Yanaguana, Indigenous settlement site along San Antonio River, Texas

Yanaguana was a Payaya village on the San Antonio River, at the site of today's San Pedro Springs Park. The Payaya were a nomadic Coahuiltecan band who camped there for the abundant water, trees and fishing. In 1718 Martín de Alarcón founded San Antonio at the site, establishing San Antonio de Valero west of the springs.

Spanish Franciscan priest Damián Massanet first documented this Payaya settlement in 1691, marking the beginning of European contact. This encounter set in motion the transformations that would reshape indigenous life in the region.

The name Yanaguana comes from the Payaya village that stood here; some accounts say the Payaya also used it for the San Antonio River, and it is now promoted for tourism. Massanet's 1691 diary entry records the name and notes the wild chickens the Payaya found here. The Payaya were a nomadic Coahuiltecan band who camped at the site for its water, trees and fishing.

The National Park Service's Yanaguana Trail follows the San Antonio River at Mission San Juan Capistrano, south of the springs where the village stood. The springs area itself became San Pedro Springs Park in 1852, so the two sites lie in different parts of the city and are best visited separately.

The Yanaguana Society, formed in 1933 by Frederick C. Chabot of San Antonio, was named for the Payaya village and gathered early artifacts and history of the area; it operated until 1960. Its name ties a 20th-century collectors' group directly to the settlement recorded by Massanet in 1691.