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Completed in 1717, the second and last Pecos Pueblo church rests upon the older foundations of the first church built in 1625. That first church had walls up to 22 feet thick composed of 300,000 adobe bricks each weighing approximately 40 pounds. During a revolt in 1680, the Pueblo natives burned the original church, toppled the main walls and used the rubble to construct a kiva in the middle of the former convent attached to the church. That kiva remained until the Franciscans reclaimed the settlement and covered the kiva 12 years later. The smaller second church was rebuilt over 55 years.
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics at 45% (2008 estimate), being descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska and Oklahoma, and the fifth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas. The tribes represented in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and Native American cultural influences. At a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth most sparsely inhabited U.S. state.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_mexico]
