Monday, August 28, 2023

Where are the tribes that once lived in Texas now?

This list of specific tribes comes from Inside Texas Politics: 



So what's happened to them? I've also linked you to pages containing further information about each tribe.


Kiowa
- TSHA.
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? In 1867, the Kiowa were moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Today, they are federally recognized as Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma with headquarters in Carnegie, Oklahoma. As of 2011, there were 12,000 members.


Osage
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? In the 19th century, the Osage were forced by the United States to remove from Kansas to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), and the majority of their descendants live in Oklahoma. In the early 20th century, oil was discovered on their land. They had retained communal mineral rights during the allotment process, and many Osage became wealthy through returns from leasing fees generated by their headrights. However, during the 1920s and what was known as the Reign of Terror, they suffered manipulation, fraud, and numerous murders by outsiders eager to take over their wealth.


Comanche
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? Decimated by European diseases, warfare, and encroachment by Europeans on Comanchería, most Comanche were forced to live on reservations in Indian Territory by the late 1870s.


Jumano
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? The last historic reference was in a 19th-century oral history, but their population had already declined by the early 18th century. Scholars have generally argued that the Jumanos disappeared as a distinct people by 1750 due to infectious disease, the slave trade, and warfare, with remnants absorbed by the Apache or Comanche. Hodge proposed that they had become part of the Wichita people.


Lipan Apache
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? Many Lipan Apache descendants today are enrolled members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico. Other Lipan descendants are enrolled with the Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, also known as the Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache. Other Lipan Apache descendants live in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, and northern Mexico.


Wichita
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? Today, Wichita tribes, which include the Kichai people, Waco, Taovaya, Tawakoni, and the Wichita proper (or Guichita), are federally recognized as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakoni).

Caddo
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who historically inhabited much of what is northeast Texas, west Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, and southeastern Oklahoma. Prior to European contact, they were the Caddoan Mississippian culture, who constructed huge earthwork mounds at several sites in this territory, flourishing about 800 to 1400 CE. In the early 19th century, Caddo people were forced to a reservation in Texas. In 1859, they were removed to Indian Territory.


Attacapan
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? After 1762, when Louisiana was transferred to Spain following French defeat in the Seven Years' War, little was written about the Atakapa as a people. Due to a high rate of deaths from infectious epidemics of the late 18th century, they ceased to function as a people. Survivors generally joined the Caddo, Koasati, and other neighboring peoples, although they kept some traditions. Some culturally distinct Atakapan descendants survived into the early 20th century.


Tonkawan
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.


Karankawa
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? In the 1820s, Texan colonists arrived in their land under the leadership of Stephen Austin who commissioned a captain to expel the Karankawa from the Austin land grant, leading to multiple attacks, including the Skull Creek massacre of 19 Karankawa. By the 1840s, the Karankawa, now exiled, split into two groups, one of which settled on Padre Island while the other fled into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. During 1858, Mexican rancher Juan Nepomuceno Cortina led a group of Mexicans and Texan colonists against what was believed to be Karankawa's last known refuge, killing many, and by 1891, the Karankawa ceased to exist as a functioning tribe.


Coahuiltecan
- Wikipedia.

Where are they now? After the Texas secession from Mexico, Coahuiltecan peoples were largely forced into harsh living conditions. In 1886, ethnologist Albert Gatschet found the last known survivors of Coahuiltecan bands: 25 Comecrudo, 1 Cotoname, and 2 Pakawa. They were living near Reynosa, Mexico.

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