Popay

Popé
Popé statue at Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico, May 2005
Born	1630 New Mexico
Died	1688 New Mexico
Nationality	Pueblo
Occupation	religious leader and Governor (of the Pueblo)

Popé or Po'pay (/ˈpoʊpeɪ/; c. 1630 – c. 1688) was a Tewa religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh (known since the colonial period as San Juan Pueblo), who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule. In the first successful revolt against the Spanish, the Pueblo expelled the colonists and kept them out of the territory for twelve years.

Spanish rule of the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande valley of New Mexico began in 1598. Although they numbered 40,000 to 80,000 people at that time, the many independent towns, often speaking different languages and hostile to each other, were unable to unite in opposition to the Spanish. Revolts against Spanish rule were frequent, but the Spanish ruthlessly repressed dissent. The Pueblo suffered abuses from Spanish overlords, soldiers, priests, and their Mexican Indian allies, many from Tlaxcala, Mexico. In particular, the Spanish suppressed the religious ceremonies of the Pueblo. The effects of violence, forced labor, and European diseases (against which they had no immunity) reduced the Pueblo population to about 15,000 by the latter years of the 17th century.

Po'pay appears in history in 1675 as one of 47 religious leaders of the northern Pueblo arrested by the Juan Francisco Trevino's government for "witchcraft." Three were executed and one committed suicide. The others were whipped, imprisoned in Santa Fe, and sentenced to be sold into slavery. Seventy Pueblo warriors showed up at the governor's office and demanded, politely but persistently, that Po'pay and the others be released. The governor complied, probably in part because the colony was being seriously targeted by Apaches and Navajo warring parties and he could not afford to risk a Pueblo revolt. Po’pay was described as a “fierce and dynamic individual…who inspired respect bordering on fear in those who dealt with him.