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This is a more in-depth look at the First Peoples of Texas. Why” because there were people here long before the Spanish and any other Europeans set foot on the land, First, allow me to try and clear up some terminology especially one word and that word is “Indians”.  The people Columbus encountered when he first reached the shores of the continent where misnamed, because Columbus thought he had reached India and as we know, he was wrong.  That’s all I’m going to say about the subject.

The inhabitants themselves did not refer to themselves in any specific way, other than often using the term “the people”, they did refer to other tribes with names. For example, the early Spanish encountered a group of nomadic buffalo hunters, they called Querechos.  That group was later named Apache, which came from the Zuni word for enemy “apachu” which is what they were called by the Navajo.  While some tribes were “farmers” the Apaches were hunter-gatherers and didn’t do a lot of agriculture. 

When we speak of the tribes, it is important that we remember that those tribes that were hunter-gatherers had a certain lifestyle dictated by necessity as did those who were farmers.  There is no one broad brush we can paint all tribes with; however, there are certain characteristics that many tribes have in common with one another.

One area that was of particular importance to all tribes was in the area of religion or spirituality. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century, the tribes that lived in the area that is now Texas maintained a variety of religious practices.  The majority of them embraced the idea of some type of supreme being and they all had creation stories.  They were usually not monotheistic; many held a belief in a variety of powers often organized in a form of hierarchy. For agricultural tribes, there were various ceremonies that accompanied the planting and harvesting of crops. Hunter-gatherers often sought the help of spirits before searching for game which served as food for the tribe.

Most tribes saw the universe in three levels.  The upper level was one of predictability, lower level of chaos, and the level where humans lived which was a mixture of both of the other levels.  The world was divided into 6 regions, north, south, east, west, up, and down and the year had a cold period and a hot period.

All believe there is a spirit in everything, including animals such as buffalo, wolves, bears, etc.

Spiritual leader shaman,AKA medicine man while all shamans were medicine men, not all medicine men were shamans.

Shamans in addition to using plants and instructions from spiritual helpers, they also went into trances to visit land of the dead, where they gathered information on the sickness.

What were some of the Hunter-Gatherer Tribes and where did they live?

Comanches – North Central / Northwest Texas

Kiowas – Panhandle – shared territory with Comanche

• Held a summer Sun Dance – to insure regeneration of the Buffalo

Tonkawas – Gulf Coast (Houston area)

• Venerated the Great Wolf

Karankawas – Gulf Coast (shared territory with Tonkawas – inner gulf coast)

Apache – (Lipan) South and Southwest Texas – (Mescalero) West Texas – El Paso

Coahuiltecans (KOE-ha-HWEE-ta-kanz) Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico

Farmers

Farming groups tended to revere the earth, corn, rain, sun, and developed their beliefs based on fertility, and crop cycles.

Spiritual leader priest –

The medicine man or woman, acted like Shamans even going into trances for healing help. 

Priests, who most often were men, were religious specialists, had a long period of training valued not for healing abilities but because they knew the rituals and ceremonies to ensure bountiful harvests and healthy people.

They also had witches who were evil.  Could change their appearance, become animals, or even sparks of a fire. They stole people’s lives and souls.   Witches threw life out of balance, essentially like people from around the world, they believed in good versus evil.

Tribes

Wichitas – Central Texas (Waco)

Caddos – North and East Texas – Near Arkansas – Louisiana

 When the 1528 expedition of Capt. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, and Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca first contacted people along the coast, they were primarily members of the Karankawas tribe.  It is true that Cabeza de Vaca had troubles with the Mariames (may-ree-ams) and Yguaces (E-guacies) who were a part of the Coahuiltecans (KOE-ha-HWEE-ta-kanz), when they were held as slaves, but that was when they ventured towards the Rio Grande valley and a little further inland. 

When we think of tribes by one name, such as the Karankawas, we tend to visualize them as a single cohesive group of people.  However, that is not always the case; in fact, the Karankawas seemed to be comprised of three bands, the Capoques, Kopanes, and Karankawa themselves.

They moved seasonally between the coastal islands and the mainland depending on climate and the available of food. They ate fish and shellfish, but they also included a wide variety of animals and plants in their diets.

The Karankawas usually travelled in groups of 30 or so, and each group had a distinct leader or chief.  When on the water they used a dugout canoe that was large enough to carry their family and possessions.  They were strong, athletic and powerful runners. The Karankawas also participated in competitive games demonstrating weapons skills or physical prowess. Wrestling was so popular among Karankawas that neighboring tribes referred to them as the “Wrestlers.” Warfare was a fact of life for the Karankawas, and evidence indicates that the tribe practiced ceremonial cannibalism that involved eating the flesh of their traditional enemies. That custom, widespread among Texas tribes, involved consuming bits and pieces of the flesh of dead or dying enemies as the ultimate revenge or as a magical means of capturing the enemy’s courage. Why Cabeza de Vaca was able to live among them for several years and not be treated as an enemy is unknown and his writings provided some very valuable accounts of the tribe.  After Cabeza de Vaca the Karankawas were not visited again by Europeans for more than a century and a half when in 1685 the French tried to establish a fort in the middle of their territory.

After Cabeza de Vaca left the territory of the Karankawas, remember he traveled south and west and in doing so, he ended up in the territory of the Coahuiltecans (KOE-ha-HWEE-ta-kanz), where he didn’t have nearly the same amount of success. He and his companions were taken into captivity and used as slaves by two of the bands associated with them the Mariames (may-ree-ams) and Yguaces (E-guacies) until they were able to escape and return to Mexico. So who exactly were the Coahuiltecans (KOE-ha-HWEE-ta-kanz)? 

The early Coahuiltecans lived in the coastal plain in northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The plain includes the northern Gulf Coastal Lowlands in Mexico and the southern Gulf Coastal Plain in the United States.

The geography of this region is flat and in Texas it turns into gently rolling terrain. In Mexico, near Nuevo León and Tamaulipas mountains rise east of the Sierra Madre Oriental; and of course, the Rio Grande (or as it is known in Mexico, the Rio Bravo) dominates the region.  The region’s climate is mega thermal and generally semiarid. Though rainfall declines with distance from the coast, the region is not a true desert.

Hunting and gathering prevailed in the region, with some Indian horticulture in southern Tamaulipas. A wide range of soil types fostered wild plants yielding such foodstuffs as mesquite beans, maguey root crowns, prickly pear fruit, pecans, acorns, and various roots and tubers. The introduction of European livestock altered vegetation patterns, and grassland areas were invaded by thorny bushes. The deer was a widespread and available large game animal. Bison (buffalo) roamed southern Texas and northeastern Coahuila. Smaller game animals included the peccary and armadillo, rabbits, rats and mice, various birds, and numerous species of snakes, lizards, frogs, and snails. Fish were found in perennial streams, and both fish and shellfish in saline waters of the Gulf.

The Coahuiltecan area was one of the poorest regions of Indian North America. In it tribes became extinct at an early date. Documents written before the extinction provide basic information.  European drawings and paintings, museum artifacts, and limited archeological excavations offer little information on specific Indian groups of the historic period.

There is still a lot to be learned about the tribes and their territorial range, languages, and cultures. Sadly, very little is known about group displacement, population decline, and extinction or absorption.

In the next episode, I will continue to delve more into the lives of the peoples who were inhabiting Texas when the Spanish arrived.

This is the Hidden History Of Texas