|
The Wichita are a tribe of Native Americans, indigenous inhabitants of North America, who speak Wichita, a Caddoan language. The tribe was most populous in the Southwestern United States. The Wichita formed a loose confederation on the Southern Plains, including such tribes as Panis Piques, Taovayas, Guichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wacos, and they lived in fixed villages notable for domed-shaped and grass-covered dwellings.
The Wichita were successful hunters and farmers, skillful traders and negotiators. They ranged as far south as San Antonio, Texas to as far north as Great Bend, Kansas. A semi-sedentary people, they occupied northern Texas in the early 1700's and were involved in trade with other Southern Plains Indians on both sides of the Red River and as far south as Waco. The Wichita lived in huts made of forked cedar poles cover by dry grasses, but would abandon them in the winter to go hunt American Bison. The Wichita were known to tattoo their faces and bodies with solid and dotted lines and circles. They called themselves "raccoon-eyed people" (Wichita Kitikiti'sh) because of the tattooed marks around their eyes. They wore clothes made of tanned hides, the women often decorating their dresses in elk teeth.
"There are not more than twenty-five towns, with mud houses, in it, nor any more in all the rest of the country that I have seen and learned about . . . All they have is the tanned skins of the cattle they kill, for the herds are near where they live, at quite a large river. They eat meat raw like the Querechos [the Apache] and Teyas. They are enemies of one another...These people of Quivira [later known as the Wichita] have the advantage over the others in their houses and in growing of maize". By 1719 the Wichita had largely migrated southward to Oklahoma. During the Civil War they moved back to Louisiana and established a village at the site of present-day Wichita, Kansas. After the Louisiana Purchase, the Louisiana Caddos moved to Texas. When Texas became a state in 1845, the federal government settled them on a reservation along the Washita River in Oklahoma. The Wichitas lived in Kansas during the Civil War and later joined their kin.
During the Plains Indian Wars after 1865, The Caddos became scouts for the US Army. One of their chiefs, Guadalupe, viewed the conflict as one between farmers and raiders. Since his people were farmers, he encouraged his warriors to support the white settlers against the Great Plains tribes. Their numbers dwindled rapidly upon contact with people of European descent. In 1790, it was estimated that there were about 3,200 total Wichita. By 1868, the population is recorded as being 572 total Wichita. By the time of the census of 1937, there were only 100 Wichita officially left
|
||||||||
American Indian Almanac by Terrell |
|||||||||
| Christian-Webdesign | Please link to this site : http://www.nativeusa.org/ | ||||||||
The Wichita's population at the time of first contact with the Europeans was estimated to be 200,000. Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado encountered several villages in 1541, where the tribe was very populous. The area is now modern-day Kansas. Coronado said: