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Many people assume St. Augustine or Jamestown are the nations oldest continuously inhabited towns. But official lists rely on legal, municipal definitions and often overlook Native American communities. Across the present-day United States, Indigenous settlements have persisted for centuries, in some cases for more than a thousand years before Europeans arrived. This article highlights five of the oldest continuously inhabited towns founded by Americas original peoples, restoring them to the historical record and challenging the idea that oldest begins with colonization, and recognizing their uninterrupted cultural and civic continuity today.A History of Native American Towns and CitiesThe remains of Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Source: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.Before Europeans arrived, Native Americans in North America had built some of the grandest cities and civilizations on the planet. Some cities were massive and sprawling, such as Cahokia, which is estimated to have had up to 40,000 residents. This would have been greater than London at the time of Cahokias heyday in the 11th and 12th centuries. Other settlements, such as Mesa Verde, are fascinating from other perspectives. Mesa Verde was built into a cliffside, where a misplaced step could end in a quick death from a sheer drop. Pueblo Bonito was a grand D-shaped town that served as an administrative center for the Chaco culture, and was connected to several smaller sites by an impressive network of engineered roads.These places, and many others, reached their height and declined before the colonization of what is now the United States. Since abandoned, these cities can no longer be considered for the distinction of being the oldest on the list, yet their legacy is one that deserves attention.For many inhabitants of the following places, the story of their town is one of resilience and survival in the face of overwhelming pressure from the outside world. As such, they have justifiably shied away from mass tourism and the commodification of their world. These places are not just homes. They are sacred spaces that deserve respect.1. Acoma Pueblo, New MexicoAcoma Pueblo. Source: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.Although exact dates of founding are difficult to determine, Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico is considered by many to be the oldest continuously inhabited town within the current borders of the United States.Located 60 miles west of Albuquerque, four communities make up the Acoma Pueblo. Old Acoma (Sky City) is by far the oldest and is located on a mesa that rises over 350 feet above the surrounding land. The other communities at the foot of this mesa are Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. Together, these communities have a total of over 3,000 inhabitants, with only around 50 people living permanently in Old Acoma above. Despite its low population, there are around 300 two- and three-story buildings which constitute the town of Old Acoma.A street in Acoma Pueblo. Source: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.According to the Acoma people, the town has been inhabited since the 11th century, and the unique location on top of a mesa offered significant defense, protecting the community from hostile Navajo and Apache people. Through the ages, the town survived contact with the Spanish, massacres, smallpox epidemics, and loss of culture due to European interference. Yet the people remain, and continue to live in this site of immense historical importance.2. Old Oraibi, ArizonaA street in Old Oraibi, ca. 1898. Source: Wikimedia Commons.Dating back to its founding, possibly before 1100 CE, Old Oraibi in Arizona is also sometimes cited as the oldest settlement in the United States. It is speculated that the settlement was a point of consolidation for the Hopi people, who, during severe droughts in the 13th century, abandoned their surrounding settlements and congregated in Old Oraibi, driving the settlements continued habitation.Terraced houses in Old Oraibi, 1898. Source: USC Digital Library/Wikimedia Commons.Contact with Europeans began with the Spanish in 1540, and later the Americans. Contact was rare until the mid-19th century, when missionaries and traders became more common in the area. Like many of the Native Americans, the Hopi suffered from kidnappings and forced cultural conversion. While some were receptive to foreign influences, others were not, and this caused a split, resulting in the expulsion of the traditionalists who left and founded the village of Hotevilla. Many of those receptive to outside influence had also left Old Oraibi and settled in Kykotsmovi Village, also referred to as New Oraibi, to be close to the trading post and school. As a result, Old Oraibi had a greatly diminished population, but continued to be inhabited to the present day.Over the decades, many of those accepting of outside influence returned to traditional ways. Today, the town is home to, by some sources, fewer than 100 people. They are wary of tourists and dont allow photography within the town, most of which lies in ruins.3. Taos Pueblo, New MexicoTaos Pueblo. Source: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.Located in north-central New Mexico, and one mile north of the town of Taos, Taos Pueblo is a Native American town originally built between 1000 and 1450, also making it a contender for the oldest continuously inhabited town in the United States.In pre-Columbian times, Taos Pueblo was a significant point of trade between the Native Americans along the Rio Grande and their neighbors, the Plains Tribes to the northeast. First contact with Europeans began with the arrival of the Spanish, who discovered the settlement while searching for the rumored Seven Cities of Gold. In 1620, Spanish missionaries built a church in Taos Pueblo, much to the distaste of the inhabitants, who resisted Spanish missionary efforts at conversion. In 1640, they killed the resident priest in one of many acts connected to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.After the United States took control of New Mexico in 1846, the people of Taos Pueblo were equally fearful of American control as they were of the Spanish before, and in 1847, they joined Hispanos in a revolt against US governance, resulting in Governor Charles Bent being shot with arrows and scalped by Taos Puebloans. The US response was equally violent, and Taos Pueblo was shelled with artillery, and many of its residents were killed.The graveyard and the ruins of the original church, built by Spanish missionaries in 1620. Source: Wikimedia Commons.Land connected with the Taos Pueblo was stolen by the United States government, and only returned to Native American custody in 1970, with a small remainder being returned in 1996. The village itself is a series of interconnected adobe houses, built in close proximity and on top of each other. The Taos people who live there are naturally cautious of outside influences, but they value courtesy and hospitality, and thus are welcoming of strangers.In 2020, a US census cited the population as 1,196, although the Taos Pueblo site states that only around 150 people live in the historical pueblo full-time. The current population figure is 1,900 enrolled tribal members living on the tribal lands.Conservation of the Taos Pueblo is of concern, and the US government has been responsive to the needs of the inhabitants. In recent years, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has provided financial support to the town for preservation. Ongoing maintenance of the village and the restoration of its structures are of prime importance, as aspects of the village, its people, and its culture are endangered.4. Zuni Pueblo, New MexicoZuni Pueblo Visitor Center. Source: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.Today, the town of Zuni Pueblo includes the remnants of several pre-Columbian village sites, one of which was Halona: Idiwana, the site of which forms the historic core of the town of Zuni Pueblo. These villages were abandoned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, and the town of Zuni Pueblo was consolidated in 1692 at the site of Halona: Idiwana, and has been continuously inhabited ever since.The center of Zuni, New Mexico. Source: Google Earth.Located within the Zuni Indian Reservation in McKinley County in the far west of New Mexico, the Zuni Pueblo Census-designated place is home to a population of over 6000 people, over 97 percent of whom are Native American. It is the geographic and cultural center of the Zuni people, and is an important hub of Zuni art, which includes pottery, stone fetish carving, painting, and jewelry design, among others.The town is welcoming of visitors, and many events are open to the public; however, like other communities of this nature, strict etiquette and respect are required. Zuni Pueblo is on the Trail of the Ancients Byway, which is one of New Mexicos Scenic Byways, known for its natural beauty or historic significance.5. Tesuque PuebloPueblo Tesuque No.2 by George Bellows, 1917. Source: Wikimedia Commons.Located at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in northern New Mexico, the Pueblo of Tesuque has existed since 1200. Its name is a Spanish variation of the original Tewa name, Tetsugeh, meaning village of the narrow place of the cottonwood trees, and is situated on 17,000 acres of tribal land, which teems with wildlife and natural beauty.The original site was abandoned during the Pueblo Revolt and reoccupied in 1694. According to the Tesuque Pueblo site, the town is home to around 800 residents and is one of the smallest pueblos in the state. This population is split between Tribal members and people living in the exterior regions of Tesuques land grant.Access to the historic center of Tesuque Pueblo is variable and conditional, as a priority is placed on traditional culture. There are many tribal enterprises that are open to the public, including a casino that offers stunning views of the surroundings.Camel Rock, near Tesuque Pueblo. Source: Wikimedia Commons.Like many other Native American settlements in the United States, all these places have deep roots in a history filled with challenges brought from the outside world. They are not simply tourist spots or places of interest, but important parts of Native American tradition and legacy.

Around the same time Notre Dame Cathedral was being built in Paris, a group of destitute nomads descended into the cradle of North American civilization. Eventually, the Aztecs formed a wealthy and infamously bloody empire. Today, it is known as the empire built on human sacrifice that fell to the burgeoning Spanish colonial empire. The Aztecs were the last of a long and prestigious line of Mesoamerican empires. This article will tell the story of their arrival in and conquest of the Mexico Valley within the context of wider Mesoamerican history.The Eagle and the SerpentMexican Coat of Arms, depicting themes from the Aztec foundational myth. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOnce there was a people who lived in the land of Aztlan. Aztlan was a paradise on Earth and her seven different peoples dwelt in seven different caves. The tribes of Aztlan wanted for nothing, for all was provided to them. But a terrible conspiracy was unhatched. Tyrants called the Azteca Chicomoztoca came to rule over the land. They forced the peoples of Aztlan to live by their rules and practice their lifestyle, which ran against their free ways of living. Chafing under the rule of the Azteca Chicomoztoca, one people named the Mexica made an exodus from the land of Aztlan. They would escape the rule of tyrants.Guided by the High Priest of Huitzilopochtli, the Hummingbird god, the Mexica left Aztlan and wandered South. Through the deserts of modern-day Arizona and Northern Mexico, they survived by hunting, foraging, and making war on the other tribes they ran into along the way. Soon the high desert bristled into forested mountains, and the Mexica stumbled into a fertile land populated not by scattered tribes but by great cities that encircled a humongous lake. They had found their way into the Mexican highlands and the Valley of Mexico, made abundant by rich volcanic soil.Resting in the middle of that valley, ringed by wetlands flush with fish and game, was massive Lake Texcoco. There, a vision of an eagle eating a snake atop a prickly pear cactus in the middle of that very lake was given to the Mexica. It was thus foretold that the location of the good omen was to be the place the wandering Mexica would make their new home. A marshy island off the Western banks of Lake Texcoco was that place. Here the Mexica could settle in their new home: the city of Tenochtitlan.Painting of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco. Source: National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico CitySo goes the foundational myth of the Aztec people. It is not far from the truth. The Mexica originated north of modern-day Mexico on the Colorado Plateau as one of many Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples in the region. They spoke a language called Nahuatl (part of the larger Uto-Aztecan language family) and were related to indigenous groups such as the Paiute, the Utes, the Hopi, and the Shoshone. Though they spoke different languages, these groups had similar lifestyles, roaming the scorching desert valleys and snow-capped peaks of the Colorado Plateau as nomadic hunter-gatherers. Also, like their cousin tribes, the Mexica were said to be violent and confrontational, according to other indigenous peoples. Unlike their cousins, however, the Nahuatl-speaking Mexica migrated south to the Mexico Valley around the beginning of the 13th century CE. There, they were met with civilization.The Birth of Mesoamerican CivilizationMap of the major civilizations of Central Mexico. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCentral Mexico is one of the four known centers of independent agricultural development, alongside the Fertile Crescent, North China, the Indus Valley, and the Andes Mountains. Possibly as early as the 8th millennium BCE, Mesoamericans were cultivating maize, beans, and squash. Known collectively as the Three Sisters by many Native American groups, the people of Central Mexico also cultivated many other well-known crops such as cacao, vanilla, tomatoes, tobacco, cotton, and rubber.Many millennia before the nomadic Mexica would enter the scene, the Mesoamericans had become sedentary peoples. Gradually they formed larger and larger settlements. They created complex cultures and societies. Villages became towns; towns grew into cities; cities expanded into giant urban sprawls. Civilization had been founded in the West.Patterns of EmpireOlmec colossal head, 1960. Source: Caldwell Kvaran ArchivesFirst came the Olmecs along the coast, contemporary with the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Middle East. Then Maya city states, centers of high culture and innovation, sprouted up in the southern lowlands around the same time Classical Greece and Rome were flourishing. There was a long history of cities in central Mexico too, but by 100 CE, it was Teotihuacan which would become the predominant urban center of the Mexico Valley. It was awash with the sounds of industry and made war on its neighbors, particularly the Mayans, whose cities they often dominated.Though Teotihuacan would decline in the 6th century CE, it had established a pattern of empire in Mesoamerica. It remains uncertain if Teotihuacan qualifies as an empire by modern standards. Even if it wasnt, subsequent states would create empires based on inherited precedents they had cultivated. Dominate your neighbors, make them vassals, and become the main economic center of your new empire.It was a pattern the Toltecs were quick to copy. Based out of the city of Tula or Tollan (both names are accepted), the Toltecs created a proper empire. They grew in prominence as the Teotihuacans collapsed, likely filling a power vacuum in the region. The Toltecs controlled many cities, either by subjugation or by relegating the conquered to tributary states. Their empire was ruled by a fabulous, famous, and vicious dynasty of monarchs, supposedly established in 752 CE. Yet by the end of the 12th century, their empire too fell into obscurity, superseded by violent and warlike nomads from the North. The Nahuatl speakers were entering Mesoamerica in waves, the last of which, according to their own tradition, were the ancestors of the Aztecs. Finally, the Mexica had arrived in Mexico.Tenochtitlan: Venice on SteroidsA Spanish map of Tenochtitlan, Nuremberg, 1524. Source: Newberry Library, ChicagoThe city of Tenochtitlan is said to have been founded in 1325 CE on a small marshy island off the West bank of the shallow Lake Texcoco. The very name Tenochtitlan symbolizes this mythic island, as it translates to prickly-pear rock in Nahuatl. The village that was founded here was not to remain a peripheral settlement for long. Starting off as mercenaries allied with the Tepanec Empire, the Aztecs began building their city and engaging in large-scale warfare.After a century and a half of tumult, subjugation, treachery, and warfare, Tenochtitlan and its inhabitants would prove victorious. The Aztecs, skilled in the art of war, rose to prominence. By 1428, the three most powerful Nahuatl cities of the Mexico ValleyTenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopancombined to form the Triple Alliance, a state that is now colloquially known as the Aztec Empire.In the following decades, Tenochtitlan and the emperor who presided over her became the de facto rulers of the Alliance, for it had become the most powerful of the three. The city was expanded and beautified as befitting such a powerful state. That it had been plopped in the middle of a lake made no difference to Tenochtitlans city planners and engineers. Ingeniously, they built their sprawling city atop islands constructed of reeds and earth, turning Tenochtitlan into a metropolis of winding canals and grand causeways.Fundacion Tenochtitlan, by Roberto Cueva Del Ro, 1986. Source: Wikimedia CommonsTenochtitlan, also known as Mexico, was like a New World love child of imperial Rome, ancient Egypt, and Venice. It was more than just houses they built on these man-made islands. Gardens of spicy peppers, avocados, and tomatoes were abundant. Even mid-sized farms of beans and maize were grown to help feed the multiplying population of Tenochtitlan. By the beginning of the 16th century, it was one of the largest cities in the hemisphere, containing as many as 200,000 inhabitants. This would have made the Aztec capital more populous than contemporary London, Paris, and Rome combined.Aztec ExpansionismMap of the Aztec Empire in 1519. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Aztecs lorded over cities and kingdoms from the Caribbean to the Pacific. They expanded during the rule of huey tlatoani (emperors) such as Itzcoatl and Moctezuma I. Subsequent huey tlatoani consolidated their forefathers acquisitions in the hinterlands (around the same time the Iberian Crowns were ending the Reconquista at the end of the 15th century). Aztec imperialism was a patchwork type of government.When an Aztec army rolled up to an enemy citys doorstep, the besieged could meet the opposing army in the field or capitulate and pay tribute to their new overlords without changing their current system very much. Should they fail in battle, however, subdued rulers were forced to pay tribute or risk being dethroned and replaced by an Aztec puppet. And the tribute that was demanded? Agricultural resources and war captives, of course, the latter of which would be used for religious ceremonies of human sacrifice.Blood for the Hummingbird GodHuitzilopochtli, the Hummingbird God of War, Codex Borbonicus, c. 1520. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThis most infamous element of the Aztecs and their neighbors was crucial to their society. According to the Mexica religion, the Sun god Huitzilopochtli was engaged in a perpetual and daily struggle against his sister, the Moon. In their cosmology, the Moon hungered to eat the Earth. The rising of the sun and the setting of the moon were naturally the divine brother and sister chasing one another around the cosmos in a sort of Ouroboros of sibling rivalry. It was then paramount to Aztec religion that Hutizilopochtli was sufficiently fed, or else an apocalyptic darkness would shroud the world.Aztec Calendar, Codex Borbonicus, c. 1520. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe morbid catch was that he hungered for human flesh, hence the near-constant sacrifice of captives that marked the Aztec liturgical year. The need for fresh and healthy prisoners led to the institution of Flower Wars, ritualized battles fought with the goal not of routing the opponent or holding a piece of territory but of taking as many doomed enemies home alive as possible. From the Pacific to the Caribbean, defeated foes were brought before the pyramids of Tenochtitlan to feed the insatiable hunger of the Sun.A Most Hated EnemyA depiction of human sacrifice, Codex Laud, c. 16th century. Source: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican StudiesDespite their far-reaching empire, the Aztecs most hated enemy was seated just across the shimmering waters of Lake Texcoco. On a clear day, off to the East, past the distant pyramids of Texcoco, the Tlaxcalan Republic could be seen. Another city-state descended from Mexica settlers, Tlaxcala remained staunchly independent of the Triple Alliance right to the bitter end. Ruled by a senate, this other Nahuatl state was an island of republicanism completely encircled by the Aztec Empire.The Tlaxcalans shared a religion with their Aztec rivals, however, and therefore also depended on Huitzilopochtli to protect them from being devoured by the Moon. They also required ample sacrificial victims. It is no surprise, then, that the majority of the Flower Wars were fought between the rival cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlaxcala. The last began in the Spring of 1519 CE when the Tlaxcalans allied themselves with a little army of hairy, ironclad warriors wielding thin yet indestructible steel rods. The Spanish had arrived.

Victoria Lynwood/Unidentified WikiA sketch of the Woman in the Well, recently identified as Alice Spence.Nearly 20 years ago, Canadian police discovered the remains of a woman previously known only as the Woman in the Well who died more than a century ago. Now, thanks to DNA testing and genetic genealogy, investigators have identified the remains as Alice Spence (nee Burke), who is believed to have moved to Saskatoon around 1913. Finally, after more than 100 years, her family has gained some closure.Finding The Remains Of The Woman In The WellOn June 29, 2006, construction workers were excavating the site of a former gas station in Saskatoons Sutherland neighborhood. During the dig, bones were found in a burlap sack inside a wooden barrel that had been tossed down a well, according to a press release from the Saskatoon Police. The remains were shockingly well-preserved enough for an autopsy to be performed, which determined that the womans death was suspicious in nature. Investigators said at the time that the discovery was a miracle, as the odds of recovering such an old body in such good condition are low. I used to say that she wanted to be found, said Dr. Ernie Walker, a professor of anthropology and archaeology who assisted in the investigation. Walker attributed the remains preservation to a mixture of water and gasoline in the ground, according to the CBC. Walker and other investigators have spent the past 19 years employing a variety of tools and historical documents to try to determine the womans identity. Saskatoon Police ServiceWorkers dig out the well shaft where Alice Spences body was found in 2006.My colleagues and I used heavy equipment, did some excavation around the well and took it apart board by board, Walker said. Unknown to the individual that dropped it, a piece of cribbing of the well had broken loose and blocked the barrel from going all the way down to the bottom.From two teeth and the womans hair, Walker, with the help of the Toronto Police Services Investigative Genetic Genealogy team, was able to gather enough DNA evidence to form a rough family tree for the unidentified victim. They then reached out to suspected relatives and were able to officially identify Alice Spence. Police also said they have a suspect in the murder, but they are not announcing any details, as that suspect would be long dead by now. Officially, they consider the case closed. Spences descendants were contacted with the news as well. According to investigators, most of them were unaware of Alice Spences tragic fate.Alice Spences Family Finally Lays Her Remains To RestThe whole thing was a total shock, said Cindy Camp, Alices great-granddaughter. We didnt know anything about Alices circumstances. On July 16 we got a phone call from the Toronto police asking us if we could give a DNA sample.Investigators explained some of the familys history. Alice Burke was born in September 1881 in Michigan and later moved to Minnesota, where she worked as a seamstress and clerk. In 1904, she married Charles Irvine Spence, and she gave birth to their daughter, Idella, a year later.The Spence family moved to Saskatoon in 1913. In 1916, Alice gave birth to a second daughter, who tragically died the same day.Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police/Missing Persons DatabaseAn artists rendering of Alice Spence.As of the 1916 census, Alice was still alive in Saskatoon. Two years later, according to newspaper reports from the time, a fire destroyed the familys home while they were away. Later information from 1921 lists Charles as living with his daughter, a housekeeper, and the housekeepers son. Idella, Camps grandmother, never talked about her mother but said she was orphaned at the age of 17, after Charles died of a heart attack in May 1923. Idella died in 1995.Based on this information, investigators believe that Alice was murdered sometime between 1916 and 1918. Knowing what we know now, I wish I could talk with my grandmother, even for an hour, to hear her side of the story, Camp said. And while this has been an emotional journey, we are so grateful to the many individuals who have worked tirelessly over the years to give the Woman in the Well her name back.Alices remains were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in 2009. Now that she has been identified, Camp said she and her family plan to put a headstone with Alices name and date of birth on the grave. Now that we know that we are genetic matches, its important for her to have her place, Camp said.After reading about the identity of the mysterious Woman in the Well, delve into the unsolved mystery of the Isdal Woman. Then, read the stories of 11 of historys most baffling disappearances.The post The Woman In The Well Has Been Identified Nearly Two Decades After Being Discovered In Canada appeared first on All That's Interesting.

The Binding of Isaac may be one of the most iconic modern roguelikes, but for its creator, Edmund McMillen, it was just practice for his true magnum opus.