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- Wichita, North American Indian people of Caddoan linguistic stock who originally lived near the Arkansas River in what is now the state of Kansas. They were encountered by the Spanish in the mid-16th century and became the first group of Plains Indians subject to missionization.
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Wichita, North American Indian people of Caddoan linguistic stock who originally lived near the Arkansas River in what is now the state of Kansas. They were encountered by the Spanish in the mid-16th century and became the first group of Plains Indians subject to missionization.
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- History
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- Kichai and Waco Tribes
- Religion
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- Wichita Words
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- Daily Life
- Coyote and Never Grows Bigger
Before European contact
Archaeologists believe the Wichita descended from the Washita River culture, which dates back more than eight hundred years. These people lived in small villages in the valleys of central and western Oklahoma. They built homes of mud plaster, planted gardens, and hunted game. Their tools were made from stone, bone, antler, and wood. Sometime between 1350 and 1450 they constructed the large, cone-shaped houses that the Wichita are known for today. Some of these homes were fortified. The people...
1541:The Wichita encounter Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. 1719:The Wichita begin trading with French. 1758:The Wichita repel Spanish attack. 1835: A peace treaty is signed by warring Native tribes. The Wichita move to Indian Territory. 1858:U.S. troops kill many Wichita and destroy their property in the Battle of the Wichita Villag...
Several tribes were originally part of the Wichita confederacy and have since been incorporated into the group, which organized in 1961 as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. Among the groups who shared language and many customs are the Kichai and Waco. The Kichai called themselves Kitsash, meaning “going in wet sand.” The name Kichai translates fro...
The Wichita believe that the tribe’s history is circular. Just as the seasons change and day turns to night, so life revolves from one thing to the next. Golden days of plenty turn to darkness, and the Earth is barren. Still the cycle continues, and the world and the people are renewed through the new creation. Kinnikasus was the great creator of a...
Of the many languages in the Caddoan language family, three major languages have survived to the twenty-first century: the Caddo, the Pawnee (see entry), and the Wichita. All the tribes in the Wichita group except the Kichai spoke the same Caddoan language as the Wichita, which is similar to Pawnee. There are few speakers of the Wichita language le...
chi’as… “one”wits… “two”taw….“three”takwits… “four”The Wichita were part of a larger confederacy of people who spoke the same language and shared many customs and traditions. Each group had its own chief and subchief. Warriors elected the chiefs, whose main job was to handle relations with other groups. The subchief was called “The One Who Locates”; he was responsible for scouting out suitable site...
The Wichita economy was based on agriculture, mostly corn, which they grew and traded to other tribes. The tribe depended less on hunting buffalo and trading buffalo robes than other Great Plainstribes did. In the early twenty-first century most tribal income is derived from leasing farmland, buildings, and mining rights to non-Native Americansthro...
Families
Wichita daughters lived with their mothers after they were married. Most families consisted of the parents, their young unmarried children, and their married daughters along with the daughters’ husbands and children. The Wichita had a complicated family organization in which some aunts and uncles were regarded as extra fathers and mothers, and some cousins were regarded as brothers and sisters. A woman’s many sisters helped her with her household tasks, while a man’s many brothers often accom...
Education
Children learned through the example of their parents and relatives. Mothers had the primary responsibility for teaching both boys and girls until they were about ten years old. Punishment was rare, but if a mother felt she could not handle her child’s misbehavior she might turn the job over to a relative, who was free to choose any type of punishment. Once she had asked for such assistance, the mother gave up any right to interfere. Usually only one such request for outside punishment was ne...
Many tales told by the elders were intended to teach children a lesson. In this one Coyote learns not to underestimate someone smaller than he is.
The Wichita lived in settled villages with domed-shaped, grass lodges, sometimes up to 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter. The Wichita were successful hunters, farmers, traders, and negotiators. Their historical homelands stretched from San Antonio, Texas, in the south to Great Bend, Kansas, in the north.
Feb 1, 1996 · After the Civil War they were relocated with their kinsmen, the Wacoes, Tawakonis, and Kichais, and other associated tribes on the Wichita Reservation near present Anadarko, Oklahoma. The reservation was opened to allotment in an agreement with the Wichitas and affiliated bands in 1891.
Today, the surviving descendants primarily live as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes on a reservation in Oklahoma. Efforts have been undertaken to preserve their language, although few fluent speakers remain, and culture, which contains rich and complex traditional beliefs.
Wichita Nation. The Wichita Indian Nation, whose rich history is interwoven with the fabric of the Great Plains, traces its roots back to the Caddoan linguistic family. Emerging as a distinct group in present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, the Wichita people developed a unique cultural identity characterized by their domed grass lodges and a ...
The Wichita lived in large villages of distinctive bee-hive-shaped houses located near streams. The houses were constructed of a wooden frame covered by bundles of prairie grass that grows up to 12-feet tall and could last up to 14 years.
