Sandia (people)

Location of the Sandia pueblos, neighboring pueblos, and reservations in New Mexico

The Sandia are an Indian people of the North American Southwest and belong to the Pueblo Indians . They speak Tiwa , a language from the Kiowa-Tano language family . The name Sandia is the Spanish name for watermelon . The own name is Nafiat and means sandy place . The pueblo is located in the southwest of the USA on the Rio Grande in the urban area of Albuquerque in New Mexico .

history

Prehistoric time

→ Main article : Archeology in North America

The American archaeologists call a certain cultural section in prehistoric America the Sandia culture or Sandia epoch . The Sandia peoples are seen between the Clovis Indians , who were the first to colonize North America until about 11,000 years ago, and the Folsom Indians . Their characteristic, the Sandia spearhead, is about 7.5 cm long and only notched very short. There is a constant scientific dispute about their actual age; the dates range from 25,000 years before our time to around 11,000 years before our time. Most scientists now tend to use the more recent information.

Pueblo

The Pueblo Sandia dates from around 1300 AD. Remains of the old village, visited by Francisco de Coronado in 1540, can still be seen near the present church. The San Francisco Mission was established in the village by the Franciscans in the early 17th century . It was destroyed during the Pueblo Uprising of 1680. The current church was built in the early 1890s.

Fearing Spanish reprisals, the Sandia left their pueblo after the rebellion and sought refuge with the Hopi . On the Second Mesa north of the Mishongnovi pueblo they built their pueblo Payupki , where they lived until 1742 when the Padres Delgado and Pino persuaded over 500 of their relatives to return to New Mexico. They rebuilt their village on the site of the old one that had been destroyed by Governor Antonio de Otermin in an attempt to recapture in 1681. The new pueblo was called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores y San Antonio de Sandia ; the Hopi called it Payupki .

Way of life and culture

Despite its proximity to Albuquerque, little is known about the Pueblo Sandia and some mystery lies about its ceremonial life. The secular officials of the pueblo, usually capable young men, are appointed by the cacik , who is the head of a hierarchy of priests.

Earning opportunities in nearby towns and farm work form the economic basis of this village. No handicrafts are currently being made in the pueblo. Sandia's future as an independent Indian village is in jeopardy because it is in the area of ​​the ever-expanding city of Albuquerque. The pressure to relocate will grow as the pueblo's geographical isolation dwindles. In 2000 there were 389, 140 of them permanent residents, in the approximately 93 km² (22,883 acres ) large reserve .

See also

• List of North American Indian tribes
• Sandia National Laboratories

literature

• William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 9, 1979 ISBN 0-16004-577-0
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 10, 1983 ISBN 0-16004-579-7
• Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes , KC Publications, Las Vegas 1995
• CW Ceram : The First American . the discovery of Native American cultures in North America. Hannelore Marek and Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Munich and Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-1928-1 .

Web links

• Sandia website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes. 17. KC Publications, Las Vegas, 1997 ISBN 0-916122-01-8