Janos is a town located in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as the municipal seat of government for the surrounding Janos Municipality of the same name. As of 2010, the town of Janos had a population of 2,738. Janos was possibly the site of a Franciscan mission established about 1640 and destroyed by Indian attack in the 1680s. The Spanish established a presidio (fort) in Janos in 1686 which became a key element in the Spanish attempt to suppress raids and attacks by the Apache people. Several hundred Apaches often lived near the presidio during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. History In his Memorial of 1630 Franciscan missionary Alonso de Benavides mentions the Janos ("Hanos") and Suma among the "ferocious tribes" living along the caravan route between Spanish settlements in Mexico and New Mexico. In 1640, a mission called Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de los Janos was established to Christianize these and other tribes of Native Americans. The initial location of the mission is in doubt. It was possibly near the future town of Janos, or possibly near El Paso, Texas. In the 1680s the mission was destroyed by an uprising of the Suma and Janos and other tribes. Another, probably related people, the Jocomes also became prominent near Janos. In 1686 the Spanish governor ordered Captain Juan Fernández de la Fuente to send troops to Janos to establish a presidio (fortress). It was named Presidio de San Felipe y Santiago de Janos and in 1717 the Franciscan mission was re-established among the Janos and Jocomes people. In 1692, however, a new people, the Apache, were recorded for the first time within the borders of Mexico, having immigrated from further north. The Suma, Janos, and Jocomes gradually disappeared from Spanish records, probably absorbed by the Apache or, in the case of some of the Suma, becoming part of the detribalized Native American population of El Paso, Texas. Apaches Janos was one of 18 presidios mostly located near the 21st century border of Mexico and the United States that the Spanish created to defend the Mexican settlements from the attacks and raids of Apaches and later Comanches. The grievances of the Apaches included the frequent slave raids of the Spaniards and their Native American allies which resulted in the capture and enslavement of many Apaches and other peoples. Janos was arguably the most important of