A religious leader from San Juan Pueblo in present-day New
Mexico, Popé organized and led the most successful Indian
uprising in the history of the American West. Very little is
known of Popé's life. He was apparently a native of San Juan
Pueblo, but moved to the nearby pueblo of Taos in the 1670's.
Provoked by a Spanish crackdown on native religious practices in
1675, Popé soon began conferring with other disaffected Pueblo
leaders, some Apache with ties to the Pueblos, and nearby
villages, about the possibility of large-scale revolt against
the Spanish. He offered a millenarian vision to the Pueblos,
stressing the complete expulsion of Spanish military and
religious authority, the elimination of Christian and Spanish
cultural practices, and the return of Pueblo deities. Despite
his cultural militance, Popé seems to have been deeply
influenced by Christian cosmology, for his emphasis on the
return of three Pueblo deities bears a striking resemblance to
the Christian trinity. Popé launched his revolt early in