For hundreds of years, the lowlands of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas were occupied by hundreds of small, autonomous Indian groups that lived by hunting and gathering. We call these Indians Coahuiltecans to denote the broader geographic range they shared. They spoke many languages, some of which were not believed to be related. As such, Coahuiltecan is not an ethnic classification.

This presentation will discuss the settlement and evolution of the Nuevo Santander Colony along the Rio Grande. José de Escandón’s Villas del Norte– established in the mid- Eighteenth Century – appeared like a string of pearls along the Lower Rio Grande River, where Spain was reinforcing the distant frontier of its American empire.

Learn to trace your indigenous roots in northeastern Mexico and south Texas. Historian, genealogist, and author John P. Schmal will discuss the various tribal groups inhabiting this region; research techniques for finding your ancestors in this area; and helpful websites.

The American state of Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas share a long border along the Rio Grande River. For thousands of years, Native American tribes either lived along this river or passed over it on their way south (or north). This boundary was finalized in 1848, but a century earlier, much of the Rio Grande River area was being settled by Spanish and Mexican settlers who had come from other parts of Mexico to settle the lands that were already inhabited by many tribal groups.

This presentation discusses the native groups that occupied the regions adjacent to and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border over the last three centuries. While some of these tribes are well-known to us today (i.e., the Yaquis, Tohono O'odham, Kumeyaay, Cocopah, etc.), tribal groups that have disappeared as distinguishable cultural entities (i.e., Carrizos, Mansos, Jocome, Coahuiltecans, etc.) will also be discussed. In addition to the history of those tribes, we will explore the current status of the tribal communities that still exist today.

Many people from New Mexico are familiar with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and how it drove the Spanish and mestizo population out of the region for several years. What many people do not know is that the Pueblo Revolt was actually part of a larger regional rebellion against Spanish rule.