The Chichimeca Jonaz are a group of indigenous people

Indigenous peoples of Mexico

Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...

 living in Guanajuato

Guanajuato

Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....

 and San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....

. In Guanajuato State the Chichimeca Jonaz people live in a community of San Luis de la Paz municipality. The settlement is 2,070 m above sea level. They call this place Rancho Úza (Indian Ranch) or Misión Chichimeca.
In the 2000 General Census by INEGI 2,641 people named themselves as speakers of the Chichimeca Jonaz language

Chichimeca Jonaz language

Chichimeca or Chichimeca Jonaz is an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by around 200 Chichimeca Jonaz people in Misión de Chichimecas near San Luis de la Paz in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The Chichimeca Jonaz language belongs to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean linguistic family...

. Of these 1,433 speakers lived in Guanajuato, and the other 115 in San Luis Potosí.

Their language belongs to the Pamean sub-branch of the Oto-Pamean

Oto-Pamean languages

The Oto-Pamean languages are a branch of the Oto-Manguean languages of central Mexico that includes are half a dozen languages, or more accurately dialect clusters:*Otomian: Otomi, Mazahua*Matlatzinca*Pamean*Chichimeca...

 branch of the Oto-Manguean language family, the closest relative of the Chichimeca Jonaz language is the Pame language

Pame language

The Pame language is an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by around 10.000 Pame people in the state of San Luis Potosí. The Pame language belongs to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-manguean linguistic family...

.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards they were a nomadic people roaming North Central Mexico and the Southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 and Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

.

Spanish colonization of the Americas

After the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Spanish conquest of Mexico

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...

 and the ensuing Spanish colonization of the Americas

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...

; they fought against Spaniards and Christianized Indians in the Chichimec Wars along with the Pame

Pame

The Pame are an indigenous people of central Mexico living in the state of San Luis Potosí. They call themselves Xi'úi. They speak the Pame language, which belongs to the Oto-Pamean group of the Oto-Manguean language family....

s and Otomi

Otomi people

The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...

es and other Chichimeca

Chichimeca

Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...

n peoples, in the Sonora y Sinaloa

Sonora y Sinaloa

Sonora y Sinaloa was a province in the Provincias Internas and under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara of Viceroyalty of New Spain. After Independence Sonora y Sinaloa became one of the constituent states of the Mexican Republic...

 Province in the Provincias Internas and under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara

Real Audiencia of Guadalajara

The Real Audiencia of Guadalajara was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in what is today northern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was created by royal decree on February 13, 1548, and was originally located in Compostela and permanently seated...

 (Royal Audiencia of Guadalajara) of Viceroyalty of New Spain.

In the last part of the sixteenth century they settled down in the southern area they now inhabit.