The Okelousa were
Native American people
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 ...
, United States. They lived west and north of
Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
Pointe Coupee Parish ( or ; ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,758. The parish seat is New Roads.
Pointe Coupee Parish is part of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Metropolitan Sta ...
.
[
18th-century French explorer ]Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe
Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe (4 February 1683 in Saint-Malo – 26 September 1765) was a French explorer who is credited with using the name "Little Rock" in 1722 for a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River used by early travele ...
and French ethnographer Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote about the Okelousa, who were allied with the neighboring Washa and Chawasha peoples.[Swanton, "Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley", p. 302.] They are distinct from the similarly named Opelousa.
Language
They likely spoke a Muskogean language.
Name
Their name comes from 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 ...
word for "black water".[ The name has also been written as Obquilouzas and Oqué-Loussas.][
]
Population
At the end of the 18th century, an estimated 700 Okelousa lived in 80 houses. By 1715, there were an estimated 100 to 120 combined Okelousa, Washa, and Chawasha, and 60 to 75 by 1758. American ethnographer John Reed Swanton wrote that they either ceased to exist or merged with the Houma.[Swanton, "Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley", p. 44.]
Notes
References
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External links
Louisiana Tribe Index
Louisiana Indian Tribes
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
Extinct Native American tribes
Native American tribes in Louisiana
Pre-statehood history of Louisiana
Houma
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