Did you Know? The Rio Grande forms at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the Continental Divide in Colorado? The river has been known by many names throughout its discovery. The Spanish names are Rio Bravo (wild or bold river) or Rio Bravo del Norte. (wild river of the north) The Keres Pueblo People's name for the Rio Grande was mets'ichi chena or Big River, while the Tiwa Pueblo People's called it paslápaane which also meant Big River. The Navajo People knew it as Tó Baʼáadi (Female River because of its southerly flow - South is female in Navajo cosmology) Other names include: Río de Nuestra Señora from the Hernando de Alvarado expedition, the Río de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the Río Guadalquivir by the Agustín Rodríguez expedition, and Río Turbio (turbulent river) by merchant, Antonio de Espejo. Juan de Oñate is generally regarded as the first to call it the Rio Grande, when he reached its banks near the future site of El Paso in 1598. To call the river the Rio grande River is redundant as the word Rio means river in Spanish! (Photo -The Rio Grande near Eagle Pass)
Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011.
