Acoma Pueblo (Western Keresan dialect: Ako; Zuni: Hakukya), also known as "Sky City", is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 367-foot (112 m) sandstone mesa in New Mexico. This position was chosen because it made the pueblo easily defensible against raiders. Access to the pueblo is difficult and the faces of the mesa are sheer (a topographic map shows this best). Access before modern times was only by means of a staircase cut into the rock of the cliffs. A modern road capable of carrying automobile traffic has been built for easier access to the pueblo. Its inhabitants have always farmed in the valley below the pueblo and before the construction of the road, all food and water was carried up the mesa for use in the pueblo.
The name "Acoma" comes from the Keresan word for the people living there, Akoma, with ako meaning white rock, and ma meaning people.
Founded in the 10th century AD, Acoma Pueblo is believed to be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United States. Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado described the pueblo's location as "the most defensible position in the world" when he encountered it in 1540.
The Spanish built the mission church of San Esteban Rey at the pueblo from 1629 to 1641. Its 30-foot beams were carried 30 miles from the Cebollita Mountains, and the dirt for its graveyard was carried up the mesa from the valley below. Both the mission and the pueblo are registered National Historical Landmarks.
Like other pueblos, Acoma and the surrounding area are considered federal trust land, administered by the federal government for the pueblo. Few Acomans now live in the pueblo itself, electing instead to live in nearby villages (Acoma Village, New Mexico , among them). The 2000 US Census lists 2,802 inhabitants of the Acoma Pueblo and off-reservation trust lands.
The pueblo is located 60 miles (100 km) west of Albuquerque on Interstate 40 and 12 miles (20 km) south on Indian Route 23. The pueblo is not open to the public and visitors must obtain visitor and camera permits from the Sky City visitor center at the base of the mesa.
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