Pueblo Indians - A general name for Indians who lived in permanent stone or adobe houses grouped in villages in southern Colorado, central Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.  The term was first used by the early Spaniards, pueblo being their term for "town" or "village."  It is much the same as calling other Indians "Teepee Indians," or "Wigwam Indians," or the more general terms "Plains Indians" and "Woodland Indians."

Pueblo is not a tribal name or even a language group name.  Pueblo Indians actually belong to several distinct language families and to many tribes.  But as Pueblo Indians they have become famous because of their peculiar customs and ceremonies, for instance, such a custom as men instead of women working in the fields, as is common to the Acoma Indians, and such ceremonies, as the Snake Dance of the Hopis.

Artists and writers have shown great interest in the Pueblo Indians in recent years.  Architects, also have studied their structures and sought to base a style of architecture on them.  Scientists have excavated the stone ruins of the Southwest - structures which are believed to have been built by the early Pueblo Indians.  Historians are interested because descendants of these people are still living today in one of the two sections of the United States first colonized by Europeans.

The term "Pueblo Indians" is often applied to the Pima and Papago, as well as to the true Pueblo tribes.
 


A pueblo from which the Pueblo Indians were given their name
Related Information within this Site
[ Acoma ][ Adobe ][ Cliff Dwellers ][ Hopi ]
[ Keresan Pueblo ][ Pima ][ Pise ][ Pottery ][ Prayer Sticks ]
[ Rancheria ][ Sanke Dance ][ Tanoan Pueblos ][ Zuñi ]