Jumano

A people

The Rio Grande flowing into Santa Elena Canyon between roughly 1,500-foot limestone walls at Big Bend National Park.
P. Hughes · CC BY 4.0

Background

A nomadic people who travelled and traded throughout western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the Jumano appear in the Big Bend's historic era alongside the Chisos and before the Mescalero Apache entered the country around 1700. The park's archeology page also records that some historic sources describe them as enemies of the Chisos. NPS Big Bend publishes no longer account of them than these few lines.

Parks on its homelands

The Rio Grande flowing into Santa Elena Canyon between roughly 1,500-foot limestone walls at Big Bend National Park.Big Bend National Park

The Jumano were a nomadic trading people who moved throughout western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, and NPS notes that some historic records describe them as enemies of the Chisos. The Big Bend's own history places the two peoples in the same historic era, before the Mescalero Apache entered the country around 1700. Source

Sources

Checked September 2026.