The town of Isleta, located 13 miles south of present day Albuquerque, has a resident population of almost 5,000. The Pueblo of Isleta remains a traditional society today. He arrived at Isleta in 1889 and resided there until 1892. Another important contributor to the historic record of Isleta was Charles Fletcher Lummis, an early champion of Native American rights. Among them, Adolph Bandelier, one of the founders of Southwestern archeology, as well as a precise and avid historian, was a frequent visitor. Individuals who were to become the vanguards of anthropology and archaeology began to appear at the Pueblo. As a result, Isletan ritual observances and ways of life were documented, with varying degrees of success. The Pueblo of Isleta became a favored destination of many 19th century American travelers, scientists and linguists. During this time, a number of community members became quite affluent. In addition, the people of Isleta developed a wide trading network, regularly engaged in hunting buffalo and other game and gathered plants and minerals over a vast region. These practices continued throughout the 250 years of Spanish rule, which began in 1598, and survived through the beginning of the American acquisition of New Mexico.īy the 19th century, visitors to Isleta found a prosperous farming community with well-tended agricultural fields, irrigation canals, vineyards and orchards. In later centuries, Isleta irrigated land along the Rio Grande, where they grew maize, beans, squash and cotton. Over the course of 3,000 years, the Pueblo peoples developed agricultural practices suitable to the harsh environment of the American Southwest. As most of these smaller communities collapsed during the early Spanish Colonial period, many of their residents resettled at Isleta. As a large town, Isleta was also a central gathering place for the surrounding smaller villages in the area, servicing as a cultural capital for other Tiwa communities and the Piro and Tompiro-speaking villages to the south and east. The north-south route later became the Spanish Camino Real, or “Royal Road,” making Isleta an important settlement at the crossroads of both Pueblo and Spanish trade routes. Isleta, or Shiewip, is situated on the Rio Grande at what once was the intersection of important north-south and east-west Pueblo roads.

Established in the 1300’s, the Southern Tiwa-speaking community of Isleta is, and long has been, one of the largest Eastern Pueblo towns in New Mexico.

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