Teypana (alternate spelling “Teypama”) was the first pueblo to be called Socorro. ThisPiropueblo was located close to present-daySocorro, New Mexico. A reference from 1598 suggests Teypana was on the west bank of theRio Grande, downriver from the pueblo of Pilabó (the site of modern Socorro). Found in a partly flawed list of Piro pueblos, the reference is somewhat problematic. In 1598,Juan de Oñate and an advance party of hiscolonists were given food and water by the people of Teypana. In response, they named the settlementSocorro, which means “help” or “aid” in Spanish. By 1626, the name had become associated with the Piro pueblo ofPilabó, site of the first permanent mission in Piro territory, now buried under the town of Socorro, NM.[1]
It has been claimed thatTeypana means “village flower” in the Piro language.[2] As the Piro language survives only in fragments, however, the meaning of the nameTeypana, like all 17th-century Piro place names, remains unknown.
Michael Bletzer has done a lot of excavation on a site in the vicinity ofLuis Lopez which he believes to be the Teypana village.
Municipalities and communities ofSocorro County, New Mexico,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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