Acoma - A pueblo, or village, inhabited by the Acoma Indians.  Located on a rock mesa about sixty miles west of the Rio Grande in Valencia County, New Mexico, Acoma is recognized as the oldest inhabited settlement in the United States.  The pueblo is difficult to reach, being 375 feet high on a sheer, bare rock and approached by a dangerous and dizzy trail.  The village has three rows of tiered houses and narrow street, as well as an old church.

The Acoma Indians live much like other Pueblo Indians.  They have never vacated their pueblo, and after many centuries still live there today.  Acoma was mentioned as early as 1539 by the Spanish and was visited the following year by Coronado's army.  These Indians fought many bloody battles with Spaniards.  They are a farming people, cultivating and irrigating their fields of corn, wheat, melons, and gourds today much as they did in ancient times.  They also raise sheep, goats, horses, and donkeys.  Their farm lands are around Acomita and Pueblito, about fifteen miles from Acoma.

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[ Keresan Pueblo ][ Pueblo Indians ]