Just days ago, NewMexiKen reminded us of the conquest of New Mexico by the USA. Nearly 200 years before that, the Pueblo’s gave the boot to the Spanish:
NewMexiKen | The Pueblo Revolt
On this date in 1680, the surviving Spanish settlers under siege decided to abandon Santa Fe and began the trek to Chihuahua. The Spanish did not return to Nuevo México for 12 years. …
The Puebloans removed all signs of the Spanish — the churches, the religion itself, the crops, even the animals (the horses let loose on the plains, eventually transforming the culture of the Plains Indians) [mjh: That fact always blows my mind.]. One vestige remained: one man rule. Popé declared himself that man and moved to the Palace in Santa Fe.
Spanish attempts at reconquest failed until 1692.
NewMexiKen | The Pueblo Revolt
But, wait, there’s more!
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 By Joseph Sando | Published 07/1/2002
In 1675, Governor Juan de Trevino arrested 47 Pueblo men and charged them with sorcery. Four were hanged and the rest were publicly whipped in the plaza in Santa Fe.
Among those whipped was Popé, of San Juan Pueblo. Upon his return home, Popé began to think of a way to get rid of the Spaniards. He set up meetings that soon included nearby pueblos. The word of an organized Pueblo revolt spread to include Taos, Picuris and Jemez, as well as the Keresan-speaking pueblos of Cochiti and Santo Domingo. The meetings were highly secret, held generally at night, and composed mostly of each pueblo’s war captains.
Five years later, at one of their last meetings, at Tesuque on August 8, 1680, two messengers were detailed to carry a knotted rope showing the number of days before the revolt would begin.
And today, we all live in glorious harmony and love. [Insert cartoon of characters laughing and hugging and suddenly glowering at each other before laughing and hugging again. Loop endlessly.]
PS: OK, yes, what would we (er, I) do without NMK? (Well, I remembered the 47 connection from long before.) I even have a NewMexiKen blog category. (As well as, 47, of course.)
[Update]
This just in: Writing after NewMexiKen about a time before Ken’s subject, but essential to that topic, Rudolfo Carrillo invokes that number, too. It’s all coincidence; it’s all connected.
los que llegaron con caballos y acero – Duke City Fix
Four hundred and seventy years later, there is a large and beautiful shopping mall, miles from the river, named after the man.
los que llegaron con caballos y acero – Duke City Fix
[Update Two]
As chance would have it, the original post floated over to Facebook before the previous update, then found its way into Google Reader at 3:47pm – really! Moreover, Reader said parenthetically “(5 min ago),” but I’ll bet it was just rounding up from 4.7 minutes.