Quote Originally Posted by Jaguara View Post
How do you define the distinction between "American Indians" and "Mexican Hispanic (Indians)" and "Meso-American Indians". Mostly this destinction is a modern one influenced by political agendas and modern borders. Certainly the Hopi have more in common with other Natives an hour to the South than say the Lakota of the plains or the woodland/great lakes 6 nations.

I used to have a map which displayed the distribution of the seven Native root languages throughout the Americas. From an anthrological perspective, the distinction between North and South American Indians is rather meaningless.
I think you have point, but even though Native American groups might share the same root language that doesn't mean they are the same culturally. For example the Paiutes, which are the group native to my region, belong to the Uto-Aztecan language group but were quite different from the Aztecs culturally.

Plus most Hispanic Mexicans are a mix of Spanish and Indian blood. So I'm guessing that the Mexicans that settled Texas didn't have much in common with the Indian tribes that were already there.