Before the people called “Texans” existed, the region was home to many Native nations and, later, to Spanish and Mexican communities whose descendants are still there today. In a political sense, the people now called Texans were previously Mexicans of Coahuila y Tejas, then citizens of the Republic of Texas, and before that subjects of the Spanish Empire.

Who lived there first?

Long before any Europeans arrived, the land that is now Texas was inhabited by Indigenous peoples for at least 10,000–14,000 years. These included many distinct cultures and nations, not a single group.

Some key groups in different parts of Texas included:

  • Caddo peoples in East Texas, who farmed, built villages, and likely gave Texas its name from the word “Tejas,” meaning “friends” or “allies”.
  • Apache and later Comanche on the plains and central regions, powerful horse cultures that reshaped trade, warfare, and territory.
  • Wichita , living in dome-shaped grass houses, farming corn and other crops along rivers before gradually moving back toward present‑day Oklahoma.
  • Various hunter‑gatherer groups in the west and south tied into broader cultures of Aridoamerica and the Rio Grande region.

Archaeology also points to very early “Paleo‑Indian” peoples in Texas, related to Clovis‑age cultures, hunting mammoths and ancient bison thousands of years ago.

From Spanish Texas to Mexican Texas

In the early 1500s and 1600s, Spain claimed the region and established missions and settlements, but Native nations still dominated most of the land. During this time, local residents were subjects of the Spanish Crown rather than “Texans” in the modern sense.

After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Texas became part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Residents were legally Mexican citizens, and Spanish‑speaking locals in the region came to be known as Tejanos (Texans in Spanish), a term still used today for Hispanic Texans with deep roots in the area.

Texians, Tejanos, and Texans

In the early 1800s, large numbers of Anglo‑American settlers moved into Mexican Texas under colonization laws. These English‑speaking settlers, and later citizens of the short‑lived Republic of Texas (1836–1845), were commonly called Texians at the time.

  • Tejanos : Spanish‑speaking Mexican Texans, many with families in the region from the Spanish era.
  • Texians : Mainly Anglo immigrants and their descendants living in Mexican Texas and then the Republic of Texas.
  • Texans : The modern collective term that gradually replaced “Texians” after Texas joined the United States in 1845.

So, in a historical identity sense, “Texans” were previously Tejanos and Texians living in Spanish and then Mexican Texas before the word “Texan” became the standard.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.