| Native Americans - All Tribes | Overview | Texas Tribes |
The Map Of Native American Tribes You've Never Seen Before (NPR) | PDF Map (Copyright c.2013 Aaron Carapella. All rights reserved.) | TribalNationsMaps.com |
"This map represents the original pre-contact homelands of the hundreds of Tribal Nations that existed across what is now Canada and the "lower 48" of the United States. Most of the names shown here are the indigenous autonyms that the tribes use for themselves. In some cases where the original name was nevere recorded, other common names are used. Many tribes did not survive the invasion by Europeans, yet this map serves as a visual reminder of their memory...."
National Congress of American Indians (The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.)
Current Texas Federally-recognized & State-recognized Tribes
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas [Federally recognized]
"Located an hour and a half north of Houston in the Big Thicket, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe is the oldest Indian reservation in Texas."
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas | [Federally recognized]
"The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas (KTTT), formerly known as the Texas Band of Traditional Kickapoo, is one of three federally recognized Tribes of Kickapoo people....The KTTT Reservation is located by the Rio Grande on the US-Mexico border in western Maverick County. It is just south of Eagle Pass, Texas as part of the Rosita Valley community."
Lipan Apache Tribe [aka Lipan Apache Tribe of TX] | Lipan Apache (Oklahoma Historical Society) [State-recognized]
Official office located in McAllen, TX.
National Native American Resources
Native American Heritage Month
National Congress of American Indians
National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution) | National Native American Veterans Memorial |
United League of Indigenous Nations ("Eleven Indigenous Nations, including representatives from the US, Canada, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia,....Treaty of Indigenous Nations....")
Overview sites for Texas Native Americans
NOTE: This guide is meant to help people get started who want to do research on the Native American tribes who lived in Texas, before the Europeans came. This is by NO means an exhaustive list of places where one can look. But, I hope it will help as a jumping off point.
Handbook of Texas Online
Learn About Texas Indians (Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.)
Texas Indians
Specific Texas Tribes
Texas Tribes as seen in the Tribal Nations Map (Name in parentheses is the name the tribe itself used) [*Tribes included at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. Web site] | Names in bold studied in Texas history classes in 4th & 7th grades at school |
Akokisa [Handbook says subgroup of Atakapans]
*Apache [Lipan Apache specifically] (Handbook of Texas)
Aranama [Handbook says Coahuiltecan speakers.]
*Atakapans (Handbook says "The Atakapa (Attakapa, Attacapa) Indians, including such subgroups as the Akokisas and Deadoses,...The Atakapan language has fascinated linguists and is among the better-recorded Indian languages.")
Bidai (Quasmigdo)(Handbook of Texas)
Caddo (Kadawdaachuh) | Caddo (Handbook of Texas) | Caddo Nation |
Coahuilteco [Handbook shows Coahuiltecan] (Handbook of Texas) | Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation |
Comanche(Numunuu)(Handbook of Texas) | Comanche Nation |
Comecrudo [Handbook says a Coahuiltecan people]
Cotoname [Handbook says spoke a Coahuiltecan language]
Deadose [Handbook says subgroup of Atakapans. Also "closely related to the Bidais and spoke an Atakapan language".]
Eyeish (Handbook of Texas) (Handbook says "The Ais (Ayis, Ays, Eyeish, Ayish) Indians, an East Texas group associated with the Hasinais, spoke a language different from the Caddos of the region.")
Haynay (Handbook spells this as "Hainai" and calls the tribe a "Hasinai-Caddoan group")
*Jornada branch of the Mogollon (Handbook says "Although human beings came late, the [Big Bend National] park contains archeological and historical sites representing more than 10,000 years of inhabitants, including Jornado Mogollón, Jumanos, Chisos, Mescalero Apache, and Comanche Indians;..."
Jumano (Handbook of Texas) | Jumano Nation |
Karankawa (Auia)(Handbook of Texas) | Karankawa (Wikipedia) |
Kiowa (Ka'igwu)(Handbook of Texas) | Kiowa Tribe |
Kitsai (K'itsash)[Handbook says "Caddoan linguistic stock"] | (A Caddoan tribe whose language is more closely allied to the Pawnee than to the other Caddoan groups. FROM AccessGenealogy.com) |
Manso (Handbook of Texas) | (Handbook says "In the seventeenth century the Mansos were closely associated with various Apache bands, particularly those that later became known as Mescalero Apache Indians,...") |
Nada'ko (Wikipedia says part of the Caddo Confederacy AND "also commonly known as the Anadarko". Handbook connects Anadarko with the Hasinai group.)
*Patarabueyes [Handbook says likely subgroup of Jumano)]
Patiri (Handbook says "Atakapan in language" AND lived "in the area between Houston and Huntsville.")
Suma (Handbook says "Most writers profess to see little difference between the Sumas and the Jumanos.")
Tawakoni (Handbook says "a Wichita group")
Tlacopsel (Handbook says "an Atakapan group")
Tonkawa (Tickanwa'tic) (Handbook of Texas)
Waco (Wikipedia says a Wichita people) | Waco Indian Village |
Wawadishe (Wikipedia says this group was also known as "The Nabedache was the western branch of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy." | "An alternate theory says their original name was Wawadishe from the Caddo word, witish, meaning "salt.")[Nabedache (Handbook of Texas)]
Wichita (Kitikiti'sh) [Handbook says "The Wichita band of Indians was one of several bands that composed the Wichita confederacy."] | Wichita Tribe |
Xacatin. (Not found. Could this be Soacatino?)
Which Native American People lived in the area "between Houston and Huntsville", Texas before the Europeans arrived?
Patiri Indians
"This small tribe, which is now regarded as Atakapan in language,lived in southeastern Texas during the eighteenth century. The Patiris seem to have ranged over the territory that lay between that of the Bidai and the Akokisa Indians.
This would place them in the area between Houston and Huntsville....
After this [1751] the Patiris dropped out of sight. They probably lost their ethnic identity among the Bidais and Akokisas, who survived into the nineteenth century...."
FROM Patiri Indians (Handbook of Texas / Texas State Historical Assn.)
Atakapa
"...The Patiri or Petaros lived north of the San Jacinto River valley between the Bidai to the north and the Akokisa in the south of Texas. This places them in the Piney Woods of East Texas, west of the Trinity River in the area between Houston and Huntsville. Little is known about them; perhaps they were a southern Bidai band....." (From an extensive Wikipedia article on the Atakapa which includes these two lines regarding the Patiri. Also includes a drawing of an Atakapa person. There were many indigenous bands / tribes who spoke the Atakapan language.
The Map of Native American Tribes You've Never Seen Before [by Hansi Lo Wang June 24, 2014 4:03 PM ET Heard on NPR All Things Considered]
Tribal Nations PDF map Courtesy of Aaron Carapella
The Bidai, Akokisas, Han, Deadoses, Patiris (by R. E. Moore The Atakapan [Language] Indian Groups)
[Map shows the Patiris lived in Harris, Montgomery, San Jacinto Counties] (TexasIndians.com)
[NOTE: This is the LEAST authoritative site but its information is corroborated in the other, much better sites.]
Texas State Historical Marker: West Fork of The San Jacinto River
Click HERE to see full text of Historical Marker.
Marker Location: Texas 105, 7 miles west of Conroe near Conroe Dam and Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Texas Historical Markers
FROM: West County / Lake Conroe historical markers (The Courier March 24, 2012 Updated: Sep. 24, 2016 11:59 a.m.)
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Last Modified: 4/3/2021