The Spanish explorers and conquistadors launched an almost frantic century of discovery. In a few short decades they had traveled the length of the Andes and marched north from Mexico to the Rockies. Founding missions on the ruins of conquered native villages, they actively pursued a policy of replacing all the diverse native cultures with their own. The exploits of such notables as Cabeza de Vaca, Hernando de Soto and Francisco de Coronado traveled further and saw more than any European since Marco Polo. They filled books with their stories and established Spain as one of the greatest patrons of discovery of all time.
Following the explorers and conquistadors came the true colonizers such as Pedor Menendez in Florida and Don Juan de Onate in New Mexico. These second-generation Spanish colonials spread not only the influence but the power of Spain into areas it would occupy for hundreds of years. They built viable colonies that came to be the homes to many thousands of Spanish colonials and their Indian wards. An important part of this effort was the mission system which turned the Indians into Hispanics and the undeveloped land into productive real estate.
These efforts were not without perils. Many Spaniards lost their lives spreading the empire and capitalizing upon the fact that Spain was the first to arrive in the New World. Countless Native Americans lost their lives, their lands and their way of life to disease, war and slavery. The greatest effort made against Spain by the Native Americans to redress the wrongs done to them after the fall of the great empires was the Pueblo revolt.
Disputes between the government officials and the Mission system friars led to a loss of respect and fear on the part of the Native Americans for the Spanish. Declining populations and constant war with the tribes of the plains combined with several severe droughts led to a precipitous collapse of the food supply. This in turn led to mass starvation among the Pueblo Indians. The Spanish were at the same time attempting to destroy what they thought were the last remnants of the native religion by arresting and whipping the shaman priests.
In 1680 almost the entire population of 17,000 Pueblo Indians rose up and slaughtered every Spaniard they could finds. Their leader Pope’ told them that they could recover their former health and prosperity by destroying the churches and missions of the Christians. The initial victory over the Spanish was tempered by the revival of ancient rivalries between the different Pueblo tribes. The Spanish regrouped in El Paso under Diego de Vargas and in 1691 were able to recapture New Mexico as far north as Santa Fe. Farther west the Hopi and the Zuni were able to hold out and maintain their independence providing a safety valve for the re-conquered people of the Rio Grande valley.
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