Nambé Oweenge Pueblo ( ; / , ) is a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

of the

Pueblo people The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...

in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined the community as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP). The Pueblo of Nambé has existed since the 14th century and is a member of the

Eight Northern Pueblos 350px, Location of Eight Northern Pueblos and neighboring pueblos in New Mexico The Eight Northern Pueblos of New Mexico are Taos, Picuris, Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan), Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambé, Pojoaque, and Tesuque. T ...

."Nambe Pueblo"
''New Mexico, Land of Enchantment''. New Mexico Tourism Department. Retrieved March 9, 2018. It was a primary cultural, economic, and religious center at the time of the arrival of Spanish colonists in the very early 17th century. Nambé was one of the Pueblos that organized and participated in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 which expelled the Spanish from New Mexico for twelve years. The community of Nambe, New Mexico, is separate from the pueblo.

Name

Nambé is the Spanish version of a similar-sounding

Tewa The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo people, Pueblo Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are on or near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of San ...

word, which can be interpreted loosely as meaning "rounded earth." The word "pueblo" stems from the Spanish word for "village."

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

refers both to the Southwestern style architecture and the people themselves.

Demographics

The 2010 census found that 1,818 people lived in the CDP, while 568 people in the United States reported being exclusively Nambé and 723 people reported being Nambé exclusively or in combination with another group.

Language

The Nambé language is a dialect of the Tewa language, also called Tano, which belongs to the Kiowa-Tanoan language family.

History

Origin and early history

Scholars believe that all

s are descended from the

Ancestral Pueblo people The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...

, possibly from the Mogollón, and other ancient peoples. In contemporary times, the people and their archaeological culture were referred to as Anasazi for historical purposes - a Navajo term loosely translated as "Enemy Ancestors" as some Navajo clans are descendants of the Anasazi. Contemporary Puebloans do not want this term to be used. As the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned their canyon homeland due to social upheaval and climate change, they migrated to other areas. Eventually the Nambé emerged as a culture in their new homeland in present-day New Mexico.

European contact

The Spanish conquistador

Juan de Oñate Juan de Oñate y Salazar (; 1550–1626) was a Spanish conquistador, explorer and viceroy of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in the viceroyalty of New Spain, in the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico. He led early Spanish expedition ...

arrived with armed forces in the area in 1598. He forced Nambé Pueblo, as was the case with other pueblos, to start paying him taxes with cotton, crops and labor. Catholic missionaries also came into the area, threatening native religious beliefs. They renamed pueblos with saints' names, and the first church, San Francisco de Nambé, was built in Nambé Pueblo in the early 1600s. The Spanish introduced new foods to the native communities, including peaches, peppers, and wheat. In 1620 a royal decree assigned civil offices to each Pueblo.

Economy

The people of Nambé Pueblo participate in a mixed economy, with many travelling to jobs outside of the Pueblo lands. Prior to 2020, the Nambé operated a casino on tribal land at the Nambé Falls Travel Center.Tesla opens a showroom on Native American land in New Mexico, getting around the state's ban on automakers selling vehicles straight to consumers
Business Insider, 13 September 2021, retrieved 14 September 2021. In 2021, Tesla opened a service center on Nambé land to service Tesla vehicles, after signing an agreement with Nambé Pueblo leaders. This allowed the first service center to open in the State of New Mexico since state law prohibits automakers from selling direct to consumers, as Tesla does, and state law did not allow Tesla to open a service center without selling cars through

intermediary An intermediary, also known as a middleman or go-between, is defined differently by context. In law or diplomacy, an intermediary is a third-party beneficiary, third party who offers intermediation services between two parties. In trade or barte ...

car dealers. By November 2022, Tesla had followed this model of leasing native American land for a service and delivery center at a second New Mexico city— Santa Ana—which is closer to the large city of

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. The store is expected to open in May 2023 and will be five times larger than the first New Mexico facility in Nambe.

Education

The Nambé Pueblo is zoned into Pojoaque Valley Schools. Pojoaque Valley High School is the zoned comprehensive high school.

Notable people

* Marilyn Bendell, impressionist painter * Brenda McKenna, member of the

New Mexico Senate The New Mexico State Senate () is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state. All senatorial distr ...

, 2021 * Margaret Lefranc, painter, illustrator, and editor * Ben Luján, member and former speaker of the

New Mexico House of Representatives The New Mexico House of Representatives () is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the South ...

Ben Ray Luján Ben Ray Luján ( ; born June 7, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New Mexico since 2021. He served as the United States House of Re ...

, former member of U.S. House of Representatives,

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from New Mexico (2021), son of Ben Luján * Nathaniel A. Owings, architect * Lonnie Vigil, pottery artist

References

External links

Nambé Pueblo Official Website
*https://www.facebook.com/groups/NambePueblo/ *https://www.facebook.com/NambePuebloLake {{DEFAULTSORT:Nambé Pueblo, New Mexico Unincorporated communities in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Unincorporated communities in New Mexico Tewa Native American tribes in New Mexico Pueblos on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Tourist attractions in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area National Register of Historic Places in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Adobe buildings and structures in New Mexico Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico