Coordinates | 8°3′″N34°54′″N |
---|---|
Group | Karankawa''Auia'' |
Poptime | Extinct as a tribe,unknown number of living descendants |
Popplace | United States ( Texas) |
Rels | traditional tribal religion |
Langs | Karankawa language |
Related | possibly Coahuiltecan and Tonkawa }} |
The term Karankawa has been popularly applied to a group of Native American tribes who had a common dialect and culture. These people can be more specifically identified as the Capoques (Coaques, Cocos), Kohanis, Kopanes (Copanes), Kronks, and Karankawa (Carancaquacas) bands. They inhabited the Gulf Coast of Texas from Galveston Bay in the present-day Greater Houston area, then south toward Corpus Christi Bay.
Exposure to new infectious diseases, loss of control over territory, conflict with the newly arrived Europeans, and war brought them to extinction before 1860.
They wintered around the coastal bays, eating oysters, clams, shellfish, black drum, redfish, spotted seatrout and the other abundant species of fish. During the summer months and hot weather, the oysters, clams and other shellfish are not safe to eat and the fish make an annual migration out of the pass. During this period, tribal bands would migrate inland. Trying to escape the damage of summer tropical storms and hurricanes was another reason for their migration. Historic accounts tell of Karankawas encountered as far inland as Colorado County at Eagle Lake, close to from the coastline. No evidence shows they made permanent camps there.
They traversed the bays in dugouts. They built round huts covered in thatch. Some of the campsites have evidence of populations of several hundred. The Karankawa discarded clam and oyster shells, heaping them in huge mounds around the campsites. Their most prized hunting tools were the long bow, some well over six feet long, and arrows, with shafts as long as three feet to make it easier to spot and retrieve them from the shallow waters. Archeological excavation of campsites found evidence of discarded remains of deer and American Bison, apparently the major inland game for the tribe. The Karankawa also harvested a variety of local roots, berries and nuts. They used the leaves of ''Ilex vomitoria'', the Yaupon Holly, to prepare as a ceremonial drink. The men drank it in quantity for psychoactive effects from its caffeine.
They made a strong impression on the Europeans who wrote of encounters. The men were strikingly tall, described as between six and seven feet (180–213 cm). They were tattooed and wore shell ornaments. Many greased their bodies with shark liver oil to ward off mosquitoes and other biting insects. The men pierced each nipple, as well as the bottom lip of the mouth, with small pieces of cane.
Men wore their coarse hair long–down to their waist. The Karankawa practiced head flattening.
Some recent authors have suggested that the Karankawa were mistaken for the Atakapa (Atakapan or Attakapan) people, Gulf Coast tribes whose lands stretched from Galveston Bay to Bayou Teche and Vermilion Bay in Louisiana. The people of these tribes were known for their body tattoos and their cannibalism of enemies.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador, refuted the common held notion that the Karankawa people were cannibals in his diaries after living with them. De Baca also acknowledged the fact that he and his fellow Spanish conquistadors committed acts of cannibalism on their own dead to stay alive after shipwrecking off Galveston Bay. The Karankawa people found this act to be foreign and surprised that Cabeza de Baca and his men would do such an act.
By 1793, some of the Karankawa were converted to Christianity and lived at the mission Nostra Señora del Refugio, built in 1791 at the mouth of the Mission River. The traditional Karankawa lived with the Lipan Apache.
In 1819, 300 Karankawa warriors tried to retrieve one of their women from Lafitte's men at the ''Maison Rouge'' compound. Lafitte had 200 pirates as defenders and also used two cannon against the natives, causing numerous casualties and deaths. The Karankawa had to retreat.
In 1858 Juan Nepomuceno Cortina attacked and killed a band of Karankawa.
Category:Extinct languages of North America Category:Indigenous languages of the Southwestern United States Category:Native American tribes in Texas Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Southwest Category:Guadalupe River (Texas)
ca:Karankawa de:Karankawa es:Karankawa eo:Karankavoj fr:Karankawas hr:Karankawa it:Karankawa ja:カランカワ ru:КаранкаваThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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