How did the Pueblo attempt to maintain autonomy in the face of Spanish settlement?

• A. They rejected Christianity completely.
• B. They accepted complete conversion and lost autonomy.
• C. They folded Christian traditions into their own practices; they attempted to preserve autonomy; revolted in 1680.
• D. They migrated south to avoid colonists.

Answer: (C)

Indigenous groups often navigated colonial pressure by blending new influences with their own traditions while using organized resistance to protect self-rule. The Pueblo did exactly this: they folded Christian traditions into their own practices, allowing the mission system to continue in form but without erasing native beliefs and social structures. This kind of syncretism helped them maintain cultural continuity and local authority even as Spanish control tightened.

The decision to revolt in 1680 was a decisive assertion of autonomy. Under Po’pay, multiple Pueblo communities coordinated an uprising that expelled the Spanish for a time, demonstrating that they would not surrender governance or religious life to colonizers. After the revolt, some degree of Pueblo self-rule and religious freedom persisted for about a decade, illustrating that combining selective adaptation with coordinated resistance was their strategy for preserving autonomy.