Manos Prietas

The Manos Prietas, meaning "black hands", were a Native American people from the region of present-day Texas and Mexico.

Spanish documents locate the Manos Prietas as native to the southern Coahuila region. Over the course of the seventeenth century, under pressure from encroaching Spanish settlements, they migrated north, across the Rio Grande, and onto the Edwards Plateau.[1][2]

Their diet included deer and buffalo, prickly pear fruit, agave root, and nuts. They lived in round huts roofed with buffalo pelts.[1]

Towards the end of the 17th century, surviving Manos Prietas entered a number of Spanish missions in Coahuila. These included Santa Rosa de Nadadores,[3] San Miguel de Aguayo, and San Francisco Solano.[2] The last records of Manos Prietas appear in 1793.[2]

  1. ^ a b "Amistad NRA: American Indian Tribal Affiliation Study (Phase 1) (Chapter 2)". npshistory.com. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Campbell, Thomas N. "Manos Prietas Indians". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  3. ^ Hodge, Frederick Webb (1907). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: A-M. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 801. Retrieved 13 August 2024.