Spanish New Mexico · 1598-1692

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680

In August 1680, Pueblo peoples across New Mexico rose together and drove out the Spanish colonists. Students explore why towns with different languages united, how knotted cords set the date, and what changed when the Spanish returned in 1692.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1492 to AD 1680
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In August 1680, Pueblo peoples across New Mexico rose together and drove out the Spanish colonists. Students explore why towns with different languages united, how knotted cords set the date, and what changed when the Spanish returned in 1692.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Pueblo homelands along the Rio Grande, and Santa Fe and Taos, on the map.
  • Explain the causes of the revolt, from forced labour to attacks on Pueblo religion.
  • Describe the results of the revolt for the Pueblo peoples and for Spanish rule.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1492

Pueblo homelands

Open the map in 1492 over northern New Mexico. Find Taos Pueblo, Pueblos, Shiwinna (Zuni) and Hopitutskwa (Hopi). These peoples lived in towns of stone and adobe along the Rio Grande and to the west. Why live close to a river?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1680

A Spanish province

Jump to 1680 and zoom in on Santa Fe, founded around 1610 as the capital of Spanish New Mexico. Spanish missions stood in many pueblos nearby. What would daily life under Spanish rule have been like?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1680

Retreat south

Zoom out and follow the Rio Grande south to El Paso, about 450 km away. In 1680 the surviving colonists retreated there and stayed away for 12 years. Why could they not return quickly?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Spanish settlers demanded labour and food from the pueblos, even during the droughts and famines of the 1660s and 1670s. How did that build anger?
  2. In 1675 the governor arrested 47 Pueblo religious leaders, and some were hanged. Why would attacks on religion unite people more than anything else?
  3. The pueblos spoke several different languages. How could Popé and other leaders organise a revolt across so many towns?
  4. After the revolt, Popé urged people to give up everything Spanish. Why did some people disagree?
  5. When the Spanish returned in 1692, they demanded less labour and tolerated more Pueblo religion. Did the revolt succeed or fail?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Peter the Great, who became tsar of Russia in 1682, two years after the Pueblo Revolt. Afterwards, compare: Peter forced his people to adopt foreign ways, while Popé urged his people to throw foreign ways off. When does a leader have the right to change how people live?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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