Jim Enote, Zuni
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“The Zuni people, we call ourselves the A:shiwi. We’ve been here for a long time, a very long time.”
In 1540, following distant tales of mythical places laden with treasures, Spanish conquistadors arrived in what is known today as western New Mexico thinking they had found the first of the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.
Really, they had stumbled into a Zuni village.
Listen to Enote describe the history of the term "Puebloan people."
Not seeing the gold bricks and emerald-studded doorways they had imagined, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his army overtook Zuni, plundered what they could, and turned the village into expedition headquarters.
It was among the first encounters of Europeans with Native peoples of North America.
The Zuni, a farming people, have long lived in the Zuni Valley. They settled where they found fertile soil and plentiful water—riches more valuable than Coronado could have hoped for.
The Zuni call this valley their homeland, but they have never forgotten where they come from: the Grand Canyon.
Jim Enote describes Zuni connections to the Grand Canyon.
“The Zuni River and Little Colorado River are like umbilical cords, connecting us back to the place where we emerged,” says Jim Enote, a Zuni tribal member, traditional farmer, and CEO of the Colorado Plateau Foundation.
The Zuni call their place of emergence Chimik’yana’kya dey’a. You might know it as Ribbon Falls, a beautiful 100-foot waterfall north of today’s Phantom Ranch. Enote says that’s where the Zuni people came to see the Sun Father for the first time, that from there, they explored all the tributaries of the Colorado River.
Some groups spread north, others east. But they ultimately came together again and settled in the Zuni Valley, on the banks of the Zuni River, which if you follow downstream, empties into the Grand Canyon.
Listen to Enote describe Zuni origins.
“Deep down into the Earth, when people were still newly forming as human beings, people had webbed hands and webbed feet. We had tails, and we had protrusions on our head. And when we came out of the Grand Canyon, those were removed."
There’s a boulder along the Colorado River that Enote says depicts the story. On it, petroglyphs show people in their webbed form alongside people with clearly incised hands, no tails, and no head protrusions. Next to those is a spiral, which Enote says signifies transition, movement, and migration of the Zuni people to where they are today.
“Petroglyphs are really kind of maps. We’ve always had maps—they’ve been etched in stone, they’re sung in prayers, they’re mentioned in many different orations, and they’re woven in textiles and painted in ceramics. One important one is the spiral.”
Listen to Enote interpret what the symbol means.
“These petroglyphs are like a library. They’re helping us connect the dots of where we’ve lived before.”
