Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico

Infobox_nrhp | name =Isleta Pueblo
nrhp_type =


caption =
location= Isleta, New Mexico
area =
built =1613
added = September 5, 1975
governing_body = Private
refnum=75001162 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Isleta Pueblo is a Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established around the 1300s.

Overview

The population of Isleta Pueblo consists of mostly the Southern Tiwa ethnic group (Spanish: "Tigua" [Note that Spanish "Tigua" only referred to the Southern Tiwa and not the larger Tiwa grouping including the Northern Tiwa ethnic groups Taos and Picuris.] ) who speak Isletan Tiwa, a variety of the Southern Tiwa language (of the Kiowa-Tanoan family). The other variety of Southern Tiwa is spoken at Sandia Pueblo.

Isleta Pueblo is located in the Rio Grande Valley, 13 miles (21 km) south of Albuquerque. It is east of and adjacent to the main section of Laguna Pueblo (a Keresan group).

Among the Southern Tiwa groups, Isleta is known for being more resistant to acculturation when compared to Sandia and the greatly acculturated Ysleta del Sur (a community of Southern Tiwa ancestory formed by a refugees fleeing from Spanish retribution after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680).

Culturally, Pueblo groups have been divided into two group classes, a Western Pueblo group and an Eastern Pueblo group. [Another view groups the pueblos in three cultural groups: Western, Eastern, and Keresan (or Central).] Isleta Pueblo in this view is an Eastern Pueblo.

ocial organization

Isleta (as well as Sandia) have matrilineal non-exogamous corn groups which are connected with directions and colors, a moiety system (one moiety connected with the winter, the other with the summer), a kiva system.

Kachina cults are also found in Isleta, but this being more characteristic of Western Pueblos may have been introduced by Laguna people in more recent times.

History

The name "Isleta" is Spanish for "little island". The Spanish Mission of San Agustín de la Isleta was built in the pueblo in 1612 by Spanish Catholic Franciscans. During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, many of the pueblo people fled to Hopi settlements in Arizona, while others followed the Spanish retreat south to El Paso del Norte (present-day El Paso, Texas. After the rebellion, the Isleta people returned to the Pueblo, many with Hopi spouses. Later in the 1800s, friction with members of Laguna Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo, who had joined the Isleta community, led to the establishment of the satellite settlement of Oraibi. Today, as well as the main pueblo, Isleta includes the small communities of Oraibi and Chicale.

Today, the pueblo operates the Isleta Casino & Resort, Isleta Eagle Golf Course and Isleta Lakes Recreational Complex.

Cultural references

Isleta is mentioned in Willa Cather's 1927 novel "Death Comes for the Archbishop", Book Three Chapter 1. The houses are described as white inside and outside.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.isletapueblo.com/ Isleta Pueblo website]
* [http://www.indianpueblo.org/ipcc/isletapage.htm Isleta Pueblo info]
* [http://www.nmtourism.org/place/loc/travel/page/DB-place/category/300/place/165.html Isleta Pueblo on New Mexico Tourism Dept. website]
* [http://www.levijiron.com Isleta Pueblo Artist, Levi Jiron]
*CathEncy|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Isleta_Pueblo|title=Isleta Pueblo
* [http://www.chavez-thomas.com Isleta Pueblo Fine Artist, Lisa Chavez-Thomas]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/amsw/ American Southwest, a National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" Travel Itinerary]