The Pueblo nation is an indigenous community of North America. The Puebloans homeland is known as the four corners where the states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona conjoin. They got their name from Spanish explorers who used the name Pueblos to refer to village dwellers who lived in multistory houses made of bricks called adobe houses. There are twenty Pueblo communities that live in the united states. The Hopi tribe live in Arizona while the rest live in New Mexico. The Hopi are the Uto-Aztecan language, while four linguistic groups represent those that live in New Mexico; The Tiwa language represents the Tanoan family, which is a tribe. The Tewa language in Sun Juan, the Towa was representing the Jemez, the Keresan language representing the Acoma Laguna (Hodge,1896) . The Pueblo Indians though they share a common name, have different styles of religious clans and governments.
The pueblo people lived in Adobe houses, which were multi-storied. The houses were well suited to cope with the hot and hostile conditions of the arid places they lived. The pueblo people buried their dead in vacant rooms or slightly collapsed rooms next to the living quarters. Clay and sand were used to construct the roof, and once these roofs collapsed, they would be dug to bury the dead (silko, 1996). Various tribes had different dwellings. Pueblo is referred to as both a particular style of Puebloan architecture and groups of people themselves. The term pueblo is used in housing terms to define multistory, apartment-like buildings made of adobe and was built on flat plains throughout the Southwest. The great house-style Pueblo dwelling sat independently of cliffs. Pit houses were common to the tribes of the Southwest. They were carefully dug rectangular or circular holes in the ground with wattle and daub clay walls held in place by log sized corner posts. Cliff dwellings were built on the sides of the mesas and mountains of the Southwest; it was mainly used for defense purposes.
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Farming was a significant economic activity for the Pueblo Indians just as common with other native groups, but the dry conditions were not favorable. This forced them to live along the Rio Grande River and its streams to enable them to practice irrigation. Control of the river was religious to ensure the water source sustained. The Anasazi, who were the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people, used a dam gardens technique of conserving water and preventing soil erosion. The Anasazi supplemented crop growing with hunting and gathering. The Spain invasion of New Mexico brought the Pueblo Indians agrarian revolution way of farming. They introduced horses, cattle, sheep, and goats to them and other agricultural products such as peaches, wheat, and grapes. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the governing system was autonomous, with every village governed by a council of religious heads. The religious leaders were based in the Kivas, which were ceremonial chambers located in the Adobe houses.
The ancient Pueblo nation believed the earth and the sky were sisters; therefore, they emphasized that good family relations had to be maintained for the sky to continue blessing the earth with rain so that its children can survive (silko,1996). The Pueblo people believed in deities, and it did emphasize on the relationship between nature and humans. Corn flour was a great religious symbol, and it was used for blessing before the farm was cultivated; it was sprinkled with some grounded maize as a sign of blessing. The pueblo nation believed in spirits, and they referred to them as Kachinas. The Hopi tribe believed that the Kachinas were supernatural beings who have charge over certain aspects of the natural world like during the great drought in the community (Wenger, 2009). The Hopi believed to have heard dancing and singing from the san Francisco peaks; therefore, they believe the Kachinas stay in the villages for six months. Clothes of the Pueblo people were mainly made of cotton. Coats to protect them from winter were made of animal’s skin.
The Zuni were the first group to encounter with the Europeans in the year 1539. A French national Fray Marcos was coming from Mexico searching for ancient cities. He sent guides forward who was killed by the Zuni people. Francis Coronado was sent with an expedition, and they took over the Zuni land. The pueblo revolt is an important historical aspect of the Pueblo nation, which occurred in 1696 was the last effort by the war chiefs to drive out the Spaniards (Espinosa, 1988). The Franciscan missionaries were responsible for the revolt. They wanted to force Christianity on to the Pueblos and eradicate the cultural beliefs of the nation, such as idolatry and witchcraft. They also revolted against the Spanish rule. The traditional elders blamed the Spaniards for the drought and the bitter winter because they lacked good morals.
The united states forced other indigenous communities to relocate into reserves, but they did not evict the Pueblo nation out of their land. This changed after the war when the Americans moved into New Mexico, and some settlers had to move to Pueblo land. The Taos community resisted in 1847 during the Mexican American war revolting against the established united states government, and they killed 12 soldiers and a state governor. The government retaliated by killing at least one hundred and fifty Pueblo people with the army's support. The government was able to defeat approximately fifteen hundred Taos and Hispanic militia. The leaders of the insurgency were killed, leading to the end of the revolt (Jenkins, M. E. 1966).
The pueblo people today inhabit New Mexico and Arizona along the Rio Grande and Colorado river (Quintana, 2018) . They have a population of approximately forty thousand people. Every tribe is an independent nation, with each tribe having its judiciary system and its government. The tribal government is doing a lot for their tribes like the Santa Ana government is developing computer schools and establishing internet connection in the community. Farming is still practiced, but due to inadequate land, many pueblo people are forced to look for work in Neighboring cities such as Albuquerque. The children speak English and Spanish, but the native language is being taught in Kindergartens to preserve the local language. Tourism is a major booster to the Pueblo nation. During the summer, many national and international tourists visit the pueblo people to be immersed in their dances and cultural heritage. Casinos are majorly owned by the Pueblo Indians in Colorado.
The pueblo people are artistic and are very prominent in pottery, painting, making jewelry, carving stones. This has brought them many tourists. The women mainly do pottery, and their design is anciently attributed to the pots found on the Chaco canyon pottery (Crown & Wills, 2003) . In making silver jewelry, artists use turquoise stones to decorate the ornaments where it is curved into tiny animals. Every tribe has its pottery, jewelry designs. Religion is still an essential aspect of daily life, and the tribal government has to protect and keep the religion sacred. The Spanish missionaries introduced Catholicism in the seventeenth century, and to date, some Pueblo tribes practice this type of religion.
The pueblo nation faces challenges presently, one of them losing their native language due to the current schooling system. Most children are taught in English, making it hard for them to interact with their local language. Language Is best learned at an early age, but the pueblo kids lack the chance to learn their language. Their ancestors also fear that young men will not learn their cultural ways and religious practices as most of them go to the city to look for work.
Land grabbing is a huge problem for them, like in 1908, when the government took sacred land belonging to the Taos tribe. The area included a blue lake, which is an important cultural aspect for the community. They fought for the land to be reclaimed until the year 1970 when the then United States President Richard Nixon passed a bill allowing the land to be reallocated to the Taos community (Bodine,1973).
Climate change is a big threat to the pueblo Indians since some depend on farming. Droughts are more likely to occur, leading to a lack of enough water to the crops, which is a big loss to the farmers. Climate change also causes a reduction in corn growing, which is key to the pueblo people's culture dating back before the European invasion. Wildfire has increased due to dry weather conditions, which have destroyed houses and the Puebloans' crops. Climate-related stresses to rangeland affect tribes depending on livestock. Erosion of sand dunes has increased, leading to wide-scale movement of sand dunes, which are destroying housing and impacting endangered native plants and grazing land ( Vlasich, 2005 ).
Another considerable challenge they face is poor education; most children are forced to poor quality boarding schools that do not satisfy the standard requirements of learning. The schools are overcrowded, also making teaching very difficult. The resentment of western culture taught in schools has forced most Puebloans to drop out as the learning does not conform to their beliefs. Hunger faced by the Pueblos is a direct result of poverty, most Pueblo earns less income than white households, and this is attributed to racial discrimination in the united states. Despite the Pueblo nation's effort to rebuild a hospital in New Mexico, poor healthcare is still a challenge. Unemployment levels are higher, especially to the pueblos living in Colorado, the unemployment rate is at 4.7% due to lack of educational requirements ( Furtado et al., 2019) .
References
Bodine, J. J. (1973). Blue Lake: a struggle for Indian rights. American Indian Law Review, 1(1), 23-32.
Crown, P. L., & Wills, W. H. (2003). Modifying pottery and kivas at Chaco: pentimento, restoration, or renewal?. American Antiquity, 511-532.
Espinosa, J. M. (Ed.). (1988). The Pueblo Indian revolt of 1696 and the Franciscan Missions in New Mexico: Letters of the missionaries and related documents. University of Oklahoma Press.
Furtado, L. S., Bazilian, M., & Markuson, C. (2019). Case study of the energy transition: Pueblo, Colorado. The Electricity Journal, 32(8), 106631.
Hodge, F. W. (1896). Pueblo Indian Clans. American Anthropologist, 9(10), 345-352.
Jenkins, M. E. (1966). TAOS PUEBLO AND ITS NEIGHBORS 1540-1847. New Mexico Historical Review, 41(2), 85.
Silko, L. M. (1996). Landscape, history, and Pueblo's imagination. The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology, 264-275.
Vlasich, J. A. (2005). Pueblo Indian Agriculture. UNM Press.
Wenger, T. (2009). We have a religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian dance controversy and American religious freedom. Univ of North Carolina Press.
