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The Quems were an indigenous people who lived along the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
in what is now the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican state of
Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...
in the 17th and 18th centuries. They are known to have settled around present-day Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. Damián Massanet also recorded them, in 1691, as one of six groups of Indians encountered along a stream called "Caramanchel"; this appears to correspond with today's Comanche Creek in the southwestern part of
Zavala County Zavala County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 11,677. Its county seat is Crystal City. The county was created in 1858 and later organized in 1884. Zavala is named for Lorenzo de Zav ...
. Massenet implied that all six groups spoke a language now known as
Coahuilteco Coahuilteco was one of the Pakawan languages that was spoken in southern Texas (United States) and northeastern Coahuila (Mexico). It is now extinct. Classification Coahuilteco was grouped in an eponymous Coahuiltecan family by John Wesley P ...
. The Quems were among the most prominent Native Americans living between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande.Gary Clayton Anderson, ''The Indian Southwest, 1580–1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999) p. 39 In 1689,
Alonso De León Alonso de León "El Mozo" (c. 1639–1691) was explorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. Early life Alonso de León González was born in 1639, in the settlement of Cade ...
was led by two Indian guides to the site of Fort St. Louis, built by Sieur de la Salle along
Matagorda Bay Matagorda Bay () is a large Gulf of Mexico bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, east-southeast of San Antonio, south-southwest of Houston, and south-southeast ...
. One of the guides was a Quems, who claimed that he had visited the fort while it was still occupied by the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
. Massenet, in his account of this expedition, recorded that the Quems guide used a sign language then common in the area of southern Texas; he was also tattooed. When the San Phelipe de Valladares Mission was founded near modern-day Candela in 1700, some Quems entered; they were recorded under the name Quexamos. Little else is known of the tribe, except that between 1726 and 1748 two families, constituting six people, were recorded as being in the San Antonio de Valero Mission of San Antonio. Spanish chronicallers also spelled their name Cems, Qems, Quimzo, and Quinze.


References

Extinct Native American peoples Indigenous peoples of Aridoamerica Native American tribes in Texas Indigenous peoples in Mexico {{NorthAm-native-stub