answer to this question, with some basic research, can seem easy to answer at first. However the more this topic is examined the more difficult it is to answer this simple question. It is said that one of the main reasons the Spanish came to Mexico is the search for treasure and wealth. While on this mission for wealth, the Spaniards settled in land that was already occupied by Pueblo Indians in Northern Mexico. Later, the Spanish end up creating a pact with the Pueblo people. Eventually, the Spaniards used the Pueblo people as an advantage to use as a labor force and to spread Christianity. In Weber’s novel he compiles several different pieces of people’s work and bundles them into one unit while
Chavez proposes that Pueblos, that were mixed blooded, were trying to act against to achieve “power and revenge” (Chavez, 81). Although, Garner suggests that “drought, famine, and Apache raids of the 1670s” (immediate events) were the main causes of the revolt instead of focusing on religion (Garner, 55). These events are just adding to the breaking point of the weak relationship between the Spaniards and Pueblo people. Garner notes that cultural and religious intolerance were factors, but insists that these “immediate events” are the main causes that led to the revolt. The pueblo Indians were promised to receive earnings such as crops, advanced technology and military protection in return from working for “Spanish encomenderos.” The Pueblos soon stopped receiving these benefits causing setbacks and in turn making the Pueblo people feel the need to revolt against the Spaniards. For example, there was a loss of military protection during the apache raids. The mixture of both political and environmental factors led to a failure to uphold the implied contract between the pueblos and the
While religion can be considered a factor that helped the Pueblo’s revolt, I do not believe it was the major factor that triggered the revolt. The factor of the conformity to Christianity may well have upset certain pueblos, thus causing small groups of rebels who were not successful in overthrowing the Spaniards. This revolt needs to be looked at from a larger perspective. The immediate events were the major cause that pushed the Pueblo Indians to an extreme they could not live with anymore. Churches and missionaries were only attacked because of the symbolism they had. In the eyes of the Pueblos the churches and the missionaries represent the Spaniards and they were destroyed because of this and not because of