Manso Indians
Encyclopedia
The Manso Indians are a indigenous people
who lived along the Rio Grande
, near El Paso, Texas
from the 16th to the 18th century. Their descendants remain in the area to this day.
The Mansos were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer
s who practiced little if any agriculture although farming Indians lived both upstream and downstream from them. They may have been related to the Suma
Indians and Jumano Indians
who lived nearby.
explorer Antonio de Espejo
in 1583. Traveling up the Rio Grande River in search of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
, Espejo encountered a people he called Tampachoas below El Paso. “We found a great number of people living near some lagoons through the midst of which the Rio del Norte [Rio Grande] flows. These people, who must have numbered more than a thousand men and women, and who were settled in their rancherias and grass hunts, came out to receive us…Each one brought us his present of mesquite bean…fish of many kinds, which are very plentiful in these lagoons, and other kinds of food…During the three days and nights we were there they continually performed …dances in their fashion, as well as after the manner of the Mexicans.”
However, The Chamuscado and Rodriguez Expedition
had passed by the same lagoons in July 1581 and had found them uninhabited. The inference is that the Manso were nomadic, living only part of the year along the Rio Grande and passing the remainder of the year hunting and gathering food in the surrounding deserts and mountains. They seemed to have ranged westwards from the Rio Grande to Casas Grandes
and Janos
Mexico
.
Espejo’s Tampachoas were probably the same people who Juan de Oñate
found in the same area fifteen years later in May 1598 and called Mansos. Onate and his large expedition forded the Rio Grande near Socorro, Texas
assisted by 40 ‘’manxo” Indians. Manso, he said, meant “peaceful.” Their name for themselves is unknown.
In 1630, a Spanish priest described the Mansos as people “who do not have houses, but rather pole structures. Nor do they sow; they do not dress in anything particular; but all are nude and only the women cover themselves from the waist down with deerskins.” In 1663, a Spaniard said of them. “The nation of Manso Indians is so barbarous and uncultivated that all its members go naked and, although the country is very cold, they have no houses in which to dwell, but live under the trees, not even knowing how to till the land for their food." The Mansos were also said to eat fish and meat raw. But they were described somewhat favorably as “a robust people, tall, and with good features, although they take pride in bedaubing themselves with powder of different colors which makes them look very ferocious.”
During the 1660s, hundreds of Mansos had coverted to Christianity. The Spanish established a mission among the Mansos but they were of minor concern until the 1680s when the survivors of the Pueblo Revolt
in New Mexico took refuge in the new settlement of El Paso. In El Paso the Manso established close relations with the refugee Piro
and Tiwa
(Tigua) Indians. The stress on the region of supporting the 2,000 Spanish and Indian refugees was doubtless considerable and the Manso soon belied their “peaceful” name.
In 1682, the Governor in El Paso reported that the Manso and the Suma had revolted and attacked Janos. On March 14, 1684, friendly Tiwas and Piros told the governor of a Manso plot to kill all the Spaniards in El Paso. The Manos were “tired of everything having to do with God and with the church, which is why they wanted to do what the Indians of New Mexico had done.” The Spanish took prisoners the ringleaders of the plot, which included an Apache
and a Quivira
Indian (probably a Wichita
). Ten of them were executed and later, in November, the Spanish garrison of 60 men plus friendly Indians was used to attack a gathering of hostile Indians who apparently intended to carry out the plot.
Following the revolt the Manso increasingly melted into the de-tribalized atmosphere of El Paso. Disease and Apache raids decimated their numbers. By 1765, El Paso had 2,469 Spanish inhabitants and only 249 Indians, tribes unspecified. Nevertheless, the Manso survived as members of the combined Piro-Manso-Tiwa (PMT) tribe. In the 19th century members of the group migrated to the village of Tortugas near Las Cruces, New Mexico
and founded the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe. In 2000, there were 206 people on the tribal rolls of the PMT tribe.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
who lived along the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
, near El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
from the 16th to the 18th century. Their descendants remain in the area to this day.
The Mansos were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s who practiced little if any agriculture although farming Indians lived both upstream and downstream from them. They may have been related to the Suma
Suma-Jumano
The Suma and the Jumano were people in western Sonora and Trans-Pecos region of western Texas. The Suma was the western division and the Jumano were the eastern division.-History:...
Indians and Jumano Indians
Jumano Indians
The Jumano Indians were a prominent Native American tribe or several tribes who inhabited western Texas and adjacent New Mexico, especially near the La Junta region. They were discovered by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. but had nearly disappeared as a people by 1750.-The Jumano...
who lived nearby.
Language
Their language was not recorded but authorities have theorized that they spoke a Uto-Aztecan, Tanoan, or Athabaskan (Apache) language.History
The first account of the Mansos is from the expedition of SpanishSpanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
explorer Antonio de Espejo
Antonio de Espejo
Antonio de Espejo was a Spanish explorer who led an expedition into New Mexico and Arizona in 1582-1583. The expedition created interest in establishing a Spanish colony among the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande valley.-Life:...
in 1583. Traveling up the Rio Grande River in search of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Espejo encountered a people he called Tampachoas below El Paso. “We found a great number of people living near some lagoons through the midst of which the Rio del Norte [Rio Grande] flows. These people, who must have numbered more than a thousand men and women, and who were settled in their rancherias and grass hunts, came out to receive us…Each one brought us his present of mesquite bean…fish of many kinds, which are very plentiful in these lagoons, and other kinds of food…During the three days and nights we were there they continually performed …dances in their fashion, as well as after the manner of the Mexicans.”
However, The Chamuscado and Rodriguez Expedition
The Chamuscado and Rodriguez Expedition
The Chamuscado and Rodriguez Expedition visited New Mexico in 1581-1582. The expedition was led by Francisco Sanchez, called "El Chamuscado," and Friar Augustin Rodriguez, the first Spaniards known to have visited the Pueblo Indians since Francisco Vasquez de Coronado 40 years...
had passed by the same lagoons in July 1581 and had found them uninhabited. The inference is that the Manso were nomadic, living only part of the year along the Rio Grande and passing the remainder of the year hunting and gathering food in the surrounding deserts and mountains. They seemed to have ranged westwards from the Rio Grande to Casas Grandes
Casas Grandes
Casas Grandes is the contemporary name given to a pre-Columbian archaeological zone and its central site, located in northwestern Mexico in the modern-day Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is one of the largest and most complex sites in the region...
and Janos
Janos, Chihuahua
Janos is a town located in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as the municipal seat of government for the surrounding Janos Municipality of the same name. The 2010 Mexican national census reported a population of 2,738 inhabitants....
Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Espejo’s Tampachoas were probably the same people who Juan de Oñate
Juan de Oñate
Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a Spanish explorer, colonial governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico, and founder of various settlements in the present day Southwest of the United States.-Biography:...
found in the same area fifteen years later in May 1598 and called Mansos. Onate and his large expedition forded the Rio Grande near Socorro, Texas
Socorro, Texas
Socorro is a city in El Paso County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 27,152. By the 2010 census, the number had grown to 32,013. It is part of the El Paso Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city was reactivated in 1986 and has been a working city since then...
assisted by 40 ‘’manxo” Indians. Manso, he said, meant “peaceful.” Their name for themselves is unknown.
In 1630, a Spanish priest described the Mansos as people “who do not have houses, but rather pole structures. Nor do they sow; they do not dress in anything particular; but all are nude and only the women cover themselves from the waist down with deerskins.” In 1663, a Spaniard said of them. “The nation of Manso Indians is so barbarous and uncultivated that all its members go naked and, although the country is very cold, they have no houses in which to dwell, but live under the trees, not even knowing how to till the land for their food." The Mansos were also said to eat fish and meat raw. But they were described somewhat favorably as “a robust people, tall, and with good features, although they take pride in bedaubing themselves with powder of different colors which makes them look very ferocious.”
During the 1660s, hundreds of Mansos had coverted to Christianity. The Spanish established a mission among the Mansos but they were of minor concern until the 1680s when the survivors of the Pueblo Revolt
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of several pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.-Background:...
in New Mexico took refuge in the new settlement of El Paso. In El Paso the Manso established close relations with the refugee Piro
Piro Pueblo
Piro Pueblo : The Piros were a Native American Pueblo people that lived in a number of pueblos in the Rio Grande Valley around modern Socorro, New Mexico, USA. The now extinct Piro language was in the family of Tiwa languages...
and Tiwa
Tiwa people
The Tiwa are group of related Tanoan pueblo peoples in New Mexico and Texas. They traditionally spoke a Tiwa language , and are divided into the two Northern Tiwa groups, in Taos and Picuris, and the Southern Tiwa in Isleta and Sandia, around what is now Albuquerque, and near El Paso.-Name:Tiwa is...
(Tigua) Indians. The stress on the region of supporting the 2,000 Spanish and Indian refugees was doubtless considerable and the Manso soon belied their “peaceful” name.
In 1682, the Governor in El Paso reported that the Manso and the Suma had revolted and attacked Janos. On March 14, 1684, friendly Tiwas and Piros told the governor of a Manso plot to kill all the Spaniards in El Paso. The Manos were “tired of everything having to do with God and with the church, which is why they wanted to do what the Indians of New Mexico had done.” The Spanish took prisoners the ringleaders of the plot, which included an Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
and a Quivira
Quivira
Quivira may refer to:*Quivira, a place first visited by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado while in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Gold*Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, a salt marsh located in south central Kansas...
Indian (probably a Wichita
Wichita (tribe)
The Wichita people are indigenous inhabitants of North America, who traditionally spoke the Wichita language, a Caddoan language. They have lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas...
). Ten of them were executed and later, in November, the Spanish garrison of 60 men plus friendly Indians was used to attack a gathering of hostile Indians who apparently intended to carry out the plot.
Following the revolt the Manso increasingly melted into the de-tribalized atmosphere of El Paso. Disease and Apache raids decimated their numbers. By 1765, El Paso had 2,469 Spanish inhabitants and only 249 Indians, tribes unspecified. Nevertheless, the Manso survived as members of the combined Piro-Manso-Tiwa (PMT) tribe. In the 19th century members of the group migrated to the village of Tortugas near Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 97,618 in 2010 according to the 2010 Census, making it the second largest city in the state....
and founded the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe. In 2000, there were 206 people on the tribal rolls of the PMT tribe.