Coapite
The Coapite , also spelled Coapiste , Guapica or Guapite , are an extinct North American Indian tribe from the Gulf Coast in Texas who belonged to the Karankawa . The Coapite's residential area was on the Texas coast near Matagorda Bay when their name first appeared in reports from the 18th century. They lived there together with other Karankawa tribes, the Kohani and the actual Karankawa.
In 1722, the Espiritu Santo de Zúñiga Mission was established on Matagorda Bay for the Kohani and other Karankawa tribes, but it was soon relocated due to ongoing hostilities between Spaniards and Indians. In 1754 the Spaniards tried again to proselytize the Coapite and other Karankawa and set up the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Mission near what is now Goliad. The Coapite were regular visitors to the mission and lived inside and outside the facility until it was secularized in 1831 . During this time, some Coapite also joined the Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purisima Concepción de Acuña in San Antonio , while others joined the Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio and stayed there until the mission in 1828.
Presumably the Coapite then joined other Karankawa groups, gave up their identity as Coapite and were generally referred to as Karankawa by the Anglo-Americans. Under pressure from the rapidly growing white population in Texas, they were pushed further and further west and have been considered extinct since 1858.
literature
- William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 9, 1979 ISBN 0-16004-577-0
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 10, 1983 ISBN 0-16004-579-7