The Suma and the Jumano was a people northern Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico and in southwestern Texas. The Suma was the western division and the Jumano, the eastern division.

These people were bison hunters and traders.

Juan Sabeata was chief of the Jumano (and also the Cibola) from approximately 1683-1692.

Synonymy

The Suma are also known variously as Zuma or Yuma. The Jumano were also known as Jumana, Xumana, Humano, Zumana, or Chouman.

The term Jumano has also been used to refer to other groups, such as the Wichita, the Tompiro pueblos in eastern New Mexico, and a rancheria in Flagstaff, Arizona (probably the Havasupai). The associations between these different peoples probably lies in their common practice of tattooing or painting their bodies. The first recording of the term was in 1582 by Diego Perez de Luxan.

Neighboring peoples

In historic times, the Suma-Jumano were bordered in the north by the Manso and Mescalero; in the west by the Jocome, Jano, and Opata; in the south by the Lower Pima and Concho; in the east by the Comanche and Lipan.

Language

The Suma and Jumano were often assumed to have spoken an Uto-Aztecan language, but this assumption is based on only four words with recorded meanings and a few other personal names (without recorded meanings). Thus, their linguistic affiliation cannot be determined with certainity. Other researchers have suggested links with Athabascan and Caddoan.

Bibliography

• Bolton, H. E. (1912). The Jumano Indians in Texas, 1650-1771. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, 20, 66-84.
• Bolton, H. E. (1916). Spanish exploration in the southwest, 1542-1706. New York.
• Griffin, William B. (1983). Southern periphery: East. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest (Vol. 10, pp. 329-342). Sturtevant, W. C. (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution.
• Hammond, G. P.; & Rey, Agapito. (1929). Expedition into New Mexico made by Antonio de Espejo, 1582-1583 (as revealed in the journal of Diego Perez de Luxan, a member of the party). Los Angeles: The Quivira Society.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. (1911). The Jumano Indians. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 20, 249-268.
• Kelley, J. Charles. (1947). Jumano and Patarabueye: Relations at La Junta de los Rios. (Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University).
• Kelley, J. Charles. (1955). Juan Sabeata and diffusion in aboriginal Texas. American Anthropologist, 57 (5), 981-995.
• Sauer, Carl. (1934). The distribution of aboriginal tribes and languages in northwestern Mexico. Ibero-Americana (No. 5). Berkeley: University of California.
• Scholes, F. V.; & Mera, H. P. (1940). Some aspects of the Jumano problem. Contributions to American anthropology and history (No. 34; Publ. No. 523). Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.