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Isleta Pueblo is located 13 miles south of Albuquerque and has an area of 211,002 acres and a population of over 3,000. The reservation includes the Manzano Mountains and the Rio Grande Valley.
Isleta means “Little Island” in Spanish while the Pueblo’s traditional Tiwa name is “Tue-I.”
Isleta was settled around the 1300s. Centuries later, the arrival of the Spanish brought many changes, including the building of the St. Augustine Church in 1612. Years later in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, many of the Isleta people fled to Hopi settlements in Arizona, while others still accompanied the Spanish in their retreat to El Paso del Norte. After the rebellion was over, the Isleta people returned.
In the 1800s members of Laguna and Acoma Pueblo joined the Isleta community, and friction began to form. The solution to the population differences was the creation of the settlement of Oraibi. The Pueblo is currently the two small communities of Oraibi and Chicale and the main Pueblo of Isleta.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, “Isleta Pueblo.” http://www.indianpueblo.org/19pueblos/isleta.html (accessed July 7, 2009).
Pueblo of Isleta – NM, “Isleta Pueblo "Tue-I" – History.” http://www.isletapueblo.com/history.html (accessed July 7, 2009).