Tigua

people

Also known as: Tiwa

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Last updated

July 14, 2026

Quick Summary

The Tigua are a Native American people, also known as Tiwa, who are descendants of Christian Indians who fled an uprising in New Mexico. They founded Ysleta del Sur in 1681–82, which is now part of El Paso, Texas, and is considered the oldest settlement in Texas. The Tigua maintain a museum and arts and crafts center in Ysleta, where they once had a reservation. The tribe received official recognition from Texas in 1967 and the U.S. Congress in 1968.1

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Albuquerque
The early period
…the area in 1540, the Tiwa people were living in pueblos along the Rio Grande and its tributary streams, cultivating extensive gardens in the river’s floodplain. Distance from other settlements had not kept the Tiwa from participating in a trade network that extended as far east as the Great Plains…
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…the area in 1540, the Tiwa people were living in pueblos along the Rio Grande and its tributary streams, cultivating extensive gardens in the river’s floodplain. Distance from other settlements had not kept the Tiwa from participating in a trade network that extended as far east as the Great Plains…
Read More

Ysleta
The Tigua (Tiwa) Indians maintain a museum and an arts and crafts centre in Ysleta, where the tribe had a small reservation; many members of this group are direct descendants of the Indians who fled the Pueblo revolt. The tribe was officially recognized by the state…
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The Tigua (Tiwa) Indians maintain a museum and an arts and crafts centre in Ysleta, where the tribe had a small reservation; many members of this group are direct descendants of the Indians who fled the Pueblo revolt. The tribe was officially recognized by the state…
Read More