The Atakapa
[Sturtevant, 659] or Atacapa were an
Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the no ...
, who spoke the
Atakapa language and historically lived along the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
in what is now
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
.
They included several distinct bands. They spoke the
Atakapa language, which was a
linguistic isolate.
After 1762, when Louisiana was transferred to Spain following French defeat in the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
, 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
The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language.
The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...
,
Koasati, and other neighboring peoples, although they kept some traditions. Some culturally distinct Atakapan descendants survived into the early 20th century.
[Sturtevant, 660.] There are several
unrecognized tribes who identify as having descent from the Atakapa.
Name
The Atakapa called themselves the Ishak , which translates as "the people."
Their name was also spelled ''Atacapaze'', ''Atalapa'', ''Attakapa'', ''Attakapas'', or ''Attacapa''.
''Atakapa'' is either a
Choctaw
The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...
or
Mobilian term meaning "eater of human flesh". The Choctaw used this term due to their practice of ritual
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...
. Europeans encountered the Choctaw first during their exploration, and adopted their name for this people to the west. The peoples lived in river valleys, along lake shores, and coasts from present-day
Vermilion Bay,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
to
Galveston Bay, Texas.
[
]
Atakapa language
The Atakapa language was a language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
, once spoken along the Louisiana and East Texas coast and believed extinct since the mid-20th century. John R. Swanton in 1919 proposed a Tunican language family that would include Atakapa, Tunica, and Chitimacha. Mary Haas later expanded this into the Gulf language family with the addition of the Muskogean languages
Muskogean ( ; also Muskhogean) is a language family spoken in the Southeastern United States. Members of the family are Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Typologically, Muskogean languages are highly synthetic and agglutinative. One documen ...
. As of 2001, linguists generally do not consider these proposed families as proven.
History
Atakapa oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from
people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...
says that they originated from the sea. An ancestral prophet laid out the rules of conduct.[Sturtevant, 662.]
The first European contact with the Atakapa may have been in 1528 by survivors of the Spanish Pánfilo de Narváez expedition. These men in Florida had made two barges, in an attempt to sail to Mexico, and these were blown ashore on the Gulf Coast. One group of survivors met the Karankawa, while the other probably landed on Galveston Island
Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston, Texas, Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, Texas, Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City ...
. The latter recorded meeting a group who called themselves the Han, who may have been the Akokisa. Among the survivors was Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (; 1488/90/92"Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Núñez (1492?-1559?)." American Eras. Vol. 1: Early American Civilizations and Exploration to 1600. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 50-51. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 December ...
who later wrote an account of several years living among the Indians of the Texas coast.[
]
18th century
In 1703, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the French governor of '' La Louisiane'', sent three men to explore the Gulf Coast west of the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. The seventh nation they encountered were the Atakapa, who captured, killed and cannibalized one member of their party.[ In 1714 this tribe was one of 14 that were recorded as coming to ]Jean-Michel de Lepinay
Jean-Michel is a French masculine given name. It may refer to :
* Jean-Michel Arnold, General Secretary of the Cinémathèque Française
* Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960), French artist
* Jean-Michel Aulas (born 1949), French businessman
* Jean-Mic ...
, who was acting French governor of Louisiana between 1717 and 1718, while he was fortifying Dauphin Island, Alabama.
The Choctaw
The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...
told the French settlers about the "People of the West," who represented subdivisions or tribes. The French referred to them as ''les sauvages''. The Choctaw used the name ''Atakapa,'' meaning "people eater" (''hattak'' 'person', ''apa'' 'to eat'), for them.[ It referred to their practice of ritual ]cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...
related to warfare.
A French explorer, Francois Simars de Bellisle, lived among the Atakapa from 1719 to 1721.[ He described Atakapa feasts including consumption of human flesh, which he observed firsthand. The practice of cannibalism likely had a religious, ritualistic basis. French ]Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
missionaries urged the Atakapa to end this practice.
The French historian Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz lived in Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
from 1718 to 1734. He wrote:
Louis LeClerc Milfort, a Frenchman who spent 20 years living with and traveling among the Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...
(Creek), came upon the Atakapa in 1781 during his travels. He wrote:
In 1760, the French Gabriel Fuselier de la Claire came into the Attakapas Territory, and bought all the land between Vermilion River and Bayou Teche
Bayou Teche (Louisiana French: ''Bayou Têche'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 waterway in south central Louisiana in the United States. Bayou Teche ...
from the Eastern Atakapa Chief Kinemo. Shortly after that a rival Indian tribe, the Opelousa, coming from the area between the Atchafalaya and Sabine
The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.
The Sabines divided int ...
rivers, exterminated the Eastern Atakapa. They had occupied the area between Atchafalaya River and ''Bayou Nezpique'' (Attakapas Territory).
William Byrd Powell (1799–1867), a medical doctor and physiologist
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...
, regarded the Atakapan as cannibals. He noted that they traditionally flattened their skulls frontally and not occipitally, a practice opposite to that of neighboring tribes, such as the Natchez Nation.
The Atakapa traded with the Chitimacha tribe. In the early 18th century, some Atakapa married into the Houma tribe of Louisiana.[Pritzker, 382.] Members of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe joined the Atakapa tribe in the late 18th century.
19th century
John R. Swanton recorded that only 175 Atakapa lived in Louisiana in 1805.
It is believed that most Western Atakapa tribes or subdivisions were decimated by the 1850s, mainly from infectious disease[ and poverty.
]
20th century
In 1908, nine known Atakapa descendants were identified.[ Armojean Reon (ca. 1873–1925) of ]Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...
, was noted as a fluent Atakapa speaker. In the 1920s, ethnologists Albert Gatshet and John Swanton studied the language and published ''A Dictionary of the Atakapa Language'' in 1932.[
]
Culture
The Atakapan ate shellfish and fish. The women gathered bird eggs, the American lotus ('' Nelumbo lutea'') for its roots and seeds, as well as other wild plants. The men hunted deer
A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
, bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
, and bison
A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American ...
, which provided meat, fat
In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specif ...
, and hides. The women cultivated varieties of maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...
. They processed the meats, bones and skins to prepare food for storage, as well as to make clothing, tent covers, tools, sewing materials, arrow cases, bridles and rigging for horses, and other necessary items for their survival.[Sturtevant, 661.]
The men made their tools for hunting and fishing: bows and arrows, fish spears with bone-tipped points, and flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
-tipped spears. They used poisons to catch fish, caught flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...
by torchlight, and speared alligators in the eye. The people put alligator oil on exposed skin to repel mosquito
Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...
es. The Bidai snared game and trapped animals in cane
Cane or caning may refer to:
*Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking
* Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance
* White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually i ...
pens. By 1719, the Atakapan had obtained horses and were hunting bison from horseback. They used dugout canoe
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...
s to navigate the bayous and close to shore, but did not venture far into the ocean.[
In the summer, families moved to the coast. In winters, they moved inland and lived in villages of houses made of pole and thatch. The Bidai lived in bearskin tents. The homes of chiefs and medicine men were erected on earthwork ]mounds
A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand.
Mound and Mounds may also refer to:
Places
* Mound, Louisiana, United States
* Mound, Minnesota, United States
* Mound, Texas, United States
* Mound, West Virginia
* Moun ...
made by several previous cultures including the Mississippian.[
]
Subdivisions or bands
Atakapa-speaking peoples are called Atakapan, while Atakapa refers to a specific tribe. Atakapa-speaking peoples were divided into bands which were represented by totem
A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While the word ...
s, such as snake, alligator, and other natural life.
Eastern Atakapa
The Eastern Atakapa (Hiyekiti Ishak, "Sunrise People") groups lived in present-day Acadiana
Acadiana (; French language, French and Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''L'Acadiane'' or ''Acadiane''), also known as Cajun Country (Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''Pays des Cadiens''), is the official name given to the ...
parishes in southwestern Louisiana and are organized as three major regional bands:
* The Ciwāt or Alligator Band lived along the Vermilion River and near Vermilion Bay in southwestern Iberia Parish
Iberia Parish (, ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 69,929; the parish seat is New Iberia.
The parish was formed in 1868 during the Reconstruction era and named for Iberia. It is p ...
and southeastern Vermilion Parish in south central Louisiana. This inlet
An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea.
Overview
In ...
of the Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
is separated from it by Marsh Island; they also occupied a portion of the Louisiana mainland in southeastern Vermilion Parish. The alligator
An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...
was very important to this band. In addition to consuming its meat as food, they used its oil for cooking and to treat minor arthritis
Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...
and eczema
Dermatitis is a term used for different types of skin inflammation, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened ...
symptoms. They used its scales as arrowheads.
* The Otse, Teche Band, or Snake Band lived on the prairies and coastal marshes in the Mermentau River watershed, along the Bayou Nezpique, Bayou des Cannes, and Bayou Plaquemine Brule, containing the freshwater Grand and White lakes,[ and around St. Martinville on Bayou Teche in present-day St. Martin, Lafayette, St. Landry, ]St. Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
, Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
and Evangeline parishes in southern Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
.[Bradshaw, Jim. , ''Daily Advertiser,'' 25 November 1997 (retrieved 8 June 2009).] They are named for the snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
, which symbolizes the winding and twisting course of Bayou Teche
Bayou Teche (Louisiana French: ''Bayou Têche'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 waterway in south central Louisiana in the United States. Bayou Teche ...
.
* The Tsikip, Opelousa, Opelousas Band ("Blackleg") or Heron Band, painted their lower legs and feet black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
during mourning ceremonies, mimicking the long black legs of the heron
Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...
. Before European contact in the 18th century, they lived between the Atchafalaya River and Sabine River (at the present-day border of Texas-Louisiana) to the west of the lower Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. Later they were centered in the area around present-day Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas (; ) is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 in Louisiana, Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 in Louisiana, U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a ju ...
and the prairies around St. Landry Parish. They were at times associated with the neighboring Eastern Atakapa and Chitimacha peoples. They were warlike and preyed on neighbors to defend their own territory. In 1760 Chief ''Kinemo'' of the Eastern Atakapa sold the tribal lands between the Vermilion River and Bayou Teche to Frenchman Gabriel Fuselier de la Claire; the angry Opelousa exterminated the Eastern Atakapa bands for selling off communal lands. The Opelousa band may have spoken an Eastern Atakapan dialect.
Western Atakapa
The Western Atakapa (Hikike Ishak, "Sunset People") resided in southeastern Texas. They were organized as follows.
*Atakapa (proper) groups, divided into major regional bands:
** The Katkoc or Eagle Band (named after the eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
s in the area), were also known as Calcasieu Band, because they were living along Calcasieu River
The Calcasieu River ( ; ) is a river on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southwestern Louisiana. Approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed J ...
between the Calcasieu Lake in southwest Louisiana and Sabine Lake
Sabine Lake is a bay on the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana, located approximately east of Houston and west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, adjoining the city of Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur. The lake is formed by the confluence ...
on the Louisiana-Texas border.
** The Red Bird Band, lived on the prairies and coastal areas of what is now Cameron Parish, in South Western Louisiana; they were represented by the cardinal or red bird.
** The Niāl or Panther Band, lived in the areas around the Sabine River of South East Texas, they took the panther as their totem.
* The Akokisa, Arkokisa, or Orcoquiza ("river people"), westernmost Atakapa tribe, lived in the mid-18th century in five villages along the lower course of the Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...
and San Jacinto rivers and the northern and eastern shores of Galveston Bay in present-day Texas. In 1805, their surviving people were reported to be living in villages on the lower Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
and Neches rivers.
*The Quasmigdo, better known as Bidai (a Caddo language
Caddo (endonym: , ) is a Caddoan language indigenous to the Southern United States and the traditional language of the Caddo, Caddo Nation. It is critically endangered, with no exclusively Caddo-speaking community and as of 2023 only two speaker ...
name meaning "brushwood"), were based around Bedias Creek, ranging from the Brazos River to Neches River
The Neches River () begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs ...
, Texas.[
*The Deadose, a band of Bidai that separated in the early 18th century, lived north of the other Bidai between the confluence of the Angelina River and Neches River and the upper end of Galveston Bay in east-central Texas. Around 1720 they moved westward between the Brazos and Trinity rivers; later they settled near missions on the San Gabriel River (with the Bidai and Akokisa) in the ]Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...
. Between 1749 and 1751 they gathered (with the Akokisa, Orcoquiza, Bidai, and Patiri) at the short-lived San Ildefonso Mission near the mouth of Brushy Creek; some settled near the Alamo Mission in San Antonio.[ In the second half of the 18th century, the Deadose were closely associated with ]Tonkawa
The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...
n groups (Ervipiame
The Ervipiame were an Indigenous people of what is now northeastern Coahuila and southern Texas. They were a Coahuitecan people, who likely merged into the Tonkawa.
Name
The Ervipiame were also known as the Chivipane, Cibipane, Hierbipiane, Hu ...
(?), Mayeye, and Yojuane). Suffering high mortality from epidemics of measles
Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...
and smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
, survivors joined kindred Bidai, Akokisa and Tonkawa. They lost their distinctive tribal identity in the latter part of the 18th century.
* The Patiri or Petaros lived north of the San Jacinto River valley between the Bidai to the north and the Akokisa in the south of Texas. This places them in the Piney Woods of East Texas
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...
, west of the Trinity River in the area between Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
and Huntsville. Little is known about them; perhaps they were a southern Bidai band.[
* The Tlacopsel, Acopsel, or Lacopspel — it is believed that they lived in the same general area as the kindred Bidai and Deadose. The location of their settlements in southeast Texas are unknown. They are known only from Spanish documents of the eighteenth century, when they were referred to for requesting missions from the Spanish in east central Texas.
]
Cultural heritage groups
Different groups claiming to be descendants of the Atakapa have created several organizations, and some have unsuccessfully petitioned Louisiana, Texas, and the United States for status as a recognized tribe. A member of the "Atakapa Indian de Creole Nation," claiming to be trustee, monarch, and deity, filed a number of lawsuits in federal court claiming, among other things, that the governments of Louisiana and the United States seek to "monopolize intergalactic foreign trade." The suits were dismissed as frivolous.
Another group, the Atakapa Ishak Tribe of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana, also called the Atakapa Ishak Nation, based in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...
obtained nonprofit status in 2008 as an "ethnic awareness" organization. They also refer to themselves as the Atakapa-Ishak Nation and met en masse on October 28, 2006. The Atakapas Ishak Nation of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana unsuccessfully petitioned the US federal government for recognition on February 2, 2007.
These organizations are not federally recognized
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States. or state-recognized as Native American tribes.
Legacy
The names of present-day towns in the region can be traced to the Ishak; they are derived both from their language and from French transliteration of the names of their prominent leaders and names of places. The town of Mermentau is a corrupted form of the local chief Nementou. "Plaquemine," as in Bayou Plaquemine Brûlée and Plaquemines Parish, is derived from the Atakapa word , meaning 'persimmon
The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's p ...
'. Bayou Nezpiqué was named for an Atakapan who had a tattooed nose. Bayou Queue de Tortue was believed to have been named for Chief Celestine La Tortue of the Atakapas nation. The name Calcasieu comes through French from an Atakapa name, ('Crying Eagle').
The city of Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...
, is planning a series of trails, funded by the Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
, to be called the "Atakapa–Ishak Trail". It will consist of a bike trail connecting downtown areas along the bayous Vermilion and Teche, which are now accessible only by foot or boat."Atakapa–Ishak Trail"
, Lafayette, Louisiana website
See also
* USS Atakapa (ATF-149)
* Attakapas Parish
Notes
References
*Kaufman, David V. ''Atakapa Ishakkoy Dictionary.'' Second Edition. Chicago: Exploration Press, 2022. .
*Kimball, Geoffrey D. ''Yukhíti Kóy: A Reference Grammar of the Atakapa Language.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. .
* Newcomb, William Wilmon, Jr. ''The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times.'' Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972. .
* Nezat, Jack Claude. ''The Nezat and Allied Families 1630–2007'', and ''The Nezat and Allied Families 1630-2020''. .
* Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. '' Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast.'' Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. .
* Pritzer, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 286-7. .
External links
Tribes in Louisiana
Ishak Indigenous People, from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
Handbook of Texas Online
Atakapa-Ishak Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atakapa People
Native American history of Louisiana
Native American history of Texas
Native American tribes in Louisiana
Native American tribes in Texas
Unrecognized tribes in the United States