Popé

Popé (pōpā`), d. c.1690, medicine man of the Pueblo. In defiance of the Spanish conquerors, he practiced his traditional religion and preached the doctrine of independence from Spanish rule and the restoration of the old Pueblo life. In Aug., 1680, he organized the revolt of the Pueblo against their Spanish oppressors. The Native Americans attacked Santa Fe, the capital city, killing some 400 colonists and missionaries and forcing the survivors to retreat down the Rio Grande to El Paso. For the first time in 82 years the Pueblo were free of Spanish rule. Popé, assuming a despotic role, then began a campaign to wipe out all traces of the Spanish conquerors—prohibiting the Spanish language, destroying Christian churches, and even washing clean those who had been baptized. Internal dissension and Apache raids soon weakened the unity of the Pueblo, and in 1692, shortly after Popé's death, they were reconquered by the Spaniards.

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Popé

(died 1692, San Juan Pueblo, New Spain) Tewa Pueblo medicine man. Believing he was guided by tribal ancestral spirits (kachinas), Popé led an Indian revolt in 1680 against the Spanish invaders in what is now the southwestern U.S. The rebellion, known as the Pueblo Revolt, drove the Spanish out of Santa Fe and temporarily restored the old Pueblo way of life. Popé was accorded great honours, but success made him despotic. Although he was eventually deposed, he was reelected Pueblo leader in 1688.

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Popé (?–1690) Tewa Pueblo medicine man, revolutionary leader; probably born on the San Juan Pueblo in present-day New Mexico. He first came to the attention of the Spanish when in 1675 he led the resistance against the Spaniard's treatment of Native American medicine men. Then in 1680 he masterminded and led a successful Indian revolt against the Spanish rulers in New Mexico. After many Spanish were killed and most others fled, he and his followers eradicated every visible trace of the Spanish presence in their region and tried to return to a traditional way of life. He ruled in an arbitrary manner and alienated many of his people as well as neighboring tribes; he was deposed and died soon afterward. Although the Spanish reconquered the area (1692), Popé had led what was probably the most successful revolt by Native Americans.