Suma

The Suma lived in the dry country between the Rio Grande and the mountains of northern Chihuahua. Their communities occupied a frontier also inhabited by Manso, Janos and other peoples. Spanish missions and settlements reached the region during the seventeenth century, drawing some Suma families into mission villages while others continued to live beyond them.

After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 brought Spanish refugees south to El Paso del Norte, tensions grew across the frontier. In 1683 Suma, Manso and Janos people rose against Spanish authority. Some Suma later settled near Janos, where a presidio was founded after the disturbances of the 1680s. Alliances and conflicts changed repeatedly as Indigenous communities, soldiers and missionaries contested the region between the river and the desert mountains.