San Juan Pueblo

About this property

Ohkay Owingeh, known by its Spanish name as San Juan de los Caballeros, or informally as San Juan Pueblo, a name with official status from 1598 to 2005, is a pueblo in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined that community as a census-designated place (CDP). Ohkay Owingeh is also the federally recognized tribe of Pueblo people inhabiting the town. Ohkay Owingeh was known for centuries as San Juan Pueblo, as it was named by Spanish colonists. In November 2005, the people returned to their original name. The Tewa name of the pueblo means "place of the Strong People". Ohkay Owingeh has the ZIP code 87566. The U.S. Postal Service prefers that name for addressing mail, but accepts the alternative name San Juan Pueblo. The community was also formally known as the San Juan Indian Reservation. Its elevation is 5,663 feet (1,726 m) and it is located at 36°03′12″N 106°04′08″W. One of its boundaries is contiguous with Española, about 25 miles (40 km) north of Santa Fe. The pueblo was founded around 1200 AD during the Pueblo III Era. By tradition, the Tewa people moved here from the north, perhaps from the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, part of a great migration extending into the Pueblo IV Era. In March 1598, conquistador Oñate traveled north from Nueva Galicia accompanied by a caravan of Catholic missionaries, a thousand soldiers, colonists, and Tlaxcalans. The expedition included cattle, sheep, goats, oxen, and horses, and arrived at Yungeh (place of the mockingbird) in present-day Ohkay Owingeh on July 11, 1598. It was recorded that the people who met him that day were hospitable and offered Yuque Yunque pueblo as guest quarters to Oñate and his party. On July 12, 1598, he baptized and renamed Caypa pueblo (present-day Ohkay Owingeh) as San Juan de los Caballeros, after his patron saint John the Baptist. San Juan de los Caballeros became the first capital of the New Spanish region of Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico. In local history, it is said the event united the two fragmented families of Caypa and Yuque Yunque. Since their arrival from earlier homelands in the northwest, the two pueblos had been divided by the river, split until the expedition party's arrival. When the community offered Yuque Yunque pueblo on the west bank to Oñate, the two fragmented pueblos were made whole again at Caypa. The Spanish capital would be moved in 1610 to La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís. Po'pay was a local man who rose to be one of the most highly regarded leaders of American Indian history. He would play a major role in the Pueblo Revolt in 1680.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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