The Aranama were an Indigenous people who lived along the

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

and Guadalupe rivers of present-day

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, near the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

Language

Aranama people spoke the

Aranama language Aranama (Araname), also known as Tamique, is an extinct unclassified language of Texas, USA. It was spoken by the Aranama and Tamique peoples at the Franciscan mission of Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga. It is only known from a two-word phrase fro ...

, a poorly attested language that went extinct in the mid-19th century. It may have been a

Coahuiltecan language Coahuiltecan was a proposed language family in John Wesley Powell's 1891 classification of Native American languages. Most linguists now reject the view that the Coahuiltecan peoples of southern Texas and adjacent Mexico spoke a single or relate ...

but remains unclassified.

History

Many Aranama people moved to

Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga, also known as Aranama Mission or Mission La Bahía, was a Roman Catholic mission established by Spain in 1722 in the Viceroyality of New Spain—to convert native Karankawa Indians to Chris ...

at its second and third locations. Several times, they left the mission to move north, and occasionally joined the

Tawakoni The Tawakoni (also Tahuacano and Tehuacana) are a Southern Plains Native American tribe, closely related to the Wichitas. They historically spoke a Wichita language of the Caddoan language family. Currently, they are enrolled in the Wichita a ...

s. Each time, the Spanish colonists convinced them to return. Some Aranama people also joined San Antonio de Valero in

and Nuestra Señora del Refugio in Refugio.

References

{{authority control Extinct Native American peoples Indigenous peoples of Aridoamerica Native American history of Texas Native American tribes in Texas