Texas - The Land & Its Tenants (CH 1)

Statistics Area:

Roughly 261,193 square miles

Statistics Population:

30,029,572 people

Statistic Make-up of population;

• White: 42%

• Hispanic: 40%

• Black: 12%

• Others: 6%

Nine geographic areas of Texas:

1. East Texas Piney Woods or Post Oal Belt (Black, slavery)

2. Gulf Coastal Plains

3. South Texas Plains or Rio Grande Plains

4. Edwards Plateau

5. Central Texas Prairies or Grand Prairies

6. Cross Timbers

7. Low Plains or Rolling Plains

8. High Plains or Llano Estacado

9. Trans-Pecos

Migration to Texas during Paleo period

• Comfort of Texas “Savannah”

• Pursuit of the Mammoth

• Emergence of Bison

Cultural & Linguistic patterns by 7000 Bc

• Manipulation of land

• Forming of social & political units & roles

Caddo

• Originally Hunter-Gathers

• Agriculture lived

• Known for farming

• Permanent settlements

• Earthwork mounds

Caddoan Culture

• Caddo Huts

• Grand Xinesi (Spiritual Leadership)

Hunting & Gathering

A lifestyle where people obtain food by hunting & foraging for wild plants & animals

Atakapans

• “The people”

• Hunting & Gathering tribe

• Lived along the Gulf of Mexico & coasts of Galveston Bay

Karankawas

• Nomadic

• Lived along the Texas coast from GB to CCB

• 1st Native Americans the European explorers encountered in the 16th & 17th century

Coahuiltecans & Carrizo

• Nomadic hunter-gathers

• Godsent to new settlers bc they were peaceful

• Many converted to Christianity

Tonakawas

• Skilled horsemen

• Hunting & Trading

• Lived in Texas & Oklahoma

Wichitas

• Lived in southern plains

• Known for hospitality

• Believed in supernatural powers

• Promient middleman in trade between Comanches & Louisiana merchants

Apaches

• Fought the spanish & mexicans for centuries

• Known for hunting buffalo, antelope, & deer

• Southern Great Plains

Comanches

• Southern Plains

• “Lord of the Plains”

• Horse-centered culture

• Use horses before many other tribes

• Horses were powerful ally

Jumanos

• Hunter-gathers

• Southwest & south plains

• mobile hunter-gathers

• friendly tribe

• helped strangers

Significance of Native American of Texas

1. Reflected characteristics of neighboring cultures

2. Divergent cultures often clashed

3. Groups represented first indicators of land & limits to the spanish

Hasinai Confederation 

a large confederation of Caddo -speaking Native Americans who occupied territory between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today, their descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana.