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The original Pueblo of Santa Clara was established sometime in the 1400s. With a population of 2,800, today's Santa Clara Pueblo - "Kha-'Po Owingeh" (Singing Water Village, also known as Village of Wild Roses) - was built around 1580. It has a base of 57,000 total acres with lands ranging from 5,500 feet above sea level in the Rio Grande Valley to nearly 11,000 feet in the Jemez Mountains.

The tribe traces its ancestors to prehistoric villages and cliff dwellings west of the current region. Puye Cliff Dwellings is one site that the Pueblo occupied from approximately 900 A.D. to the late 1500s.

The first contact between the Spanish and Santa Clara Pueblo took place during the Coronado Expedition (1540-1542). The explorers established a settlement near the current-day Pueblo village in 1598 and then moved their headquarters close to what is now Santa Fe in 1610.

Facing increasing religious persecution, the Pueblo tribe united and revolted against Spanish rule in August 1680. They succeeded in driving the Spanish from New Mexico and keeping them out until the conquistadors' return in 1692. The Spanish ultimately defeated the Tewas in 1694.

After the re-conquest, the Spanish did not persecute Pueblo religion as they had before. Pueblo lands were protected under Spanish and Mexican rule and further preserved under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, when New Mexico came under United States rule.

Today, Santa Clara Pueblo remains a vibrant representation of centuries of distinctive art, culture, language, tradition and hospitality. The village also maintains its own form of government that has been recognized by Spain, Mexico and the United States.