The Piro Indians were once one of the principal Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. In the early 17th century, they comprised two divisions. One division inhabited the Rio Grande Valley in Socorro County, New Mexico, northward to within about 50 miles of Albuquerque, where the Tigua settlements began. The other division, sometimes referred to as Tompiro and Salinero, occupied an area east of the Rio Grande, near the salt lagoons, or salinas, where they adjoined the eastern group of Tigua settlements to the south.

The western or Rio Grande branch of the tribe was visited by members of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition in 1540, the Chamuscado and Rodríguez Expedition in 1580, Antonio de Espejo in 1583, who found them in ten villages along the river and others nearby, Juan de Onate in 1598, and the Franciscan missionary Alonso de Benavides in 1621-30, who stated that they were in 14 pueblos along the river.

The establishment of missions among the Piro began in 1626 when most southern churches and monasteries were built in southern New Mexico. In 1630, the Piro were estimated to have numbered 6,000 people but were being seriously harassed by the Apache. Half a century later, the 14 villages along the Rio Grande occupied by the Piro in 1630 were reduced to only four.

The area occupied by the Piro of the Salinas extended from the Pueblo of Abo southeast to and including the Pueblo of Tabira, commonly referred to as “Gran Quivira,” a distance of approximately 25 miles. The habitat of the eastern Piro was even more arid than that of the eastern Tigua, which bordered it to the north, for the Arroyo de Abo, on which Abo Pueblo was situated.

The first actual missions among the Piro pueblos of Salinas were established in 1629 by Francisco de Acevedo at Abo and Tabira, probably also at a place called Tenabo. But before the massive-walled churches and monasteries were completed, the village dwellers of both the Salinas and the Rio Grande suffered so seriously from the Apaches’ depredations that their villages were deserted before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument now protects the ruins of these early missions near Mountainair, New Mexico.

The Piro people did not participate in the uprising against the Spanish. Consequently, when Governor Antonio de Otermin retreated from Santa Fe to present-day El Paso, Texas, many Piro people followed, while others scattered and joined other Pueblo groups. Soon, the Spanish established new villages for the refugees in present-day Texas, including Ysleta Sur in El Paso, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepcion in Socorro, and another in San Elizario. The original inhabitants never resettled any of the Piro pueblos.

By the mid-1800s, many Native Americans living in the El Paso area began to migrate back to New Mexico, settling in the present-day Las Cruces area. By 1885, approximately 80 Pueblo Indian families resided in the area, many of whom belonged to the Piro tribe. However, by the early 1900s, only about 60 Piro people were known to have survived, and their language is extinct.

Today, however, the Piro/Manso/Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is working to gain federal recognition.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated August 2025.

Also See:

Ancient & Modern Pueblos – Oldest Cities in the U.S.

Native American Tribes

Pueblo Indians

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

Sources:

Hodge, Frederick Webb; The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico; Bureau of American Ethnology, Government Printing Office. 1906.
Las Cruces Sun