Texas History- Early Civilizations and Native Groups

Inca Empire

Northeast Woodland Indians

• found from the Ohio Valley to the Atlantic Ocean and also southward to the Chesapeake

• lived in loghouses and wigwams

• farmed squash, corn, and beans

• hunted deer and also fished from canoes

League of the Iroquois

• effective Indian alliance/confederacy north of the Aztecs that ended bloody conflicts among member tribes

• consisted of the original 5 member tribes: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca

“Five Civilized Tribes”/ Southeast Indians

• stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley and even East TX

• consisted of the Choctaws, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Cherokees

• referred to as the “Five Civilized Tribes” because of their adoption of Euro-American ways

Pueblos

• located from West TX to Arizona, and stretched northward to southern Colorado

• consisted of the Hopi, Zuni, and Taos (and many others)

• lived in stacked apartment-type complexes

• cultivated corn in the 1400s, developed irrigation canals

• lived similarly to European peasants

Coastal Indians

• consisted of the Karankawa and Coahuiltecan peoples

• lived along the coast of southern TX and in parts of the Trans-Nueces

• common roots in modern northern Mexico

• lacked formal political organizations, chieftains presided over kinships

• lived in marshy terrain

• nomadic, corresponding to changing seasons

• generally used dome-shaped wigwams for housing

Karankawa people

• lived in territory extending down the coast from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi Bay

• stayed close to the coast in the fall and winter months, relying on shellfish, aquatic plants and hunted deer and alligators

• built small canoes and made traps as well as bows and arrows for life along the bays and lagoons

• in the spring and summer seasons, they moved inland to the coastal prairies and woodlands, relying on deer +buffalo, and nuts + beans

Coahuiltecan people

• lived in the Gulf Coast Plain, considered South TX today

• mostly foraged in the warmer seasons (and colder)

• caught fish, hunted deer and lizards

• gathered mesquite beans, prickly pears and pecans + roots