The Coahuiltecans: The Payaya of Yanaguana

 When Spaniards first stumbled upon Bexar County’s lush ecosystem in the late 1600s, it was already occupied by a small thriving community of its own: the Payaya Indians. 

The Payaya, which had roots going back some 10,000 years, had settled around San Pedro Springs in a village called Yanaguana. 

 The Payaya are also referred to as Coahuiltecans, which is a collective name for the many small, autonomous indigenous tribes that inhabited South Texas and northern Mexico.