Background Information

The Zuni tribe's original tribal name is "A'shiwi (Shi'wi)," which means "the flesh." The word "Zuni" came from the Spanish language with unknown meaning.  As of 2014, the Zuni tribe has an estimated amount of about 6,000 people. There are evidence that shows that the Zuni have lived around New Mexico during prehistoric times because they were big game hunters. During the Archaic period, the Zuni people started to hunt smaller game and moved towards agriculture.

The Zuni Indian tribe has a unique language to them. First the Zuni are Pueblo people, which means that they are ancient descendants of the Anasazi tribe.  So they inherited some of their language from their ancestors; it has also been suggested that the language of the Zuni also has ties with Penutian languages. Today the language of the Zuni is spoken by more than 6,000 people in New Mexico.

The Zuni family life is consisted of mostly male but closely shared female dominance, though they have 3 genders which are chosen by puberty for men.  For those who choose to be men typically are the religious centers of the tribe, but they also make the clothing and work the lands, while women typically take care of the home and the children but also with the trading of supplies and maintaining their produce. The Zuni people grow maize and wheat by the 1500s.  This population grew and the tribe created a numerous number of life style.

Ashiwi. 1999. "Chronological History of Zuni." Retrieved September 21 2015. (http://www.ashiwi.org/ChronologicalHistory.aspx).

Native Languages of the Americas. 2015. "Zuni Indian Language (Shiwi, Ashiwi)." Retrieved September 21 2015. (http://www.native-languages.org/zuni.htm).

Roscoe, Will. 1991. "The Zuni Man-Woman." Radical.org. Retrieved September 21 2015. (http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/onlydifferent.html).

Suburban Stats. 2014. "Population Demographics for Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico in 2014 and 2015." Retrieved September 22 2015. (https://suburbanstats.org/population/new-mexico/how-many-people-live-in-zuni-pueblo).

Weiser, Kathy. August 2014. "The Zuni - A Mysterious People." LegendsofAmerica.com. Retrieved September 22 2015. (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-zuni.html).

Zuni Indians. 2015. "Zuni History." Retrieved September 21 2015. (http://www.zuniindian.net/zuni-history/).