Carnuel (full name San Miguel de Loredo de Carnué) is east of the original center of the city of Albuquerque. The town was created in 1763 to defend Albuquerque from the raids of Comanche, Kiowa, and Plains Apache American Indians. The town is located at the mouth of Tijeras Canyon, a strategic and natural corridor between the hostile Indians of the Great Plains and the Spanish settlements of the Rio Grande valley. Nineteen men some with families, comprised the first settlers at Carnuel. They were mostly from the lower castas of Spanish society, coyotes and genízaros (Indians who lived among the Spanish and had adopted some elements of Hispanic culture). For the coyotes and genízaros the attraction to settle at Carnuel and other genízaro settlements was the opportunity to own land through a land grant from the New Mexican government.