After years of oppression, epidemics, and droughts that killed many, the people of Pecos rebelled against Spanish authority in 1680 and destroyed the mission church here, a symbol of Spanish power. The revolt united pueblos across the region in a coordinated strike that drove the Spaniards out of New Mexico. Puebloan people regained their independence, but it was short lived. Revolt leaders distributed knotted rope to each pueblo to coordinate the attack, with one knot to be untied each day until none remained and the revolt began.
