Zia (people)

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

The Zia or Pueblo de Zia are among the Pueblo peoples and speak Eastern Keres , which is now considered an isolated language . The current name is a Spanish adaptation of the historical Keres name as Tsi'ya or Tseja - "unknown language". The Zia Pueblo of the same name is located in the southwest of the USA , about 50 km west of Santa Fe in New Mexico .

history

According to early Spanish records, Zia was the largest and most important town in a province of five pueblos with a population of 2,500. Juan de Oñate visited the village in 1598 and shortly afterwards the Nuestra Senora de la Ansuncion de Sia Mission was established.

The Zia played an active role in the Pueblo uprising of 1680 and resisted the Spanish attempts to recapture. In 1689 Zia was attacked by Governor Domingo de Cruzate , who killed more than 600 Indians in a bloody battle, burned the village and sold the prisoners as slaves. The refugees built a new pueblo near Jemez, where they stayed until 1692. Diego de Vargas was able to persuade them to return to Zia to rebuild the pueblo and its church.

From this time on they remained friends of the Spaniards and often served as allies in attacks on other pueblos. This loyalty to the Spaniards made them unpopular with the other tribes and Zia was often the target of armed attacks by neighboring pueblos. Even today, because of this alliance with the Spaniards, the inhabitants of this village have the reputation of social outsiders.

Way of life and culture

Because it doesn't have enough land and water, Zia has always been a poor pueblo. Animal husbandry and agriculture are limited, but most of the Pueblo requires wage labor in neighboring communities.

Internal disputes are the order of the day in Zia. In 1930 a group of Zia who lived in Albuquerque joined an evangelical sect of health worshipers . The converts returned to the pueblo to recruit new members, and after much controversy, they returned to Albuquerque. Other disputes ended with the burning kiva of a rival group. Zia's future is uncertain given the lack of land, the growing population, and continued internal turmoil.

Zia pottery is well known for its beautiful multicolored finish, which Native Americans and whites buy. New Mexico's state flag comes from a pottery pattern found in Zia. The US census from 2000 found 1,590, including 500 permanent residents, in the approximately 360 km² large reservation .

literature

• William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 9, 1979 ISBN 0-16-004577-0
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 10, 1983 ISBN 0-16-004579-7
• Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes , KC Publications, Las Vegas 1997

See also

• List of North American Indian tribes

Individual evidence

1. ↑ in Spanish pueblo denotes both the village and the village community, hence the name Pueblo de Zia - "Zia people" or "people of the Zia Pueblo".
2. ↑ Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes. Page 23. KC Publications, Las Vegas, 1997 ISBN 0-916122-01-8