Just another nine miles down the road brings you to Los Lunas, New Mexico, a city rich in its diversity of history. Contact Information: Isleta Pueblo, PO Box 1270, Isleta, New Mexico 87022, 50. Isleta Pueblo wraps around the northern portion of the village of Bosque Farms, a small agricultural community that has evolved into a suburban village in the Albuquerque metropolitan region. Though continuing to live with much of their ancient culture, they also operate several modern business enterprises, including the Isleta Casino & Resort. The pueblo now houses a population of about 4,000, where traditions, songs, and dances are still practiced and passed down from generation to generation. A French Franciscan Roman Catholic priest and a strong defender of the Indians, “The Padre of Isleta,” is buried with Padre Padilla near the church’s altar in Isleta. After three years in Santa Fe and one year in Taos, he arrived at the Isleta Pueblo in December 1891, where he would spend the next 34 years. On October 21, 1887, Father Anton Docher went to New Mexico, where he was ordered as a priest in the Cathedral of Santa Fé. When Governor Otermin found this out, he burned the pueblo and forced the remaining members to El Paso. Though they submitted to Governor Otermin, secretly, their allegiance was with the other Pueblo peoples. Others accompanied the Spanish to their retreat at El Paso del Norte (current day El Paso, Texas.) After the rebellion, the Isleta people returned to the pueblo, many with Hopi spouses. Though Isleta was spared the massacre at other pueblos due to its Spanish residents, many of its native members fled to Hopi settlements in Arizona. When the Pueblo Revolt began in 1680, the Pueblo was called home to about 2,000 people, including many Spaniards. The Spanish Mission of San Agustín de la Isleta was built in the Pueblo around 1629 or 1630 by the Spanish Franciscan friar Juan de Salas. Due to its location on a strip of land projecting from the Rio Grande, the conquering Spaniards gave the pueblo the name of Isleta, meaning “little island.”Īround 1629, refugees from outlying pueblos converged on the Isleta Pueblo, abandoning their homes due to savage Apache raids.

Originally established about 1200 A.D., the Isleta Pueblo is home to the Tiwa tribe, descended from remote Shoshoncan stock, the first people to enter the Americas some 30,000 years ago.

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