The first detailed archival study of the indigenous populations of the early historic period in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico. Certain to become a standard reference in its field, Indians of the Rio Grande Delta is the first single-volume source on these little-known peoples. Working from innumerable primary documents in various Texan and Mexican archives, Martín Salinas has compiled data on more than six dozen named groups that inhabited the area in the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Depending on available information, he reconstructs something of their history, geographical range and migrations, demography, language, and culture. He also offers general information on various unnamed groups of indigenous people, their lifeways, and on the relations between the them and the colonial Spanish missions in the region. “The scholarship is nothing short of superb . . . Salinas has produced the definitive work on the area, which has been needed for years.” —Rudolph C. Troike, Professor, Department of English, University of Arizona

This is a new release of the original 1937 edition.

The first detailed archival study of the indigenous populations of the early historic period in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico. Certain to become a standard reference in its field, Indians of the Rio Grande Delta is the first single-volume source on these little-known peoples. Working from innumerable primary documents in various Texan and Mexican archives, Martín Salinas has compiled data on more than six dozen named groups that inhabited the area in the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Depending on available information, he reconstructs something of their history, geographical range and migrations, demography, language, and culture. He also offers general information on various unnamed groups of indigenous people, their lifeways, and on the relations between the them and the colonial Spanish missions in the region. “The scholarship is nothing short of superb . . . Salinas has produced the definitive work on the area, which has been needed for years.” —Rudolph C. Troike, Professor, Department of English, University of Arizona

A distinguished historian examines the development of the region and surveys the amalgamation of the aboriginal Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American civilizations.

Details the causes and events of the Pueblo Indians' revolt against their Spanish rulers in 1680.

In River of Hope, Omar S. Valerio-Jiménez examines state formation, cultural change, and the construction of identity in the lower Rio Grande region during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He chronicles a history of violence resulting from multiple conquests, of resistance and accommodation to state power, and of changing ethnic and political identities. The redrawing of borders neither began nor ended the region's long history of unequal power relations. Nor did it lead residents to adopt singular colonial or national identities. Instead, their regionalism, transnational cultural practices, and kinship ties subverted state attempts to control and divide the population. Diverse influences transformed the borderlands as Spain, Mexico, and the United States competed for control of the region. Indian slaves joined Spanish society; Mexicans allied with Indians to defend river communities; Anglo Americans and Mexicans intermarried and collaborated; and women sued to confront spousal abuse and to secure divorces. Drawn into multiple conflicts along the border, Mexican nationals and Mexican Texans (tejanos) took advantage of their transnational social relations and ambiguous citizenship to escape criminal prosecution, secure political refuge, and obtain economic opportunities. To confront the racialization of their cultural practices and their increasing criminalization, tejanos claimed citizenship rights within the United States and, in the process, created a new identity. Published in cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University.