Zuni

The Zuni, who call themselves A:shiwi, are a Pueblo people of the Zuni River valley in western New Mexico, a land they name Halona Idiwan'a, the Middle Place. By the fourteenth century they lived in stone pueblos, later consolidated into six villages including Halona and Hawikuh. Their language is an isolate, and the winter climax of their katsina religion is the Shalako dance.

In 1539 the Zuni killed the Moorish guide Estevanico, and the next year Coronado stormed Hawikuh in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. Franciscan missions begun in 1629 were soon burned, and after joining the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 the Zuni held out on Dowa Yalanne until 1692.

By the end of the century only Halona remained of the six old towns. Spanish authority never ran deep: the Franciscans abandoned their mission in 1821.