La Junta Indians

La Junta Indians is a collective name for the various Indians living in the area known as La Junta de los Rios ("the confluence of the rivers": the Rio Grande and the Conchos River) on the borders of present-day west Texas and Mexico.

In 1535 Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca records visiting these peoples while making his way to a Spanish settlement.

They cultivate crops in the river floodplains, as well as gathering indigenous plants and catching fish from the rivers.

They are part of an extensive trading network in the region.

As a crossroads, the area attracts people of different tribes.

In the eighteenth century, the Spanish set up missions in the area and the Native Americans gradually lose their tribal identifications.

After suffering severe population losses through infectious disease, the Spanish slave trade, and attacks by raiding Apache and Comanche, the La Junta Indians disappear.

Some intermarry with Spanish soldiers and their descendants become part of the mestizo population of Mexico; others merge with the Apache and Comanche; still others depart to work on Spanish haciendas and in silver mines.

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