Native Americans in Texas

Where did they come from?No one knows exactly when the first people arrived in North America.

It is believed they arrived as far back as 30,000 years ago, near the end of the last ice age.

Where did they come from?

Today a water passage called the Bering Strait connects the Artic and Pacific Oceans.

During the last ice age, ocean levels fell enough that the bottom of the Bering Strait became dry land. Early people are believed to have crossed this land into North America. This is called the Bering Land Bridge.

Native Americans in TexasThe first Americans did not arrive here all at one time. It is believed that they arrived in small bands over thousands of years. These bands were migrating in search of food and ended up spread throughout North America.

Early people were hunters and gatherers.

Native American tribes often migrated for

1. Hunting & gathering

2. Conflict with other Tribes

3. Conflict with European and American Settlers

Migration- to move from place to place.

Tigua

Concho

Tigua

Concho

Southeastern TribesRegions:

Coastal Plains and the North Central Plains

Tribes:

Wichita

Caddo,

Atakapan,

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/caddo/

Southeastern Tribes: Survival

•Farmers of corn, squash, seeds, beans and melons•Lived in permanent villages•Caddo were the most advanced of these tribes.

Who were the Caddo Indians?• Caddoes were the most advanced of the Indian

Tribes in Texas• Lived in what today is called the Piney Woods• Lived in villages and furnished homes with

colored rugs, pottery and baskets• Larger villages of Caddoes settled near major

rivers of the Southeastern regions of Texas.• Were part of a confederacy of Indian governments • The Chief of their confederacy was their High

Priest or religious leader.

Caddo homes were permanent, dome-shaped grass and timber houses held up by poles.

Some were 60 feet in diameter and held 8 to 10 families.

Their religious ceremonieswere held inside oflarge temples that werebuilt up on mounds by the entire community. A sacredfire always burned in this temple.

Wichita Indians• Lived along the Red River• The men had tattoos around their eyes and called

themselves “raccoon eyes”• The women tattooed their faces with zig-zag lines,

circles and triangles• Acquired horses from the Kiowa tribe (from the

Great Plains area)• In the winter months they moved around

following herds of buffalo and living in tipis (teepees). This was unusual because most of the Southeastern Tribes were not migratory.

PlainsTribesRegions:

Great Plains

North Central Plains

Tribes:

•Comanche

• Apache

• Kiowa

•Tonkawa

The Plains Indian tribes were great hunters and were the first to use horses for hunting. The use of horses changed the lives of the Plains Indian tribes forever.

Plains Tribes: Survival

Because the moved following buffalo herds, the Plains Indians lived in Tipi’s (teepee) which were easily transported by horse.

Tipis

Gov’t/Beliefs/ Accomplishments

• Hunters and Warriors

• Chief – generally two chiefs (one for war and one for religion & medicine)

• Medicine Men were called shamans

• Very, very skilled horsemen

• They were the culture that survived the longest in Texas after the Europeans came primarily because of their fighting skills

• Lived in Tipi’s (teepees) which were portable

• Were fierce warriors and used shields, lances and bows and arrows

• Nomadic and constantly moving because their entire way of life depended upon the buffalo herds

• They butchered their kill where

they died and would dry the meat to preserve it for meals later. This “jerky” was perfect food for their nomadic life style.

Comanche

Apache Food

ApacheApache Camp

The word Apache means “enemy.” They were named this because theyposed a threat to other tribes wherever they went.

They were the first of the Plains Tribes to use horses to move and hunt.

Tonkawa These are the Native Americans that you would have seen most often in the “Austin” area

They tried to compete for buffalo with the Comanche and Apaches, but were pushed off their land into regions where few buffalo lived. They became hunters of small game and gatherers instead

Kiowas

•Smaller Plains Indian tribe

•They were nomads, hunters

of buffalo and rode horses like

all Plains Indians

•They held a celebration called the “Sun Dance.” They would build a 20’x 60’ lodge of wooden poles and cover the ground inside with sand. The men would dance without food or water sometimes for 3 days. They believed the dance would bring them good fortune.

GULF CULTURE

• Region: Coastal Plains

•Karankawa

• Coahuiltecans

Coahuiltecans

• They lived in a small region between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Because this area was too small to support huge tribes, they lived in hundreds of small groups; never organizing into a tribe.

• Lived in moveable grass huts

• Large game like buffalo were scare where they lived so they ate just about anything such as lizards, armadillo, worms and even rotten wood.

Moveable Hut

Karankawas• Lived along the gulf coast

• They were fisherman and gatherers

• Lived in houses that held about 8 people

• Communicated by sending smoke signals

• Were killed by disease brought to them by the Spanish who entered the coastal land

• Some evidence shows that they practiced cannibalism (eating the flesh of other humans, mostly their enemies)

KarankawaGulf Coast Plains

Explorer Cabeza de Vaca lived with this culture for years after he shipwrecked near Galveston Island

Karankawas

• Traveled by foot and by canoes made from hollowed-out logs

• Fished with bows and arrows

PUEBLO CULTURE• Region:

Mountains and Basins (desert)

• Tiguas

• Jumanos

The Pueblo Indians

• Jumano

• Concho

• Tiguas

Puebloan Peoples• Lived in the desert lands of

the American Southwest (El Paso, Presidio and New Mexico today).

• They lived in large structures called Pueblos.

• Skilled at farming in a desert region

• Traded with other Indian groups and the Spaniards who explored the region

Jumano People• Pueblos were made of adobe- wet clay and straw

made into bricks and dried in the sun• Were able to grow corn, beans, and squash

because they settled near rivers and streams and had reliable sources of water.

• Traded with other tribes for meat, hides and items from the Plains area of Texas

• Driven out of their land by the Apaches and forced to work in mines by the Spanish

Concho Indians• Smaller tribe that was

close allies with the Jumano tribe. They were very much like the Jumano and some historians even believe that they disappeared because they merged their tribe with the Jumanos. Other historians believe that they all died as a result of diseases brought to them by the Spanish.

Tigua Indians• The oldest Native Americans still living in Texas

today• Life was similar to the other Puebloan Tribes, they

were farmers and ate corn, beans and squash they grew.

• They stored and cooked food in home made pottery

• Built kivas- a large room for worship and meetings

• Many Tiguas have become part of today’s hispanic culture

Kiva- large rooms used for religious ceremoniesand council/leadership of the tribe to meet

Review of Cultures and the Tribes in Each

Puebloan

• Tigua

• Jumano

Gulf

• Karwanakwa

• Coahuiltecans

Plains

• Comanche

• Apache

• Tonkawa*

Southeastern

• Caddo

• Wichita

• Cherokee