Suma people

The Suma merged with Apache groups[2] and the mestizo population of northern Mexico, and are extinct as a distinct people.

Confusion is rife concerning the complex mix of Indigenous peoples who lived near the Rio Grande in west Texas and northern Mexico.

One theory is that the Indians of the El Paso and La Junta regions were intermixed when the Spanish arrived and that the Spaniards separated them into groups for "ease of government and increased control."

The opposite is also proposed: that the Manso, Suma, Jumano, and La Junta Indians may have become mixed together in reaction to the threat from the Spanish and their diminishing population due to slave raids and European introduced diseases.

[6] The Suma lived, at least during winter, along 130 miles (210 km) of the Rio Grande southeast (downstream) from El Paso.

[11] The Suma were not politically united, but rather a group of closely related autonomous bands and sub-tribes each of which acted independently.

[13] Some of the Suma, Manso, and Jumano sought Spanish protection from the growing danger of Apache raids.

But the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico caused an additional 2,000 Spaniards and allied Indians to take refuge in El Paso and stretched resources to their limits.

[15] However, some of the Suma, Janos, and Jocomes continued to be hostile to the Spanish, finding a stronghold in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and becoming associated with the Apache and absorbed by them over time.

[16] During the 18th century, the Suma living at the Mission of San Lorenzo near El Paso were servants of the priests, grew crops, worked as laborers, and adopted many Spanish customs.