Popé (died 1690)

Tewa Pueblo medicine man and leader of native resistance to Spanish political control and missionary activity in the New Mexico-Arizona area. In 1680 he masterminded and led a successful Indian revolt against the Spanish rulers in New Mexico, forcing them to abandon Santa Fe and flee to El Paso. He and his followers eradicated every visible trace of the Spanish presence in their region and tried to return to a traditional way of life.

Popé ruled in an arbitrary manner and alienated many of his people as well as neighbouring tribes; he was deposed and died soon afterwards. Although the Spanish reconquered the area in 1692, he had led what was probably the most successful revolt by American Indians.

Popé was probably born on the San Juan Pueblo in present-day New Mexico. Establishing his residence in Taos (New Mexico) in the 1670s, he first came to the attention of the Spanish in 1675, when he led the resistance against the Spaniards' treatment of American Indian medicine men.