Spanish History Website
why do the southwestern pueblo native americans have spanish sur names?
as a native american (tewa) indain from new mexico,i was asked ,,how can you be native american if you have a spanish name,and don”t really know how to answer that, does anyone know the history of this or a website i can log onto so i can do some reserch and find out some answers,for myself as well as my children,iwould like to keep our heritage alive.
Manuel….
Couple of reasons. At one time Native Peoples were slaves. We were treated far inferior to any other race. So what happened in your territory several Pueblo people, took on Spanish surnames, because Mexicans were treated much better by the Spaniards, than how the Spaniards treated the Pueblo Nations.
Comments made by Merlin, are pretty right on as well. Look at where European Caucasian Cultures came into our territories. All those French Jesuits hit the N.E. Coast, then through Canada, then south into the Bitter Root Salish territories of Idaho. A lot of Native People have French surnames. Southern California Natives have Spanish surnames, yet some Northern California Natives Russian surnames, because of the Russian explorers traveled down south along the west coast. That’s about the just of it.
Avwi Tsisqua, Tsalagi
tribal enrolled