Dec. 14, 2020

Additional Information on the Jumanos provided by Makowa De

Additional Information on the Jumanos provided by Makowa De

It's a pleasure to share a couple of bits of information shared by a Jumano historian, Makowa De:

1.  I enjoyed lesson 9 obviously. I do want to make an observation however. When the Spanish arrived they did not have a sound in their vocabulary for "sh" as in the word the Aztec called themselves, "me-SHEE-ka". So they utilized the X for the sound. Later of course we know it evolved to an H sound.


The name Jumano derives from this change of sound. The early records wrote it as "Xumano" pronounced SHU-man-o which in their dialect means Striped Nosed People. The X representing sh sound. The French who knew nothing of the Spanish name support this in their spelling "Chouman". And as Old Spanish evolved, the X became an h sound. New spelling Jumano.


And that's how the name came to be.

2. I do agree with you about how history has reacted to Native Americans in Texas. But honestly circumstances differed for reasons out of their control. In the Southwest especially many policies were made in the hope that a viable solution was set in place, right or wrong for each state, and thus for each tribe, after the Mexican Wars. Oklahoma is a result of those early Indian Policies. Policies made by individual states are no different than today's policies. 

For example, when Lincoln honored Spanish land grants in previously Spanish/Mexican held New Mexico, Texas was in the midst of a Civil War and was part of the Confederacy. So any Native lands is question would have to wait. Obviously Lincoln wasn't around to continue where he left off after the war. Plus Andrew Johnson, an old fashioned southern Democrat who became president after Lincoln , had other agendas. Basically leaving Texas Native American agendas and land policies in limbo. 
 
It became apparent in Texas politics that a quick solution to the problem was to Hispanicize certain tribes who had Spanish surenames anyway. And to avoid the decimation of those quote civilized Indian tribes was to consider them Mexican. In 1865 Mescalero moved to New Mexico and the ongoing Comanche problem persisted until 1875. It's ironic that Apache and Comanche kept coming to the Presidio Tx area, but of course we know that Jumano descendants traded as always with them. 
 
I will add that in Texas 1870 under Gov. Richard Coke, Jumano descendants did receive land grants still active today in present day Redford, among the ruins of the ancient Pueblo of Tapacolme which means the Fish People (1250-1750). Each family received 160 acres and went on to successfully continue farming the oldest continuously farmed area in Texas.
 
The descendants of these families still live in the area.