Though Isleta was spared the massacre at other pueblos due to its Spanish residents, many of its native members fled to Hopi settlements in Arizona. When the Pueblo Revolt began in 1680, the Pueblo was called home to about 2,000 people, including many Spaniards. The Spanish Mission of San Agustín de la Isleta was built in the Pueblo around 1629 or 1630 by the Spanish Franciscan friar Juan de Salas. Due to its location on a strip of land projecting from the Rio Grande, the conquering Spaniards gave the pueblo the name of Isleta, meaning “little island.”Īround 1629, refugees from outlying pueblos converged on the Isleta Pueblo, abandoning their homes due to savage Apache raids.

Originally established about 1200 A.D., the Isleta Pueblo is home to the Tiwa tribe, descended from remote Shoshoncan stock, the first people to enter the Americas some 30,000 years ago.