Atakapa

Atakapa tribal area in the 17th century.

The Atakapa , proper name Ishak (the people), are members of a North American Indian tribe whose language is considered to be isolated and has not yet been assigned to any other language. They lived on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico west of the Mississippi Delta in what is now the US states of Louisiana and Texas. 450 descendants now represent the Atakapa Ishak Nation and have been trying to get federal recognition as a tribe since 2006 .

Tribal areas

The Atakapa are divided into an eastern and a western group.

The traditional tribal area of the eastern Atapaka or Hiyekiti Ishak was in what is now Acadiana , the French-speaking part of southern Louisiana. They consisted of three regional bands. The Alligator Band lived along the Vermilion River and Vermilion Bay , an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The Teche or Snake Band lived in the Mermentau River basin and on the prairies, coastal marshes, and bayous of southern Louisiana. The Appalousa or Heron Band had their residential area between the Atchafalaya River and Sabine River on the border between Texas and Louisiana.

The western Atakapa or Hikike Ishak lived in southeast Texas and consisted of a total of seven bands. The Akokisa had their tribal area along the lower reaches of the Trinity River and the San Jacinto River and on the east coast of Galveston Bay . The actual Atakapa lived along the Calcasieu River between Calcasieu Lake and Sabine Lake on the border between Texas and Louisiana. The Bidai Band was found on Bedias Creek between the Brazos River and Neches River in Texas. The Deadose had their residential area between the confluence of the Angelina and Neeches Rivers and the upper end of Galveston Bay in Texas. The Orcoquiza lived north of Galveston Bay on the Trinity River and Colorado River . The residential area of the Patiri was north of the San Jacinto River and west of the Trinity River in the area between today's cities of Houston and Huntsville . The Tiacopsel finally lived in southeastern Texas near the related Bidai and Deadose . Your exact residential area is unknown.

Culture and way of life

As with the other tribes in the region, the ancestors of the Atakapa likely belonged to the Mississippi culture . They were certainly mound builders too , as archeological finds show. The conical, often sunk residential buildings were located a little outside of a central square. These consisted of flexible posts rammed into the ground, which were connected with wattle made from branches. Finally, the walls were coated with clay on the inside and outside and were additionally covered with mats on the inside.

Fish, mussels, wild poultry and wild plants were mainly part of the Atakapa's diet. They used numerous hunting weapons such as spears, blowguns , bows and arrows , and for fishing there were nets, fishhooks made of bones and fish weirs. The Atakapa rubbed alligator oil on their skin to protect against sunburn and mosquitoes . They moved north to the inland prairies to hunt bison . They collected nuts, berries, wild grapes, roots and wild honey. As part of a trade network, the Atakapa exchanged dried fish, shark teeth and feathers for flint, ceramics and animal skins, as well as thatch, rushes and dried moss, which was used to make mats and baskets. In summer the Atakapa men only wore minimal clothing, such as loincloths , which were exchanged for long trousers in winter. Symbolic decorations such as tattoos and cuts on the nose and in the skin were common among older people.

There are two creation myths: one is that their people came from an ocean full of large oyster clams ; the other reports that they were deposited on the mountain peaks because of a storm surge. The Atakapa were considered cannibals; they have been believed to be believed that those people who are eaten by other people have no afterlife.

history

Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and other Spaniards from the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition of 1528, who were rescued from a shipwreck on the Texas coast, lived there among Indians who Cabeza de Vaca called Han , but who were probably Atakapa or Karankawa from the same area. The Spaniards were welcomed warmly at first, but that changed when it came to food possession and the outbreak of European diseases. Since the arrival of the Europeans, the Atakapa population has decreased significantly.

Two centuries later, in 1721, the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe caught some Atakapa and brought them to New Orleans, and in 1729 warriors of the Atakapa helped the Natchez in their war against the French. Other Atakapa, on the other hand, fought as auxiliary workers for the French. In the mid-18th century, the Spaniards established a number of missions with the tribes in Texas. In 1779 the eastern Atakapa supported the Spanish in their war against the British. French Creoles came to Louisiana in the early nineteenth century, displacing the indigenous people who lived there. Numerous members of the Atakapa, also in Texas, sought refuge with other tribes. Following the anthropologist John Reed Swanton , there were 3,500 tribesmen in Louisiana in 1698 and only 175 in 1805. In 1908 only 9 descendants were known. This decline is certainly a consequence of diseases brought in by Europeans and was less caused by constant wars against the settlers. In 1932 the Smithsonian Institute published a dictionary of the Atakapa language. As a result, members of other tribes reported themselves, calling themselves descendants of the Atakapa. Some of them are counted among the developers of Zydeco music.

A section of US Highway 190 between the Sabine River and DeRidder in Louisiana is now known as the Atakappa Coushatta Trace (Atakappa Coushatta Route) because it is a former footpath and hiking trail of the tribe in their residential area. 450 descendants today represent the Atakapa-Ishak Nation and have been trying to obtain federal recognition as a tribe since 2006 .