Manso Indians

The Manso Indians are an indigenous people who lived along the Rio Grande, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, from the 16th to the 17th century, and were the one of the groups settled at the Guadalupe Mission in what is now Cd. Juarez, Mexico. Some of their descendants remain in the area to this day.

The Mansos were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who practiced little if any agriculture although farming Indians lived both upstream and downstream from them. They had a life style similar to the Suma and Concho Indians who lived nearby.

Language

Only a few words of their language were recorded. Various theories have been put forth concerning the relationship of their language, including that they spoke a Uto-Aztecan,Tanoan, or Athabaskan (Apache) language. The scant facts about their language indicate that they spoke the same language as the Jano and Jocome peoples who lived to their west. The evidence that exists indicates they spoke a Uto-Aztecan language related to the Cahitan languages of northwestern Mexico.