Pajalat

Pajalat

Manuscript about the language of the Pajalats in this language and Spanish by Fray Gabriel de Vergara dated 1732
Total population
extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
Texas
Languages
aCoahuiltecan language
Related ethnic groups
otherCoahuiltecan peoples

ThePajalatwere a Native American group who lived in the area just south ofSan Antonio, Texas,prior to the arrival of the Spanish to the region in the 18th century.

Language

The Pajalat spoke a dialect of theCoahuiltecan language.They spoke the same language as the Tiplacopal and Patumaco peoples.

Territory

At the time of European and African contact, the Pajalat lived between theFrio Riverand theSan Antonio River.The Tiplacopal people shared their territory.A 1727 Spanish map shows the Pajalat and Siquipil lived in what is nowGoliad County, Texas.

18th-century history

When Spaniards settledSan Antonio,Pajalats moved there and to theNuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de AcuñaandSan Francisco de la EspadaMissions when they were founded in 1731.At Mission Concepción members of the tribe alternated holding gobernador and alcalde offices with Tacame people. Historians have found records of 23 to 82 Pajalats living at Mission Concepción.

By 1791, some Pajalat joined theNuestra Señora del Refugio Missionin present-dayRefugio, Texas.

Name

The Pajalat were also called the Cajalate, Pajal,Pajalac, Pajalache, Pajalatam, Pallalat, Paxolot, and many other variations.

They are not to be confused with the distinct Pachalaque people.

Further reading

• Barr, Juliana.Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands.Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. especially page 128.