The Cochiti people are thought to be descended from the
Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as the Anasazi). The ancestors of the Cochiti people, living in cliff dwellings at Rito de los Frijoles in present-day
Bandelier National Monument, divided into two groups. One was located in the pueblo of Katishtya (later called
San Felipe pueblo) in the south and the other was located in Potrero Viejo, one of the
finger mesas of the
Pajarito Plateau in northern central New Mexico. Approximately 12 miles northwest of the present-day Cochiti Pueblo, a temporary pueblo known as Hanut Cochiti had been established. In 1598, Spanish
conquistador,
Juan de Oñate came to Cochiti Pueblo. At first, the Spaniards admired and respected the Pueblo Peoples for their Spanish-like farming techniques and villages, viewing them as equals, and opening trade. As time went on, the Spaniards attempted to assimilate Cochiti people (and other tribes) into New Spanish society. They were forced to pay taxes in crops, cotton, and work. The Spanish Catholic missionaries attacked their religion and renamed the Pueblos with Catholic saints’ names and began a program of church construction, such as the San Buenaventura Mission at Cochiti, routinely torturing the tribes for practicing their traditional religion, and forcing them into labor and/or slavery. The Cochiti pueblo people took part in the
Pueblo Revolt of 1680, an uprising of the Native Americans against the Spaniards. When Spanish Governor
Antonio de Otermin reconquered New Mexico, the tribe retreated with the other Keresan tribes of San Felipe and Santo Domingo (now called
Kewa) to the Potrero Viejo. The Cochiti people remained at Potrero Viejo until 1693 when they were forced to flee Spanish Governor
Don Diego de Vargas and his troops. ==Geography==