17th century When the
Spanish arrived in the late 1500s they named the village
Isleta,
Spanish for "little island". The
Spanish Mission of
San Agustín de la Isleta was built in the pueblo in 1613 by the Spanish
Franciscan friar
Juan de Salas. He tried to teach the people about Catholicism and western ways of cultivating plants. During the
Pueblo Revolt of 1680, many of the pueblo people fled to
Hopi settlements in
Arizona, while others followed the
Spanish retreat south to El Paso del Norte (present-day
El Paso, Texas). After the rebellion, the Isleta people returned to the Pueblo, many with Hopi spouses.
19th century In the 1800s, friction with members of
Laguna Pueblo and
Acoma Pueblo, who had joined the Isleta community, led to the founding of the satellite settlement of Oraibi. In the 21st century, Isleta includes the main pueblo, as well as the small communities of Oraibi and Chicale. On October 21, 1887, the
French missionary
Father Anton Docher traveled to New Mexico, where he was assigned as a priest in the
Cathedral of Santa Fé. Young
Pablo Abeita (no relation to Diego or
Louise Abeita) had recently been selected as Governor of Isleta, continuing into the 1930s. , with wooden Gothic Revival elements introduced by Padre
Anton Docher, shown in 1925. Father Anton Docher served for 34 years in the historic
St. Agustin Mission Church until his death in 1928. He is buried near the previous priest,
Padre Padilla, near the altar of the church in Isleta. (Built by the Tiwa under direction of a Spanish missionary in 1612, the church is one of the oldest in the United States.)
20th century to present On October 26, 1919, the King of Belgium
Albert I, together with Queen
Elisabeth of Belgium and
Prince Léopold, journeyed to Isleta during their official visit to the United States. The King decorated
Pablo Abeita, Governor of the Pueblo, and Father
Anton Docher with the
Order of Léopold. Abeita gave the king a turquoise cross mounted in silver made by the Isletans. 10,000 people journeyed to Isleta for this grand visit by European royalty. Abeita was appointed by the tribe to the Council of All Indian Pueblos, which was active in the 1920s to resist United States government political takeover of its lands. The Pueblo had an unusual land title, as the Spanish had a tradition of affirming indigenous title. When the United States took over the Southwest in 1848 following the
Mexican War, it promised by treaty to preserve Spanish-Mexican titles. Abeita and other Pueblo leaders organized to raise awareness of these terms; they gained passage of the
Pueblo Lands Act of 1924 by the US Congress, which affirmed their indigenous title. But, through takeovers by Europeans and the United States, the Pueblo continued to lose lands. Some land claims were affirmed by court cases through the 20th century (see
Aboriginal title in New Mexico). Beginning in the late 20th century, the tribe's leaders have worked to buy back lands to re-establish their homeland territory. In the mid-2010s, Pueblo leaders purchased 90,151 acres (140 square miles) of land that was once part of the tribes’ aboriginal homeland, at a cost of approximately . In January 2016, the
secretary of the interior joined the Governor of the Pueblo to celebrate the
federal government placing this large parcel of land into trust on behalf of the Pueblo. The addition increased the Pueblo's territory by 50%. The land is primarily located within what is known as Comanche Ranch, and is one of the Pueblo's profitable businesses, where they run 1,000 head of cattle. The population was approximately 4,000 people and the tribe owns 211,000 acres of land. ==Government==