Main Page. El Paso Missions. The history of the El Paso missions and settlements is one of amalgamation of European and native cultures and, with few exceptions, the loss of identities of once-distinct native groups. Before the arrival of the Spanish, El Paso had been inhabited for thousands of years by hunting and gathering peoples. Around A.D. 400, native peoples of the area began living in pithouse villages and experimenting with crops. Through time they built larger and more complex villages and by A.D. 1200, they were living in pueblos, relying heavily on crops for food, and participating in trade with peoples across the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
Around A.D. 1450, the pueblos of El Paso were abandoned and the people who remained in the region reverted to the mobile hunting and gathering lifestyle of their ancestors. In their early expeditions to the El Paso area, the Spanish explorers encountered two groups of Native Americans whom they referred to as the Mansos and the Sumas.
Revolt in El Paso. Interactive Map: Marco Polo's Journey. Interactive Map: Exploration of North America, 1492-1700. Interactive Map: The United States, 1500.