- pueblo
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1. a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern U.S.: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.2. (cap.) a member of a group of Indian peoples living in pueblo villages in New Mexico and Arizona since prehistoric times.3. an Indian village.4. (in Spanish America) a town or village.5. (in the Philippines) a town or a township.
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I(Spanish: "town") Community of the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern U.S., consisting of multistoried apartment houses constructed of large adobe blocks beginning с AD 1000.Freestanding structures up to five stories tall were built around a central court. Each floor is set back from the floor under it; the whole structure resembles a zigzag pyramid, with terraces formed by the rooftops of the level below. Though rooms often have connecting doorways, movement between levels is by means of ladders through holes in the ceilings. Ground-floor rooms, used for storage, have no outside doors. Each pueblo has at least two kivas. Many of the pueblos are still occupied; Acoma pueblo is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited place in the U.S. Some of the largest pueblos are at Taos, Isleta, Laguna, and Zuni. See also cliff dwelling.II(as used in expressions)* * *
city, seat (1861) of Pueblo county, south-central Colorado, U.S., situated on the Arkansas River, near its confluence with Fountain Creek, at an elevation of 4,690 feet (1,430 metres). Jim Beckwourth (Beckwourth, Jim), a trader and onetime war chief of the Crow Indians, established a trading post, Fort Pueblo, on the site in 1842; the post was abandoned in 1854 following a period of hostilities between whites and Indians. A community called Fountain City developed in 1858 but was later absorbed by Pueblo City (laid out in 1860). Growth was stimulated by the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company) in 1872 and the Santa Fe line (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, The) in 1876. It lies near coalfields and is an important manufacturing, retail, and trucking centre for the surrounding Arkansas Valley irrigated agricultural region. Nearby Minnequa was home to the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, once one of the nation's largest steel plants and a significant economic and environmental factor in the region. The University of Southern Colorado originated as Pueblo Junior College (1933). A flood-control system along the Arkansas River was constructed to prevent recurrence of the 1921 flood disaster, and a dam impounds a large reservoir 6 miles (10 km) upstream from the city. San Isabel National Forest (to the west) is headquartered at Pueblo. Inc. 1885. Pop. (1990) city, 98,640; Pueblo MSA, 123,051; (2000) city, 102,121; Pueblo MSA, 141,472.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
