Akokisa
Encyclopedia
The Akokisa were the indigenous tribe that lived on Galveston Bay
and the lower Trinity
and San Jacinto rivers in Texas
, primarily in the present-day Greater Houston
area. They are regarded as a band of the Atakapa
Indians, closely related to the Atakapa of Lake Charles, Louisiana
.
wrote about the Akosisa in 1528, calling them the "Han." An early reported encounter with the Akokisa by a European person was in 1719 when Simars de Bellisle
, a French officer, was held captive by the Akokisa until 1721. His account of his captivity provides some information about Akokisa culture.
John Sibley in 1805 reported that they previously lived near Matagorda Bay
on the west bank of the Colorado River
(Texas) in ancient times.
Around the 1750s the Akokisa were divided into five village groups. Some Akokisa people entered the San Ildefonso Mission
in 1748-9 but left in 1755. That mission was abandoned and replaced by Nuestra Señora de la Luz Mission, built in 1756-57 on the Trinity River, to serve the Akokisa and Bidais tribes.
In 1805, the Akokisa were reduced to two villages. One coastal village lay between the Sabine
and Neches River
s; the other was on the west side Colorado River
. The Akokisas may have been absorbed into other tribes at the wake of the Texas Revolution
of 1835-6.
In 1947, Orobio counted about 300 families for each village, an estimated total between 1,200-1,250.
has speculated that the name may be from the Atakapa
word icāk meaning "person". The Akokisa have also been known by the following names (and spellings): Accockesaws, Accokesaus, Accokesaws, Aco-ke-sas, Arkokisa, Horcoquisa, Ocosaus, Orcoquisa(s), Orcoquisacs, Orcoquizas.
with grass or palmetto
leaves. A hearth would be located in the center of the floor with a smokehole in the ceiling. During summer months, an Akokisa would sleep in a Chickee
, a raised platform with a thatched roof and open sides. Beds were made of straw, covered with animal skins.
For water transportation and fishing, Akokisas carved cypress
logs into dugout canoes
.
Both men and women decorated their bodies and faces with tattoo
s.
The Akokisa, like the Atakapa
, practiced cannibalism
, which may have been connected to their religious beliefs. Cannibalist feasts were described by Simars de Bellisle
, who observed them firsthand.
Black drink
was used for purification in certain ceremonies.
They are reported to have grown "superfine" maize
. Tuber
s of the Greenbrier vine
provided meal for baking and cooking. During warm seasons they ate bird eggs, fish, shellfish, and American lotus
rhizome
s and seeds
; during cold seasons they moved further inland and hunted deer
, bear
, and bison
. Horses were used to hunt bison. Tanned deer hides and bear fat were their primary commercial exports.
Almost nothing is known about their kinship
systems, life cycle, or marriage customs.
and virtually unknown.
Swanton claimed that the Akokisa spoke a language related to Atakapa
based on the similarity of a vocabulary of 45 words ascribed to the Akokisa collected by Captain Jean Béranger in 1721 on Galveston. However, there is no clear evidence that this document actually represents the language of Akokisa (Béranger provides a tribal designation for the vocabulary).
Sibley also reported that they had their own language "peculiar to themselves" and used sign language
to communicate with other Indians (also reported for other peoples in eastern Texas). He did not connect them with the Atakapa.
Only two Akokisa words have been found in Spanish records: Yegsa meaning "Spaniard(s)" and Quiselpoo, a female name.
Galveston Bay
Galveston Bay is a large estuary located along the upper coast of Texas in the United States. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropic marshes and prairies on the mainland. The water in the Bay is a complex mixture of sea water and fresh water which supports a wide...
and the lower Trinity
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
and San Jacinto rivers in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, primarily in the present-day Greater Houston
Greater Houston
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas...
area. They are regarded as a band of the Atakapa
Atakapa
The Atakapan people are a Southeastern culture of Native American tribes who spoke Atakapa and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico. They called themselves the Ishak, pronounced "ee-SHAK", which translates as "The People". Although the people were decimated by infectious disease after...
Indians, closely related to the Atakapa of Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
.
History
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de VacaÁlvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition...
wrote about the Akosisa in 1528, calling them the "Han." An early reported encounter with the Akokisa by a European person was in 1719 when Simars de Bellisle
Francois Simars de Bellisle
Francois Simars de Bellisle was a Frenchman who shipwrecked on the Bolivar Peninsula, near present-day Galveston, Texas, in 1722. He had been sailing for New Orleans. He was captured by Akokisa natives, and had to subsist for some time on the land. His documentation of this ordeal is considered...
, a French officer, was held captive by the Akokisa until 1721. His account of his captivity provides some information about Akokisa culture.
John Sibley in 1805 reported that they previously lived near Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay is a large estuary bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, southeast of San Antonio, southwest of Houston, and southeast of Austin. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Matagorda Peninsula and...
on the west bank of the Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....
(Texas) in ancient times.
Around the 1750s the Akokisa were divided into five village groups. Some Akokisa people entered the San Ildefonso Mission
Spanish missions in Texas
The Spanish Missions in Texas comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier land. The missions...
in 1748-9 but left in 1755. That mission was abandoned and replaced by Nuestra Señora de la Luz Mission, built in 1756-57 on the Trinity River, to serve the Akokisa and Bidais tribes.
In 1805, the Akokisa were reduced to two villages. One coastal village lay between the Sabine
Sabine River (Texas-Louisiana)
The Sabine River is a river, long, in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. In its lower course, it forms part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. The river formed part of the United States-Mexican international boundary during...
and Neches River
Neches River
The Neches River flows for through east Texas to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. Several cities are located along the Neches River Basin, including Evadale, Tyler, Lufkin, Silsbee,...
s; the other was on the west side Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....
. The Akokisas may have been absorbed into other tribes at the wake of the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
of 1835-6.
In 1947, Orobio counted about 300 families for each village, an estimated total between 1,200-1,250.
Name
The name Akokisa is of unknown origin, although John R. SwantonJohn R. Swanton
John Reed Swanton was an American anthropologist and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory...
has speculated that the name may be from the Atakapa
Atakapa
The Atakapan people are a Southeastern culture of Native American tribes who spoke Atakapa and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico. They called themselves the Ishak, pronounced "ee-SHAK", which translates as "The People". Although the people were decimated by infectious disease after...
word icāk meaning "person". The Akokisa have also been known by the following names (and spellings): Accockesaws, Accokesaus, Accokesaws, Aco-ke-sas, Arkokisa, Horcoquisa, Ocosaus, Orcoquisa(s), Orcoquisacs, Orcoquizas.
Culture
Akokisa people lived in settled villages and built airy structures to cope with their warm climate. Their homes were beehive-shaped and thatchedThatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
with grass or palmetto
Sabal
Sabal is a genus of New World palms, many of the species being known as palmetto. They are fan palms , with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets; in some of the species, the leaflets are joined for up to half of their length...
leaves. A hearth would be located in the center of the floor with a smokehole in the ceiling. During summer months, an Akokisa would sleep in a Chickee
Chickee
Chikee or Chickee is a shelter supported by posts, with a raised floor, a thatched roof and open sides. The chickee style of architecture — palmetto thatch over a bald cypress log frame — was adopted by Seminoles during the Second and Third Seminole War as U.S...
, a raised platform with a thatched roof and open sides. Beds were made of straw, covered with animal skins.
For water transportation and fishing, Akokisas carved cypress
Taxodium distichum
Taxodium distichum is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States.-Characteristics:...
logs into dugout canoes
Dugout (boat)
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon is Greek -- mono- + ξύλον xylon -- and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum )...
.
Both men and women decorated their bodies and faces with tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s.
The Akokisa, like the Atakapa
Atakapa
The Atakapan people are a Southeastern culture of Native American tribes who spoke Atakapa and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico. They called themselves the Ishak, pronounced "ee-SHAK", which translates as "The People". Although the people were decimated by infectious disease after...
, practiced cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
, which may have been connected to their religious beliefs. Cannibalist feasts were described by Simars de Bellisle
Francois Simars de Bellisle
Francois Simars de Bellisle was a Frenchman who shipwrecked on the Bolivar Peninsula, near present-day Galveston, Texas, in 1722. He had been sailing for New Orleans. He was captured by Akokisa natives, and had to subsist for some time on the land. His documentation of this ordeal is considered...
, who observed them firsthand.
Black drink
Black drink
Black drink was the name given by colonists to a ritual beverage called Asi, brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States...
was used for purification in certain ceremonies.
They are reported to have grown "superfine" maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. Tuber
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
s of the Greenbrier vine
Smilax
Smilax is a genus of about 300-350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found , while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico...
provided meal for baking and cooking. During warm seasons they ate bird eggs, fish, shellfish, and American lotus
Nelumbo lutea
Nelumbo lutea is a species of flowering plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae. Common names include American lotus, yellow lotus, water-chinquapin, and volée. It is native to North America...
rhizome
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
s and seeds
Lotus seed
Lotus seeds or lotus nuts are the seeds of plants in the genus Nelumbo, particularly the species Nelumbo nucifera. The seeds are of great importance to East Asian cuisine and are used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese desserts. The seeds are most commonly sold in the...
; during cold seasons they moved further inland and hunted deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, and bison
Plains Bison
The Plains Bison or Common bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American Bison, the other being the Wood Bison . Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Plains Bison consists of a northern and a southern subspecies, bringing the total to three...
. Horses were used to hunt bison. Tanned deer hides and bear fat were their primary commercial exports.
Almost nothing is known about their kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
systems, life cycle, or marriage customs.
Language
The Akokisa language is extinctExtinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
and virtually unknown.
Swanton claimed that the Akokisa spoke a language related to Atakapa
Atakapa language
Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern Texas. It was spoken by the Atakapa people .-Geographic variation:There were two varieties of Atakapa Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern...
based on the similarity of a vocabulary of 45 words ascribed to the Akokisa collected by Captain Jean Béranger in 1721 on Galveston. However, there is no clear evidence that this document actually represents the language of Akokisa (Béranger provides a tribal designation for the vocabulary).
Sibley also reported that they had their own language "peculiar to themselves" and used sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
to communicate with other Indians (also reported for other peoples in eastern Texas). He did not connect them with the Atakapa.
Only two Akokisa words have been found in Spanish records: Yegsa meaning "Spaniard(s)" and Quiselpoo, a female name.