Tunica people
Encyclopedia
The Tunica people were a group of linguistically and culturally related Native American
tribes in the Mississippi River
Valley, which include the Tunica (also spelled Tonica, Tonnica, and Thonnica); the Yazoo
; the Koroa
(Akoroa); and possibly the Tioux. They first encountered Europeans in 1541 - members of the Hernando de Soto expedition.
Over the next centuries, under pressure from hostile neighbors, the Tunica migrated south from the Central Mississippi Valley to the Lower Mississippi Valley. Eventually they moved westward from the river and settled at present-day Marksville, Louisiana
.
Since the early 19th century, they have intermarried with the Biloxi tribe
, an unrelated Siouan-speaking people from the vicinity of Biloxi, Mississippi
and shared land. Remnant peoples from other small tribes also merged with them. The Tunica-Biloxi
Tribe of Louisiana, which shares a reservation, was federally recognized in 1981.
By the Middle Mississippian period
, local Late Woodland
peoples in the Central Mississippi Valley had developed or adopted a full Mississippian lifestyle, with intensive maize
agriculture, hiearchial political structures, mussel
shell-tempered pottery and participation in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
(SECC). At this time the settlement patterns were a mix of dispersed settlements, farmsteads and villages. Over the next centuries, settlement patterns changed to a pattern of more centralized towns, with defensive palisades
and ditches, indicating a state of endemic warfare
had developed between local competing polities. Material culture, such as pottery styles and mortuary practices, began to diverge at this point.
The archaeological evidence suggests that the valley was home to several competing paramount chief
doms, with supporting vassal state
s, all belonging to the same overall culture. The groups in the area are defined by archaeologists as archaeological phase
s, based on differentiation in these material cultures. They include the Menard
, Tipton
, Belle Meade-Walls
, Parkin and Nodena
phases. In the immediate vicinity of the future city of Memphis, Tennessee
, two phases seem have been paramount chiefdoms: Parkin and Nodena. The other phases were possible vassal states or allies in their competition for local supremacy.
The Parkin phase is centered on the Parkin
site, a 17 acres (7 ha) palisaded village at the confluence
of the St. Francis
and Tyronza rivers. The large village was likely located at the confluence of the two rivers because the site enabled residents to control transportation and trade on the waterways.
The Nodena phase is believed to have been centered on the Bradley Site (3 Ct 7) and its nearby cluster of towns and villages. The phase is named for the Nodena Site
, located east of Wilson, Arkansas
in Mississippi County on a meander
bend of the Mississippi River. Scholars believe that because of pottery and mortuary similarities, the Belle Mead and Walls phase peoples were allies or vassals of the Nodena polity. The Parkin polity, defined by different mortuary practices and pottery, was competing.
In the spring of 1541 Hernando de Soto and his army approached the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, coming upon the Province of Quizquiz . These people spoke a dialect
of the Tunican language. At that time, these related groups covered a large region extending along both sides of the Mississippi River in present-day Mississippi
and Arkansas
.
Upon crossing the river, the expedition came upon the Province of Aquixo, and from there on to the Province of Casqui
. The province had a long standing feud with the Province of Pacaha
, described by its participants as having lasted for generations. The Spaniards were impressed with the peoples of this region, its many towns, abundant agriculture and fine quality of the people. The settlements of this area are described thus by the admiring Spaniards:
The expedition later visited the Province of Quigate, the Province of Coligua and Palisema. The chief of Palisema sent the expedition on to the land of the Cayas, where they found the town of Tanico. Linguistic analysis in the 1930s by John Swanton and in the 1980s by Robert L. Rankin point to the Koroa
tribe as likely to have been the Coligua.
Archaeologists believe the location for the Province of Coligua may be the Greenbriar phase on the White River
at the edge of the Ozark Highlands. Tanico is also another name used by Europeans to name the Tunica, also making its identification as a Tunican group secure. The Tanico were salt-makers and salt-traders, procuring the salt from the sands of a stream that fed into the River of the Cayas (identified as the Arkansas River
). The people would scoop the sand in baskets, and run water through it, making a brine
. The brine was then strained and left to dry in shallow bowls, where the dried salt would later be scraped off.
Scholars evaluated the three surviving Soto narratives for topography, linguistics and cultural traits, combined with archaeological excavations and analysis. Most archaeologists and ethnohistorians believe the following can be identified as equivalent sites: they are paired by archeological phase and Soto references:
Menard - Anilco
Walls - Quiquiz
Belle Meade - Aquixo
Parkin - Casqui
Nodena - Pacaha
The description of the ongoing war between the Casqui and Pacaha matches interpretations of the archaeological record, as do distances and topography mentioned in the narratives. Words recorded by the narratives at Pacaha, such as mochila, macanoche, and caloosa, match Tunica linguistic characteristics evaluated by Mary Haas
in the 1940s. It is now theorized that the peoples of the Central Mississippi Valley, from Pacaha in the north to the Provinces of Anilco and Utiangüe in the south on the Arkansas River, were all Tunican.
n infectious diseases would have ravaged the native population who had no acquired immunity.
By the time the French arrived, the Central Mississippi Valley was sparsely occupied by the Quapaw
, a Dhegiha Siouan
people hostile to the Tunica. In the intervening century and a half since the de Soto Expedition, the Tunica and Koroa had relocated further south to the mouth of the Yazoo River
in west central Mississippi.
near the Mississippi River
in the present-day state of Mississippi
. Archaeological evidence suggests that they had recently migrated to the region from eastern Arkansas
, in the late 17th century. Father Antoine Davion was assigned as the missionary for the Tunica as well as the smaller tribes of the Koroa
, the Yazoo
, and Couspe (or Houspe) tribes. Unlike the northern tribes with which the French were familiar, the Tunica (and the nearby Taensa
and Natchez
) had a complex religion
. They had built temple
s, created cult image
s, and had a priest
class. The Tunica, Taensa, and Natchez retained chiefdom
characteristics, such as a complex religion and ,in the case of the Natchez, use and maintenance of platform mound
s, after they had disappeared elsewhere.
Several characteristics linked the Tunica to groups encountered by de Soto: their emphasis on agriculture; cultivation by men rather than women (as de Soto noted when describing Quizquiz); trade; and manufacture and distribution of salt, a valuable item to both native and Europeans. The trade in salt was an ancient profession amongst the Tunica, as evidenced by de Soto's noting salt production when visiting the village of Tanico. Salt was extremely important in the trade between the French and the various Caddoan groups
in northwestern Louisiana and southwestern Arkansas. Scholars believe the Tunica were middlemen in the movement of salt from the Caddoan areas to the French.
raided the tribes along the lower Mississippi River to capture people for the English slave trade in South Carolina
. They took an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 captives from the Tunica, Taensa, and Quapaw tribes during this period.
By 1706 the Tunica had again decided to move. With their enemies the Natchez
to their immediate south, they decided to move even further, down to the Mississippi side of the Mississippi and Red River confluence
, the next major river junction. This move allowed them to keep control of their salt trade, as the Red River also connected to their salt source in the Caddo
an areas. They established a loose collection of hamlets and villages at their new home in present-day Angola, Louisiana (the later site of the Louisiana State Penitentiary). In 1976 an inmate of Angola discovered the remains of a small hamlet at this site. The archeological site is now known as the Bloodhound Site
.
During the 1710s and 1720s, war broke out four times between the French and the Natchez. The French called these the First Natchez War (1716), the Second Natchez War (1722), the Third Natchez War (1723), and the Natchez Rebellion of 1729. The last was the most widespread war; the Natchez attacked and killed many of the French in Natchez territory; in retaliation, the French gained the Choctaw
as allies, eventually defeating the Natchez people. Of those who survived, thousands were sold into slavery.
In November of 1729 the French commander Sieur de Chépart ordered the Natchez to vacate one of their villages so that he could use its land for a new tobacco
plantation
. The chiefs of the village sent emissaries to potential allies, including the Yazoo, Koroa, Illinois
, Chickasaw
, and Choctaw
. They also sent messages to the African slaves of nearby French plantations, inviting them to join the Natchez in rising up against the French. In November 1729, the Natchez attacked. Before the day was over, the entire French colony at Natchez was wiped out, including Fort Rosalie
. Over 200 colonists, mostly French men, were killed and over 300 women, children, and slaves were taken captive. War continued until January of 1731, when the French captured a Natchez fort on the west side of the Mississippi River. Between 75 and 250 Natchez warriors escaped and found refuge among the Chickasaw. The young Great Sun and about 100 of his followers were captured, subsequently enslaved, and shipped to work French plantations in the Caribbean
.
The Natchez Rebellion expanded into a larger regional conflict with many repercussions. The Yazoo and Koroa Indians allied with the Natchez and suffered their fate. The Tunica were initially reluctant to fight on either side. In June of 1730 the Head Chief of the Tunica, Cahura-Joligo, agreed to let a small party of Natchez refugees settle near his village, with the provision that they should do so unarmed. He received thirty Natchez warriors into his village, after disarming them.
A few days later, the last chief of the Natchez arrived at the Tunica village with a hundred men, and an unknown number of women and children. They also concealed Chickasaw and Koroa in the canebrake around the village. Cahura-Joligo informed them that he could not receive them unless they gave up their arms. They replied that this was their intention, but asked if they could keep them awhile longer so their women did not get the impression that their unarmed men were prisoners. He consented to their request and proceeded to distribute food to his new guests. A celebratory dance was held till after midnight, when the Tunica retired to their cabins, thinking that the Natchez would do the same. The Natchez, Chicasaw and Koroa, attacked their hosts in their cabins, and killed all they managed to surprise while asleep. Cahura-Joligo killed four Natchez during the fighting, but was eventually killed along with twelve of his warriors. His war-chief Brides les Boeufs (Buffalo Tamer), with a dozen of his warriors, repulsed the attack and retook the Head Chief's cabin. He rallied his remaining warriors, and after fighting for five days and nights without interruption, regained control of the village. Twenty Tunica were killed and as many wounded in the fighting. They had also managed to kill thirty-three of the Natchez warriors and take three prisoners, who were later burned in punishment for the attack.
site in West Feliciana Parish
. The Tunica continued to prosper, practicing their vocation as traders and middlemen. They expanded on a relatively new business as horse traders. For at least a decade, the French had become dependent on the Tunica for supplying the valuable animals.
Because of the expense of shipping horses from France, the French found it cheaper to buy them from the Tunica. They acquired the horses through a native trade network
which had its origin in the Spanish
colony of Mexico. The Tunica stayed at this location into the 1760s, when the French
ceded
control to the Spanish
following the French defeat by the English in the Seven Years' War
.
Proof of the tribe's prosperity during these years was revealed in the 1960s when the Trudeau site was discovered and excavated. Large amounts of European trade goods, including beads, porcelain, muskets, kettles and other items, as well as locally produced pottery in the Tunica tribal style were buried as grave goods
at the site. What has been called the "Trudeau Treasure" was the greatest amount of European trade goods found at a Native American site of this period.
In 1764, the Tunica moved fifteen miles (24 km) south of the Trudeau Landing site to just outside the French settlement at Pointe Coupée. (Due to shifting of the Mississippi River, the area has eroded and the settlement was lost.) Other Native tribes had also settled in the area, including the Offagoula, Pascagoula
and the Siouan-speaking Biloxi
. The latter came to have a long-term relationship with the Tunica. (After years of intermarriage, in the 20th century the tribes gained federal recognition as the Tunica-Biloxi Nation of Louisiana
.)
The Tunica began to rely more on hunting for their sustenance than farming, and often worked for Europeans as hunters or guides. During the late 18th century, numerous Anglo-American settlers entered the region. The Tunica had become acculturated to European ways, although they still tattooed themselves and practiced some of their native religious customs. Their Head Chief during these years was Lattanash, with the elder Brides les Boefs continuing as the War Chief. The Ofo
, Perruquier, was the spokesman for his tribe. By this time, they had been assimilated into the Tunica. With the British in charge of the Western Florida colony
and the Spanish in control of Louisiana, it was a volatile time politically for the area.
Both groups vied for the allegiance of the Tunica, with the Spanish usually winning. In 1779 Governor Galvez
led a force that included Tunica and other tribes to take the British-held town of Baton Rouge. It is the last recorded military campaign in which the Tunica are documented.
By sometime in the late 1780s or 1790s, the Tunica had decided to move again, probably because of the large influx of Anglo-Americans. They moved west to a site on the Red River named Avoyelles, where they were subsequently granted land by the Spanish. Other tribes also settled in the area such as the Ofo
, Biloxi, and Avoyel
. In 1794 an Italian immigrant named Marco Litche (anglicized as Marc Eliche) established a trading post
in the area. The settlement he founded became known as Marksville
. It was noted on Louisiana maps as of 1809.
When the Tunica settled at what became Marksville, the Red River was still an important avenue of trade. By the late 19th century, railroads surpassed the rivers as the main means of transportation and the Marksville area became a quiet backwater. Many small and peaceful tribes such as the Tunica were forgotten as other more bellicose tribes in the west took the attention of the United States. The only U.S. Government mention of the Tunica from 1803 to 1938 was made in 1806 by an Indian Commissioner for Louisiana who remarked that the Tunica numbered only about 25 men, lived in Avoyelles,Parish
and made their livings by occasionally hiring out as boatmen. Documents from the early 19th century record a second village on Bayou Rouge in these early years in Avoyelles Parish, with its own Chief. Some Tunica moved west to Texas
and Oklahoma
, where they were absorbed by other Native groups.
Although the Tunica were prosperous at this time, eventually problems with their white neighbors would take its toll. The Indian Removal Act of 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson
, forced all of the major tribers east of the Mississippi River to be removed from their lands and relocated to reservations west of the river. This resulted in the infamous Trail of Tears
for many of the tribes. Although the Tunica were not removed to Indian Territory, it was a sign of the political and social times for all Native Americans. In 1841 the Tunica chief Melancon attempted to pull up fence posts fraudulently erected on Tunica land in an attempt to steal tribal land. The man, a local leader of the "Indian Patrol", shot Chief Melancon in the head in full view of other tribesmen. He was not prosecuted by local authorities and succeeded in stealing the land from the Tunica.
After the Chief's death, the tribe kept the office a close tribal secret for many years to avoid notice by unscrupulous neighbors. The Tunica became subsistence farmers, with some hunting and fishing to support themselves. Others turned to sharecropping
on their white neighbors' land. No longer prosperous, they managed to eke out a living through the 19th century. In the 1870s their Chief, Volsin Chiki helped reunite the tribe and restore some of their pride by re-establishing ancient tribal ceremonies, such as the Corn Feast
.
As the 20th century dawned, the Tunica continued. They had managed to retain possession of the majority of their land, because it was held and worked in common by the whole tribe. Some still spoke the Tunica language, and their reinvigorated tribal ceremonies were still being practiced. Gradually the Tunica merged with other local groups (the Ofo, Avoyel
, and Biloxi), as well as intermarrying with European and African American neighbors.
When they tried to gain federal recognition as a tribe in 1938, they were denied on the grounds of being so racially mixed as not to be considered the descendants of a historical Native American tribe. They finally achieved federal recognition in 1981. Although they have adapted Euro-American lifeways, and no longer speak their original language, they have preserved much of their ethnic identity. They have always maintained their tribal government and the Chieftainship existed up to the mid 1970s.
and east central Louisiana
. The modern tribe is composed of Tunica, Biloxi
(a Siouan speaking people from the Gulf coast), Ofo
(also a Siouan people), Avoyel
( a Natchezan
people), Mississippi Choctaw
, European and African ancestry. Many live on the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation in central Avoyelles Parish
, just south of the city of Marksville, Louisiana
, with a part of the city actually extending onto reservation land. The reservation
has a land area of 1.682 km² (0.6495 sq mi, or 415.68 acre
s). Currently, they operate Louisiana's first land based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. The casino is known for its contributions back to its members and fighting for Native American Rights. The 2000 census
lists 648 persons identified as Tunica.
Tribal government currently consists of an elected tribal council and tribal chairman. They maintain their own police force, health services, education department, housing authority, and court system. The tribal chairman since 1978 has been Earl J. Barbry, Sr.
site in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
. The Tunica, who felt he had stolen tribal heirlooms and desecrated the graves of their ancestors, were outraged. In 1970s the site was excavated by archaeologists, who uncovered pottery, European trade goods and other artifact
s deposited as grave goods by the Tunica from 1731 to 1764, when they occupied the site.
With help from the State of Louisiana, the tribe filed a lawsuit for the title to the artifacts, which has become known as the "Tunica Treasure". It took a decade to be worked through the courts, but the ruling became a landmark in American Indian history. It helped to lay the groundwork for new federal legislation, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
, passed in 1990. Because the artifacts had been separated from the original burials, the tribe decided to build a museum to house them. Members of the tribe were trained as conservators to repair damage by the centuries underground and handling during the ten-year court battle.
The Tunica had the museum designed in the shape of the ancient platform mounds of their people. The earthen structure took the symbolic place of the original burial underground. It was opened in 1991 as The Tunica-Biloxi Regional Indian Center and Museum. Due to structural problems, it was closed in 1999, with plans for a new larger facility underway.
Federal recognition would have entitled the tribe to benefit from social programs under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. A succession of chiefs, including Chief Horace Pierite Sr, would work at the task. The Tunica treasure was considered part of the proof of the historical tribe. They were recognized by the United States government in 1981 as the Tunica Biloxi Indians of Louisiana.
The Tunica (or Tonica, or less common form Yuron) language is a language isolate
. When the last known fluent speaker, Sesostrie Youchigant
, died, the language became extinct. Linguist Mary Haas
worked with Youchigant to describe what he remembered of the language, and the description was published in A Grammar of the Tunica Language in 1941, followed by Tunica Texts in 1950 and Tunica Dictionary in 1953. The Tunica tribe lived close to the Ofo
and Avoyeles tribe
s, but communication between the three was only possible through the use of the Mobilian Jargon
or French
. Most modern Tunica speak English
, with a few older members speaking French
as a first language.
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...
tribes in the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
Valley, which include the Tunica (also spelled Tonica, Tonnica, and Thonnica); the Yazoo
Yazoo tribe
The Yazoo were a tribe of the Native American Tunica people historically located on the lower course of Yazoo River, Mississippi. It was closely connected to other Tunica peoples, especially the Tunica, Koroa, and possibly the Tioux....
; the Koroa
Koroa
The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. They were believed to speak a dialect of Tunica.The Koroa may be the tribe...
(Akoroa); and possibly the Tioux. They first encountered Europeans in 1541 - members of the Hernando de Soto expedition.
Over the next centuries, under pressure from hostile neighbors, the Tunica migrated south from the Central Mississippi Valley to the Lower Mississippi Valley. Eventually they moved westward from the river and settled at present-day Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
.
Since the early 19th century, they have intermarried with the Biloxi tribe
Biloxi tribe
The Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi....
, an unrelated Siouan-speaking people from the vicinity of Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
and shared land. Remnant peoples from other small tribes also merged with them. The Tunica-Biloxi
Tunica-Biloxi
The modern Tunica-Biloxi tribe live in Mississippi and east central Louisiana. The modern tribe is composed of descendants of Tunica, Biloxi , Ofo , Avoyel , and Muskogean Choctaw. They speak mostly English and French...
Tribe of Louisiana, which shares a reservation, was federally recognized in 1981.
Prehistory
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
, local Late Woodland
Woodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
peoples in the Central Mississippi Valley had developed or adopted a full Mississippian lifestyle, with intensive 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...
agriculture, hiearchial political structures, mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
shell-tempered pottery and participation in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
(SECC). At this time the settlement patterns were a mix of dispersed settlements, farmsteads and villages. Over the next centuries, settlement patterns changed to a pattern of more centralized towns, with defensive palisades
Palisades
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.Palisade or Palisades also may refer to:-Geology:United States...
and ditches, indicating a state of endemic warfare
Endemic warfare
Endemic warfare is the state of continual, low-threshold warfare in a tribal warrior society. Endemic warfare is often highly ritualized and plays an important function in assisting the formation of a social structure among the tribes' men by proving themselves in battle.Ritual fighting permits...
had developed between local competing polities. Material culture, such as pottery styles and mortuary practices, began to diverge at this point.
The archaeological evidence suggests that the valley was home to several competing paramount chief
Paramount chief
A paramount chief is the highest-level traditional chief or political leader in a regional or local polity or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. This definition is used occasionally in anthropological and archaeological theory to refer to the rulers of multiple...
doms, with supporting vassal state
Vassal state
A vassal state is any state that is subordinate to another. The vassal in these cases is the ruler, rather than the state itself. Being a vassal most commonly implies providing military assistance to the dominant state when requested to do so; it sometimes implies paying tribute, but a state which...
s, all belonging to the same overall culture. The groups in the area are defined by archaeologists as archaeological phase
Archaeological phase
Archaeological phase and phasing refers to the logical reduction of contexts recorded during excavation to near contemporary archaeological horizons that represent a distinct "phase" of previous land use. These often but not always will be a representation of a former land surface or occupation...
s, based on differentiation in these material cultures. They include the Menard
Menard-Hodges Site
The Menard-Hodges Site , is an archaeological site in Arkansas. It includes two large mounds as well as several house mounds. It is the type site for the Menard phase, a protohistoric Mississippian culture group. It is considered as a possible candidate for the Province of Anilco encountered by the...
, Tipton
Tipton Phase
The Tipton Phase is an archaeological phase in southwestern Tennessee of the Late Mississippian culture. Other contemporaneous groups in the area include the Parkin Phase, Walls Phase, Menard Phase, and the Nodena Phase. The Tipton Phase is the last prehistoric people to inhabit the area before the...
, Belle Meade-Walls
Walls Phase
The Walls Phase is an archaeological phase in southwestern Tennessee and northwestern Mississippi of the Late Mississippian culture. Chucalissa Indian Village is a Walls Phase mound and plaza complex located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Other contemporaneous groups in the area...
, Parkin and Nodena
Nodena Phase
The Nodena Phase is an archaeological phase in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri of the Late Mississippian culture which dates from about 1400–1650 CE. The Nodena Phase is known from a collection of villages along the Mississippi River between the Missouri Bootheel and Wapanocca Lake...
phases. In the immediate vicinity of the future city of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, two phases seem have been paramount chiefdoms: Parkin and Nodena. The other phases were possible vassal states or allies in their competition for local supremacy.
The Parkin phase is centered on the Parkin
Parkin Archeological State Park
Parkin Archeological State Park, also known as Parkin Indian Mound, is an archeological site and state park in Parkin, Cross County, Arkansas. Around 1350–1650 CE an aboriginal palisaded village existed at the site, at the confluence of the St. Francis and Tyronza Rivers. Artifacts from this...
site, a 17 acres (7 ha) palisaded village at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the St. Francis
St. Francis River
The Saint Francis River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, about long, in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States...
and Tyronza rivers. The large village was likely located at the confluence of the two rivers because the site enabled residents to control transportation and trade on the waterways.
The Nodena phase is believed to have been centered on the Bradley Site (3 Ct 7) and its nearby cluster of towns and villages. The phase is named for the Nodena Site
Nodena Site
The Nodena Site is an archeological site east of Wilson, Arkansas and northeast of Reverie, Tennessee in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. Around 1400–1650 CE an aboriginal palisaded village existed in the Nodena area on a meander bend of the Mississippi River. The Nodena site...
, located east of Wilson, Arkansas
Wilson, Arkansas
Wilson is a town in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 939 at the 2000 census.The town was named after Robert E. Lee Wilson, a landowner and logging business owner in the area in the late 19th century....
in Mississippi County on a meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
bend of the Mississippi River. Scholars believe that because of pottery and mortuary similarities, the Belle Mead and Walls phase peoples were allies or vassals of the Nodena polity. The Parkin polity, defined by different mortuary practices and pottery, was competing.
Spanish contact
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of the Tunican language. At that time, these related groups covered a large region extending along both sides of the Mississippi River in present-day Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and 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...
.
Upon crossing the river, the expedition came upon the Province of Aquixo, and from there on to the Province of Casqui
Casqui
Casqui was a Native American tribe discovered in 1541 by the Hernando de Soto expedition. This tribe inhabited fortified villages in eastern Arkansas....
. The province had a long standing feud with the Province of Pacaha
Pacaha
Pacaha was a Native American tribe encountered in 1541 by the Hernando de Soto expedition. This tribe inhabited fortified villages in what is today the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas...
, described by its participants as having lasted for generations. The Spaniards were impressed with the peoples of this region, its many towns, abundant agriculture and fine quality of the people. The settlements of this area are described thus by the admiring Spaniards:
Koroa
The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. They were believed to speak a dialect of Tunica.The Koroa may be the tribe...
tribe as likely to have been the Coligua.
Archaeologists believe the location for the Province of Coligua may be the Greenbriar phase on the White River
White River (Arkansas)
The White River is a 722-mile long river that flows through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Missouri.-Course:The source of the White River is in the Boston Mountains of northwest Arkansas, in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest southeast of Fayetteville...
at the edge of the Ozark Highlands. Tanico is also another name used by Europeans to name the Tunica, also making its identification as a Tunican group secure. The Tanico were salt-makers and salt-traders, procuring the salt from the sands of a stream that fed into the River of the Cayas (identified as 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...
). The people would scoop the sand in baskets, and run water through it, making a brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
. The brine was then strained and left to dry in shallow bowls, where the dried salt would later be scraped off.
Scholars evaluated the three surviving Soto narratives for topography, linguistics and cultural traits, combined with archaeological excavations and analysis. Most archaeologists and ethnohistorians believe the following can be identified as equivalent sites: they are paired by archeological phase and Soto references:
Menard - Anilco
Walls - Quiquiz
Belle Meade - Aquixo
Parkin - Casqui
Nodena - Pacaha
The description of the ongoing war between the Casqui and Pacaha matches interpretations of the archaeological record, as do distances and topography mentioned in the narratives. Words recorded by the narratives at Pacaha, such as mochila, macanoche, and caloosa, match Tunica linguistic characteristics evaluated by Mary Haas
Mary Haas
Mary Rosamund Haas was an American linguist who specialized in North American Indian languages, Thai, and historical linguistics.-Early work in linguistics:...
in the 1940s. It is now theorized that the peoples of the Central Mississippi Valley, from Pacaha in the north to the Provinces of Anilco and Utiangüe in the south on the Arkansas River, were all Tunican.
French contact
It was another 150 years before another European group records the Tunica. In 1699 when encountered by the LaSource expedition (coming downriver from Canada), the Tunica were a modest-sized tribe numbering only a few hundred warriors, with about 900 people in total. While the Spanish were only in the area for a short time, their presence had devastating effects. A favorite tactic of the expedition had been to play off local political rivalries, causing more conflict. More significantly, the introduction of EurasiaEurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n infectious diseases would have ravaged the native population who had no acquired immunity.
By the time the French arrived, the Central Mississippi Valley was sparsely occupied by the Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
, a Dhegiha Siouan
Dhegihan
The Dhegihan languages are a group of Siouan languages that include Kansa–Osage, Omaha–Ponca, and Quapaw. Their historical region included parts of the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, the Great Plains, and southeastern North America....
people hostile to the Tunica. In the intervening century and a half since the de Soto Expedition, the Tunica and Koroa had relocated further south to the mouth of the Yazoo River
Yazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Mississippi.The Yazoo River was named by French explorer La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's mouth. The exact meaning of the term is unclear...
in west central Mississippi.
Mouth of the Yazoo 1682-1706
The French established a mission among the Tunica around the year 1700, on the Yazoo RiverYazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Mississippi.The Yazoo River was named by French explorer La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's mouth. The exact meaning of the term is unclear...
near the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in the present-day state of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. Archaeological evidence suggests that they had recently migrated to the region from eastern 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...
, in the late 17th century. Father Antoine Davion was assigned as the missionary for the Tunica as well as the smaller tribes of the Koroa
Koroa
The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. They were believed to speak a dialect of Tunica.The Koroa may be the tribe...
, the Yazoo
Yazoo tribe
The Yazoo were a tribe of the Native American Tunica people historically located on the lower course of Yazoo River, Mississippi. It was closely connected to other Tunica peoples, especially the Tunica, Koroa, and possibly the Tioux....
, and Couspe (or Houspe) tribes. Unlike the northern tribes with which the French were familiar, the Tunica (and the nearby Taensa
Taensa
The Taensa were a people of northeastern Louisiana. They lived on Lake Saint Joseph west of the Mississippi River, between the Yazoo River and Saint Catherine Creek...
and Natchez
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
) had a complex religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. They had built temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s, created cult image
Cult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...
s, and had a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
class. The Tunica, Taensa, and Natchez retained chiefdom
Chiefdom
A chiefdom is a political economy that organizes regional populations through a hierarchy of the chief.In anthropological theory, one model of human social development rooted in ideas of cultural evolution describes a chiefdom as a form of social organization more complex than a tribe or a band...
characteristics, such as a complex religion and ,in the case of the Natchez, use and maintenance of platform 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...
s, after they had disappeared elsewhere.
Several characteristics linked the Tunica to groups encountered by de Soto: their emphasis on agriculture; cultivation by men rather than women (as de Soto noted when describing Quizquiz); trade; and manufacture and distribution of salt, a valuable item to both native and Europeans. The trade in salt was an ancient profession amongst the Tunica, as evidenced by de Soto's noting salt production when visiting the village of Tanico. Salt was extremely important in the trade between the French and the various Caddoan groups
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...
in northwestern Louisiana and southwestern Arkansas. Scholars believe the Tunica were middlemen in the movement of salt from the Caddoan areas to the French.
Angola 1706-1731
By the early 18th century ChickasawChickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
raided the tribes along the lower Mississippi River to capture people for the English slave trade in South Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
. They took an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 captives from the Tunica, Taensa, and Quapaw tribes during this period.
By 1706 the Tunica had again decided to move. With their enemies the Natchez
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
to their immediate south, they decided to move even further, down to the Mississippi side of the Mississippi and Red River confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
, the next major river junction. This move allowed them to keep control of their salt trade, as the Red River also connected to their salt source in the Caddo
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...
an areas. They established a loose collection of hamlets and villages at their new home in present-day Angola, Louisiana (the later site of the Louisiana State Penitentiary). In 1976 an inmate of Angola discovered the remains of a small hamlet at this site. The archeological site is now known as the Bloodhound Site
Bloodhound Site
The Bloodhound Site is an archaeological site in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was once occupied by the Tunica tribe from 1700 to 1749.-External links:*...
.
During the 1710s and 1720s, war broke out four times between the French and the Natchez. The French called these the First Natchez War (1716), the Second Natchez War (1722), the Third Natchez War (1723), and the Natchez Rebellion of 1729. The last was the most widespread war; the Natchez attacked and killed many of the French in Natchez territory; in retaliation, the French gained the Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
as allies, eventually defeating the Natchez people. Of those who survived, thousands were sold into slavery.
In November of 1729 the French commander Sieur de Chépart ordered the Natchez to vacate one of their villages so that he could use its land for a new tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
. The chiefs of the village sent emissaries to potential allies, including the Yazoo, Koroa, Illinois
Illiniwek
The Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were a group of twelve to thirteen Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America...
, Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, and Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
. They also sent messages to the African slaves of nearby French plantations, inviting them to join the Natchez in rising up against the French. In November 1729, the Natchez attacked. Before the day was over, the entire French colony at Natchez was wiped out, including Fort Rosalie
Fort Rosalie
Fort Rosalie was a French fort built in 1716 in the territory of the Natchez Native Americans. The present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi developed at this site. As part of the peace terms that ended the Natchez War of 1716, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville required the Natchez to...
. Over 200 colonists, mostly French men, were killed and over 300 women, children, and slaves were taken captive. War continued until January of 1731, when the French captured a Natchez fort on the west side of the Mississippi River. Between 75 and 250 Natchez warriors escaped and found refuge among the Chickasaw. The young Great Sun and about 100 of his followers were captured, subsequently enslaved, and shipped to work French plantations in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
The Natchez Rebellion expanded into a larger regional conflict with many repercussions. The Yazoo and Koroa Indians allied with the Natchez and suffered their fate. The Tunica were initially reluctant to fight on either side. In June of 1730 the Head Chief of the Tunica, Cahura-Joligo, agreed to let a small party of Natchez refugees settle near his village, with the provision that they should do so unarmed. He received thirty Natchez warriors into his village, after disarming them.
A few days later, the last chief of the Natchez arrived at the Tunica village with a hundred men, and an unknown number of women and children. They also concealed Chickasaw and Koroa in the canebrake around the village. Cahura-Joligo informed them that he could not receive them unless they gave up their arms. They replied that this was their intention, but asked if they could keep them awhile longer so their women did not get the impression that their unarmed men were prisoners. He consented to their request and proceeded to distribute food to his new guests. A celebratory dance was held till after midnight, when the Tunica retired to their cabins, thinking that the Natchez would do the same. The Natchez, Chicasaw and Koroa, attacked their hosts in their cabins, and killed all they managed to surprise while asleep. Cahura-Joligo killed four Natchez during the fighting, but was eventually killed along with twelve of his warriors. His war-chief Brides les Boeufs (Buffalo Tamer), with a dozen of his warriors, repulsed the attack and retook the Head Chief's cabin. He rallied his remaining warriors, and after fighting for five days and nights without interruption, regained control of the village. Twenty Tunica were killed and as many wounded in the fighting. They had also managed to kill thirty-three of the Natchez warriors and take three prisoners, who were later burned in punishment for the attack.
Trudeau Landing 1731-1764
After the attack and plundering of their village at Angola, in 1731 the Tunica moved a few miles away to the TrudeauTrudeau Landing
The Trudeau Landing Site , also known as Tunica Village and Trudeau, is an archaeological site in Tunica, unincorporated West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was once occupied by the Tunica tribe.-Tunica treasure:...
site in West Feliciana Parish
West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 15,111 people, 3,645 households, and 2,704 families residing in the parish. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 4,485 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
. The Tunica continued to prosper, practicing their vocation as traders and middlemen. They expanded on a relatively new business as horse traders. For at least a decade, the French had become dependent on the Tunica for supplying the valuable animals.
Because of the expense of shipping horses from France, the French found it cheaper to buy them from the Tunica. They acquired the horses through a native trade network
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
which had its origin in the Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
colony of Mexico. The Tunica stayed at this location into the 1760s, when the French
Louisiana (New France)
Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...
ceded
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement in which France ceded Louisiana to Spain. The treaty followed the last battle in the French and Indian War, the Battle of Signal Hill in September 1762, which confirmed British control of Canada. However, the associated Seven Years War continued...
control to the Spanish
Louisiana (New Spain)
Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1764 to 1803 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans...
following the French defeat by the English in the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
.
Proof of the tribe's prosperity during these years was revealed in the 1960s when the Trudeau site was discovered and excavated. Large amounts of European trade goods, including beads, porcelain, muskets, kettles and other items, as well as locally produced pottery in the Tunica tribal style were buried as grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
at the site. What has been called the "Trudeau Treasure" was the greatest amount of European trade goods found at a Native American site of this period.
Pointe Coupee 1764 to the early 1790s
Pascagoula
The Pasacagoula were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River....
and the Siouan-speaking Biloxi
Biloxi tribe
The Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi....
. The latter came to have a long-term relationship with the Tunica. (After years of intermarriage, in the 20th century the tribes gained federal recognition as the Tunica-Biloxi Nation of Louisiana
Tunica-Biloxi
The modern Tunica-Biloxi tribe live in Mississippi and east central Louisiana. The modern tribe is composed of descendants of Tunica, Biloxi , Ofo , Avoyel , and Muskogean Choctaw. They speak mostly English and French...
.)
The Tunica began to rely more on hunting for their sustenance than farming, and often worked for Europeans as hunters or guides. During the late 18th century, numerous Anglo-American settlers entered the region. The Tunica had become acculturated to European ways, although they still tattooed themselves and practiced some of their native religious customs. Their Head Chief during these years was Lattanash, with the elder Brides les Boefs continuing as the War Chief. The Ofo
OFO
Ofo may refer to:*Orbiting Frog Otolith*Ofo Language an indigenous language of the lower Mississippi Valley....
, Perruquier, was the spokesman for his tribe. By this time, they had been assimilated into the Tunica. With the British in charge of the Western Florida colony
British West Florida
West Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 until 1783 when it was ceded to Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris. Effective British control had ended in 1781 when Spain had captured Pensacola...
and the Spanish in control of Louisiana, it was a volatile time politically for the area.
Both groups vied for the allegiance of the Tunica, with the Spanish usually winning. In 1779 Governor Galvez
Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez
Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Viscount of Galveston and Count of Gálvez was a Spanish military leader and the general of Spanish forces in New Spain who served as governor of Louisiana and Cuba and as viceroy of New Spain.Gálvez aided the Thirteen Colonies in their quest for independence and led...
led a force that included Tunica and other tribes to take the British-held town of Baton Rouge. It is the last recorded military campaign in which the Tunica are documented.
By sometime in the late 1780s or 1790s, the Tunica had decided to move again, probably because of the large influx of Anglo-Americans. They moved west to a site on the Red River named Avoyelles, where they were subsequently granted land by the Spanish. Other tribes also settled in the area such as the Ofo
OFO
Ofo may refer to:*Orbiting Frog Otolith*Ofo Language an indigenous language of the lower Mississippi Valley....
, Biloxi, and Avoyel
Avoyel
The Avoyel or Avoyelles was a small Natchez-speaking tribe who inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River in the area of present-day Marksville, Louisiana. The indigenous name for this tribe is Tamoucougoula. The word Avoyel is of French derivation and means either "Flint People" or "the...
. In 1794 an Italian immigrant named Marco Litche (anglicized as Marc Eliche) established a trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
in the area. The settlement he founded became known as Marksville
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
. It was noted on Louisiana maps as of 1809.
Marksville to the present
Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
Avoyelles is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Marksville. In 2000, its population was 41,481. The parish is named for the Avoyel Indian tribe.-History:...
and made their livings by occasionally hiring out as boatmen. Documents from the early 19th century record a second village on Bayou Rouge in these early years in Avoyelles Parish, with its own Chief. Some Tunica moved west to 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...
and Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, where they were absorbed by other Native groups.
Although the Tunica were prosperous at this time, eventually problems with their white neighbors would take its toll. The Indian Removal Act of 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, forced all of the major tribers east of the Mississippi River to be removed from their lands and relocated to reservations west of the river. This resulted in the infamous Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830...
for many of the tribes. Although the Tunica were not removed to Indian Territory, it was a sign of the political and social times for all Native Americans. In 1841 the Tunica chief Melancon attempted to pull up fence posts fraudulently erected on Tunica land in an attempt to steal tribal land. The man, a local leader of the "Indian Patrol", shot Chief Melancon in the head in full view of other tribesmen. He was not prosecuted by local authorities and succeeded in stealing the land from the Tunica.
After the Chief's death, the tribe kept the office a close tribal secret for many years to avoid notice by unscrupulous neighbors. The Tunica became subsistence farmers, with some hunting and fishing to support themselves. Others turned to sharecropping
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
on their white neighbors' land. No longer prosperous, they managed to eke out a living through the 19th century. In the 1870s their Chief, Volsin Chiki helped reunite the tribe and restore some of their pride by re-establishing ancient tribal ceremonies, such as the Corn Feast
Green Corn Ceremony
The Green Corn Ceremony is an English term that refers to a general religious and social theme celebrated by a number of American Indian peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and the Southeastern tribes...
.
As the 20th century dawned, the Tunica continued. They had managed to retain possession of the majority of their land, because it was held and worked in common by the whole tribe. Some still spoke the Tunica language, and their reinvigorated tribal ceremonies were still being practiced. Gradually the Tunica merged with other local groups (the Ofo, Avoyel
Avoyel
The Avoyel or Avoyelles was a small Natchez-speaking tribe who inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River in the area of present-day Marksville, Louisiana. The indigenous name for this tribe is Tamoucougoula. The word Avoyel is of French derivation and means either "Flint People" or "the...
, and Biloxi), as well as intermarrying with European and African American neighbors.
When they tried to gain federal recognition as a tribe in 1938, they were denied on the grounds of being so racially mixed as not to be considered the descendants of a historical Native American tribe. They finally achieved federal recognition in 1981. Although they have adapted Euro-American lifeways, and no longer speak their original language, they have preserved much of their ethnic identity. They have always maintained their tribal government and the Chieftainship existed up to the mid 1970s.
Modern tribe
The modern Tunica-Biloxi tribe live in MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and east central Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The modern tribe is composed of Tunica, Biloxi
Biloxi tribe
The Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi....
(a Siouan speaking people from the Gulf coast), Ofo
OFO
Ofo may refer to:*Orbiting Frog Otolith*Ofo Language an indigenous language of the lower Mississippi Valley....
(also a Siouan people), Avoyel
Avoyel
The Avoyel or Avoyelles was a small Natchez-speaking tribe who inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River in the area of present-day Marksville, Louisiana. The indigenous name for this tribe is Tamoucougoula. The word Avoyel is of French derivation and means either "Flint People" or "the...
( a Natchezan
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
people), Mississippi Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, European and African ancestry. Many live on the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation in central Avoyelles Parish
Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
Avoyelles is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Marksville. In 2000, its population was 41,481. The parish is named for the Avoyel Indian tribe.-History:...
, just south of the city of Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
, with a part of the city actually extending onto reservation land. The reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
has a land area of 1.682 km² (0.6495 sq mi, or 415.68 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s). Currently, they operate Louisiana's first land based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. The casino is known for its contributions back to its members and fighting for Native American Rights. The 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
lists 648 persons identified as Tunica.
Tribal government currently consists of an elected tribal council and tribal chairman. They maintain their own police force, health services, education department, housing authority, and court system. The tribal chairman since 1978 has been Earl J. Barbry, Sr.
Tunica Treasure
In the 1960s a treasure hunter named Leonard Charrier began searching for artifacts at the Trudeau LandingTrudeau Landing
The Trudeau Landing Site , also known as Tunica Village and Trudeau, is an archaeological site in Tunica, unincorporated West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was once occupied by the Tunica tribe.-Tunica treasure:...
site in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 15,111 people, 3,645 households, and 2,704 families residing in the parish. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 4,485 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
. The Tunica, who felt he had stolen tribal heirlooms and desecrated the graves of their ancestors, were outraged. In 1970s the site was excavated by archaeologists, who uncovered pottery, European trade goods and other artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s deposited as grave goods by the Tunica from 1731 to 1764, when they occupied the site.
With help from the State of Louisiana, the tribe filed a lawsuit for the title to the artifacts, which has become known as the "Tunica Treasure". It took a decade to be worked through the courts, but the ruling became a landmark in American Indian history. It helped to lay the groundwork for new federal legislation, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to...
, passed in 1990. Because the artifacts had been separated from the original burials, the tribe decided to build a museum to house them. Members of the tribe were trained as conservators to repair damage by the centuries underground and handling during the ten-year court battle.
The Tunica had the museum designed in the shape of the ancient platform mounds of their people. The earthen structure took the symbolic place of the original burial underground. It was opened in 1991 as The Tunica-Biloxi Regional Indian Center and Museum. Due to structural problems, it was closed in 1999, with plans for a new larger facility underway.
Federal recognition
Formal efforts to be recognized by the federal government were begun in the 1940s under Chief Eli Barbry, who led a group to Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Federal recognition would have entitled the tribe to benefit from social programs under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. A succession of chiefs, including Chief Horace Pierite Sr, would work at the task. The Tunica treasure was considered part of the proof of the historical tribe. They were recognized by the United States government in 1981 as the Tunica Biloxi Indians of Louisiana.
Tunica language
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
. When the last known fluent speaker, Sesostrie Youchigant
Sesostrie Youchigant
Sesostrie Youchigant was the last native speaker of the Tunica language. He worked with linguist Mary Haas to describe what he remembered of the language, and the description was published in A Grammar of the Tunica Language in 1939.-External links:...
, died, the language became extinct. Linguist Mary Haas
Mary Haas
Mary Rosamund Haas was an American linguist who specialized in North American Indian languages, Thai, and historical linguistics.-Early work in linguistics:...
worked with Youchigant to describe what he remembered of the language, and the description was published in A Grammar of the Tunica Language in 1941, followed by Tunica Texts in 1950 and Tunica Dictionary in 1953. The Tunica tribe lived close to the Ofo
OFO
Ofo may refer to:*Orbiting Frog Otolith*Ofo Language an indigenous language of the lower Mississippi Valley....
and Avoyeles tribe
Avoyel
The Avoyel or Avoyelles was a small Natchez-speaking tribe who inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River in the area of present-day Marksville, Louisiana. The indigenous name for this tribe is Tamoucougoula. The word Avoyel is of French derivation and means either "Flint People" or "the...
s, but communication between the three was only possible through the use of the Mobilian Jargon
Mobilian Jargon
Mobilian Jargon was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region...
or French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Most modern Tunica speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, with a few older members speaking French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as a first language.
See also
- List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition
- Biloxi tribeBiloxi tribeThe Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi....
- Biloxi languageBiloxi languageBiloxi is an extinct Siouan language which was at one time spoken in Mississippi, Louisiana. and southeast Texas.- History :Biloxis first encountered Europeans in 1699 along the Pascagoula River. By the mid-18th century they had settled in central Louisiana. Some were also noted in Texas in the...