The Tula were a Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribe that lived in what is now western Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

.

History

The Tula are known to history only from the chronicles of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's exploits in the interior of North America.

The Tula were possibly a Caddoan

Caddo

The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...

 people, but this is not certain. Based on the descriptions of the various chroniclers, "Tula Province", or their homeland, may have been at the headwaters of the Ouachita

Ouachita River

The Ouachita River is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana.-Course:...

, Caddo

Caddo River

The Caddo River is a tributary of the Ouachita River in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The river is about long altogther.-Course:The Caddo River flows out of the Ouachita Mountains through Montgomery, Pike, and Clark counties in Arkansas before flowing into DeGray Lake and then to its terminus at the...

, Little Missouri

Little Missouri River

The Little Missouri River can refer to two rivers in the United States:*The Little Missouri River in Arkansas*The Little Missouri River in Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota...

, Saline

Saline River (Ouachita River)

The Saline River is a tributary of the Ouachita River in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas.The Saline River begins in the eastern foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in Saline and Garland counties and is one of the last free-flowing rivers in the Ouachita River Basin...

, and Cossatot River

Cossatot River

The Cossatot River is an river in the U.S. state Arkansas.Cossatot comes from the French cassé-tête which translates roughly to skull crusher...

s in Arkansas. They are also thought to have lived in the northern Ouachita Mountains

Ouachita Mountains

The Ouachita Mountains are a mountain range in west central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. The range's subterranean roots may extend as far as central Texas, or beyond it to the current location of the Marathon Uplift. Along with the Ozark Mountains, the Ouachita Mountains form the U.S...

 in the Petit Jean and Fourche valleys.

De Soto violently clashed with the tribe in 1541. His secretary, Rodrigo Ranjel described the Tula as, "the best fighting people that the Christians met with." A statue was erected in the late 20th century to commemorate the Tula, but de Soto scholars suspect that the location of the statue does not correspond with the Tula's actual homeland. The Tula are thought to be the first Caddo band to encounter Europeans.

The 16th century Spanish chroniclers wrote that the Tula practiced cranial deformation

Artificial cranial deformation

Artificial cranial deformation, head flattening, or head binding is a form of permanent body alteration in which the skull of a human being is intentionally deformed. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying force...

 and tattooed their faces. They fought with large spears.

An archaeological site, Bluffton Mound Site

Bluffton Mound Site

The Bluffton Mound Site is a Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site in Yell County, Arkansas on the Fourche La Fave River....

 (3YE15), 35-40 southwest of the Arkansas River

Arkansas River

The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...

 is associated with the Tula. The site is a Caddoan Mississippian culture

Caddoan Mississippian culture

The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana...

 mound

Platform mound

A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity.-Eastern North America:The indigenous peoples of North America built substructure mounds for well over a thousand years starting in the Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period...

 center.

It was suggested by Swanton that the Tula assimilated into other Kadohadacho tribes,, meaning their descendants would be enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma today.