Áak'u

Áak’u, better known in English as Acoma, is a Keresan pueblo built on a high sandstone mesa in western New Mexico. Its steep sides and few approaches made the settlement easy to defend and gave its inhabitants command of the surrounding plains. Springs and cisterns supplied water, while fields below the mesa produced maize, beans, squash and cotton. The Pueblo’s traditions and archaeology describe a settlement centuries old before the Spanish arrived.

Acoma functioned as a compact town of multistory stone and adobe houses, plazas and kivas. Clans and religious societies regulated land, ceremony and political authority. Trails connected the town with the Rio Grande pueblos, Navajo country, the plains and communities to the west, allowing exchange of pottery, food, turquoise, hides and other goods. Its position made Acoma both a fortress and a meeting place.

The Spanish first saw Acoma during Coronado’s expedition in 1540. After Juan de Oñate’s colonists demanded provisions in 1598, a violent dispute led to a Spanish assault in January 1599, followed by the killing and enslavement of many inhabitants. Franciscans later built San Esteban del Rey Mission, but Acoma joined the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Spanish authority returned in 1699, after which the pueblo combined Catholic institutions with surviving Keresan practices.