Yojuane

The Yojuane were a people who lived in Texas in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. They were closely associated with the Jumano and may have also been related to the Tonkawa.

It has been proposed on little evidence that the tribe got its name because one of its members when asked who they were replied "yo Juan".

Many scholars starting with Herbert E. Bolton have held the view that the Yojuane spoke the Tonkawa language or a language related to it. However Gary Anderson argues that the Yojuane spoke the same language or a related language to the Jumano Indians and that this was a Uto-Aztecan language, largely based on the ability of Nahuatl speakers to converse with the Jumano and Yojuane when they first met as part of the Spanish expeditions.

The Yojuane were first mentioned by Spanish chroniclers about 1690. At this time they were led by a man named Cantana who had been on occasion to Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain, essentially modern Chihuahua. Cantana was closely connected with the Jumano of La Junta de los Rios although it is less clear where his people lived at the time. According to Gary Anderson the Yojuane numbered about 1000 at this time. However these included the Cholemes and Cabezas, peoples who seemed to be distinct. Also associated with the Yojuane were the Simonos and Tusonibis or Tosonibis who had recently fled from Nuevo Leon to join the Yojuane due to the Spanish incursion into that area. In 1709 when Isidro de Espinosa met a hunting party of Yojuane the Simonos and Tusonibis were still distinct groups but also hunting with the part.

In the 1740s the Yojuane along with their allies the Deadoses, Mayeyes and Ervipiames asked for Franciscan missions to be established for them. They later moved into missions along the San Gabriel River, moving south and west of the Rancheria Grande.

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