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The indigenous inhabitants of a strip of Texas coastal inlets, marshes, and forests from Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay, the Karankawa were described as wearing breechcloths or nothing at all, revealing muscular bodies covered in tattoos and paint.
All that’s left of the Karankawa language are 450 or so words set down in journals by French captives or Spanish explorers or compiled in the late nineteenth century by a Swiss ethnologist named...
Sep 28, 2023 · Karankawa is an umbrella term given to several coastal Texas Native American groups who shared a language and culture. They lived for hundreds of years between Galveston Bay and Corpus Christi Bay, fishing the rich waters, hunting and migrating between nearby islands and the mainland.
- The Karankawa Tribes
- Contact with White Men
- Karankawa Relations with The Spaniards
- Karankawa Relations with American Colonists
- The Road to Extinction
- Were The Karankawas Cannibals?
The Karankawa Indians were made up of five main tribes, related by language and culture: the Carancaguases (the Karankawa proper), Cocos, Cujanes, Guapites and Copanes. They depended on fishing, hunting and gathering for their food, particularly the fish and shellfish found in the shallow bays and lagoons of the central Texas coast. Their dugout ca...
The first white men to encounter Karankawas were probably survivors of the Spanish Narváez expedition in 1528. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vacaand his men received mixed treatment from the Indians along the Texas coast. When French explorer Sieur de La Sallesettled at Matagorda Bay in 1685, the number of Karankawa was estimated at about 400 men. One of t...
In 1722, the Spanish colonial government established Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo and its attendant Presidio La Bahía near the site of La Salle’s former fort, in an attempt to convert and civilize the Karankawas. The Spaniards were unsuccessful in persuading the Indians to stay at the mission. A fresh attempt to convert the Karankawas ...
By this time Mexico had achieved its independence from Spain and Anglo-Americans were moving into Texas. During his first trip to Texas in 1821, Stephen Austindeveloped a dim view of the Karankawas, despite a peaceful encounter with the Cocos. The colonists’ view of the Karankawas as ferocious savages was not helped by the failure of the latter to ...
In 1827, the official campaign of extermination ended with a new treaty between Austin’s colony and the Karankawas. But the killings, along with disease, had taken a toll. When French naturalist Jean-Louis Berlandiervisited Texas in 1828, there were about 100 Karankawa families left. Berlandier described them as follows. During the Texas Revolution...
You will note from the above that white people believed the Karankawas were cannibals. Lurid tales circulated, such as this story told to John R. Fenn by his grandfather David Fitzgerald, a settler in Austin’s colony. Reports like this are unsubstantiated and may have been concocted to legitimize the extermination campaign. According to historian D...
What language did the Calusas speak? They spoke their native Calusa language , but nobody speaks this language anymore. In fact, no one ever wrote down the Calusa language before it disappeared.
What language do the Karankawas speak? The Karankawa people speak Karankawan. This language is partially preserved with around 500 words known. Alex Pérez of the Karankawa Kadla is the reigning expert on Karankawan. For a guide to speak this language, purchase his book Karankawa Kadla Mixed Tongue: Medicine for the Land & Our Peoples.
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Why did the Karankawas speak multiple languages?
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Nipmuc Indians all speak English today. In the past, the Nipmucs spoke a dialect of the Narragansett language. This language died out more than 100 years ago, but some young people are working to revive it.
