“While the Pilgrims landed on 'Plymouth Rock' in 1620, the Spanish had already settled in to the Southwest beginning in the late 1500s, and with the coming of Europeans, some tribes suffered massive declines in populations due to disease and violence. Some Tribes were wiped out by 90 percent, while others were completely decimated.”

American politician, governor-elect of New Mexico

Debra Anne Haaland is an American politician and enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo. She is the governor-elect of New Mexico and has served in national and state Democratic politics. Haaland served as the 54th United States secretary of the interior from 2021 to 2025. Before that, she represented New Mexico’s 1st congressional district in the U.S. House from 2019 to 2021 and led the New Mexico Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017. Her public work places her at the center of Indigenous representation and New Mexico politics.