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64-693: The Copano were a Native American sub-tribe of Karankawa peoples from Texas . The Copano lived along the Gulf Coast of Texas, between Copano and San Antonio Bays . The Copano were also known as the Cobane, Copane, Coopane, and Kopano Indians. El Copano Port was named for the tribe, who lived in the area in the 18th century. Between 1751 and 1828, the Kopano interacted with the Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Nuestra Señora del Refugio Missions. Those that survived

128-450: A Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas . Their Tonkawa language , now extinct , is a linguistic isolate . Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma , headquartered in Tonkawa, Oklahoma . They have more than 700 tribal citizens. The Tonkawa's autonym is Tickanwa•tic (meaning "real people"). The name Tonkawa

192-485: A central fire, they boiled a strong and bitter brew from the leaves of the yaupon tree and stirred it until the top was covered with a yellowish froth. This brew was shared and all the Karankawa drank freely. Although this brew was said to be intoxicating, Europeans did not notice any visible effects on the natives. One native stood within the circle of men, wrapped up to his head in skins, and he bent over as he walked around

256-556: A group of Mexicans and Texan colonists against what was believed to be the Karankawa's last known refuge, killing many. By 1891, the Karankawa ceased to exist as a functioning tribe. There is nearly 300 years of information written about the Karankawa Indians of Texas from La Salle's first landing at Matagorda Bay in 1685 until the close of the Rosario Mission. The Karankawa had been described for centuries as " cannibals ," There

320-583: A historic park. The Tonkawa Tribe is led by an elected president and council. Their current president is Russell Martin. The Tonkawa tribe operates several businesses which had an annual economic impact of over $ 10,860,657 in 2011. Along with several smoke shops, the tribe runs three different casinos: Tonkawa Indian Casino and Tonkawa Gasino located in Tonkawa , Oklahoma, and the Native Lights Casino in Newkirk , Oklahoma. The Tonkawa Hotel and Casino has

384-399: A loop of animal hide. Many Europeans noted the sharp contrasts in appearance between Karankawa men and women. The women were described as plainer, shorter, and of stouter build than the men. The men were very tall, of strong athletic build, and had coarse, black hair. Most men wore their hair to the waist. Their foreheads were mostly low and broad, and the heads larger than most Europeans of

448-610: A ritual to choose a chief, a diary of Fray Gaspar Jose De Solis states that he suspects these rituals could simply be a puberty rite or an initiation ritual to a brotherhood. One aspect of the Karankawa culture was their recognition of three gender roles: male, female, and a third role taken on by some males and women. Males who took on this third role are called monanguia (see Two-Spirit for similar concepts in Native American cultures generally). Monanguia generally took on female roles and activities in daily life, while also playing

512-448: A small bracelet of undressed deer skin. In the warm climate, children did not wear clothing until they were about 10 years old. The Karankawa had distinctive tattoos, notably, a blue circle tattooed over each cheekbone, one horizontal blue line from the outer angle of the eye toward the ear, three perpendicular parallel lines on the chin from the middle of the lower lip downward, and two other lines extending down from under each corner of

576-470: A special role in religious rites. According to some accounts, the berdache also performed as passive sexual partners for other males. The written accounts of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca mentions bride price and bride service as part of a Karankawa marriage. While the bride price is assumed to be the generalized system in the Indigenous population found by Cabeza de Vaca where the groom gives presents to

640-704: A steakhouse, the Buffalo Grill and Lounge. The Tonkawa's tribal jurisdictional area is in Kay County, Oklahoma, and their headquartered are in Tonkawa, Oklahoma . A 60-acre property (24 ha), was purchased by the Tonkawa Tribe in 2023 in commemoration of its status as a site sacred to the Tonkawa. Sugarloaf Mountain, the highest point in Milam County, Texas , will become part of a historical park. The tribe owns

704-490: A wadded cloth. Each of these was tied to the head with a bandage and left to stay there about one year. The men wore hide breechcloths , while the women wore deerhide skirts. They did not wear headcovers or shoes. Some women of the tribe obtained European clothing occasionally, but would only tear them apart or wear them temporarily. European blankets were of greater use to the tribe, worn fastened to their bodies during cold weather and pinned with thorns. Both men and women wore

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768-550: Is kakáwa , so the term would mean "dog-lovers" or "dog-raisers." The Tonkawa called them Wrestlers ("Keles" or "Killis"). They alternatively called them the barefooted or those without moccasins ("Yakokon kapa-i"), but this name was also applied to other groups with which the Tonkawe were acquainted. The Lipan Apache called the Karankawa the "people who walk in the water" ("Nda Kun dadehe"), possibly referring to their mode of fishing and catching turtles, or simply their location near

832-518: Is a common aspect typically only to marriages that have not created any children and is unlikely if children have been born from the marriage. Between the husband and wife, no signs of fondness, intimacy, or special treatment were observed. The Karankawa reacted strongly and sometimes violently to Europeans interfering in marital or familial affairs. The Karankawa were said to have great compassion and tenderness for their children. Mothers carried babies, not yet able to walk, on their backs, wrapped in

896-509: Is believed to have been just before or during the early European contact period. By 1700, Apache and Wichita people had pushed the Tonkawa south to the Red River which forms the border between current-day Oklahoma and Texas. In the 16th century, the Tonkawa tribe probably had around 1,900 members. Their numbers diminished to around 1,600 by the late 17th century due to fatalities from European diseases and conflict with other tribes, most notably

960-552: Is derived from the Waco word, Tonkaweya , meaning "they all stay together". In 1601, the Tonkawa people lived in what is now northwestern Oklahoma. They were made up of related bands. Historically, they were nomadic people, who practiced some horticulture. The Tonkawa, long thought to have been prehistoric residents of Texas are now thought to have migrated into the state in the late seventeenth century. Arrival in Central Texas

1024-459: Is incontrovertable evidence that the Karankawa, like all early hunter gatherers around the globe practiced ritual cannibalism on their enemy. Just as their Aztec and Guachichiles and Guamares cousins to the south in Northern Mexico, "they ate their enemy for vengeance. Their bones, scalps and genitals were displayed in victory celebrations." The Choctaw name for cannibal was "Atakapa" which was

1088-756: The Apache . In the 1740s, some Tonkawa were involved with the Yojuanes and others as settlers in the San Gabriel Missions of Texas along the San Gabriel River . In 1758, the Tonkawa along with allied Bidais , Caddos , Wichitas , Comanches , and Yojuanes went to attack the Lipan Apache in the vicinity of Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá , which they destroyed. The tribe continued their southern migration into Texas and northern Mexico , where they allied with

1152-582: The Ayenis whom they had killed on one of the expeditions." Several years before this, French castaway Henri Joutel, a captain of the La Salle Expedion lived among the Cenis [Tejas] tribe and hunted with their neighboring bands who had an identical culture and langage as the Karankawa. He wrote in his manuscripts that, "The warriors returned from a grand raid, parading around 48 scalps and body parts of which some of

1216-640: The 1820s, European-American colonists arrived in their land under the leadership of Stephen Austin . He commissioned a captain to expel the Karankawa from the Austin land grant, leading to multiple attacks, including the Skull Creek massacre of 19 Karankawa. By the 1840s, the Karankawa, now exiled, split into two groups, one of which settled on Padre Island while the other fled into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas . During 1858, Mexican rancher Juan Nepomuceno Cortina led

1280-496: The Bastrop camp August 22nd, 1843. He met with "Chief Campos (sic)" and visited a dry goods store where Tonkawa were busy trading with residents of Bastrop. Campo had recently returned from a buffalo hunt, and later that year planned to "visit the coast .. to see the ocean and hunt mustangs and deer". Bollaert's eye-witness account of the tribe in Bastrop shows a people still confident in their ability to move about. Earlier that year there

1344-578: The Comanche. March 5th, 1842 the Mexican Army under Ráfael Vásquez (general) marched into Texas and seized San Antonio. Months later in support of the Republic of Texas the Tonkawa and Lipans were mustered for an expedition against the Mexican invasion: "We understand that the whole tribe of Lipans and Tonkewas (sic) have been ordered to move to the vicinity of Corpus Christi, to accompany the army on its march to

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1408-504: The Karankawa language and people originated from a Carib subgroup, which remains to be discovered. Their exact migratory path northward is equally indistinct. Migration northward is theorized to have occurred during the late 15th century. The route north was from the original land north of the Amazon River toward Tamaulipas and Texas, and was probably done over a long period of time by short bursts of migration. Scholars have speculated that

1472-507: The Karankawa sought matches or tinderboxes from settlers; otherwise, they resorted to the traditional method of using their firesticks, which they always carried in a package of deerhide thongs. The fire was always made in the center of their dwellings and kept burning day and night. They used animal hides and pelts to sit and sleep on within their dwellings. Their household goods and utensils included wooden spoons, ceramic vessels, fishbone needles, and fine deer sinew. The Karankawa traveled to

1536-455: The Karankawa were descended from a group of Carib Indians who arrived by sea from the Caribbean basin. This is partially based on the similarity of their physical appearance to Caribbean natives, but no ethnographic or archaeological evidence has been found for this speculation. Recent archaeological records that used radiocarbon dating for artifacts indicated that these Native groups had been in

1600-481: The Karankawa were disgusted by the odor. The women wore no ornaments, while the men wore many ornaments. Men's long hair was braided with three strands. They inserted bright items (such as ribbons or colored flannel). The women never braided their hair nor combed it regularly. The men wore necklaces of small shells, glass beads, pistachios, and thin metal disks on their throats (never on their chests). Men also wore finger rings. Europeans knew limited information about

1664-460: The Karankawa. The Karankawa were also noted for their remarkable physical feats, such as continuing to fight after being wounded in battle, breaking ice with their bodies, and swimming in freezing water. Their most notable skill was archery . The Karankawa made their own bows and arrows, and were renowned for great skill whether standing on land or in calm or turbulent waters. Their bows were made of red cedar wood and they made them according to

1728-616: The Lipan Apache. In 1824, the Tonkawa entered into a treaty with Stephen F. Austin to protect Anglo-American immigrants against the Comanche . At the time, Austin was an agent recruiting immigrants to settle in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas. In 1840 at the Battle of Plum Creek and again in 1858 at the Battle of Little Robe Creek , the Tonkawa fought alongside the Texas Rangers against

1792-603: The Ponca Agency, and arrived at nearby Fort Oakland on June 30, 1885. On October 21, 1891, the tribe signed an agreement with the Cherokee Commission to accept individual allotments of land. By 1921, only 34 tribal members remained. Their numbers have since increased to close to 950 as of 2023. The Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma incorporated under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act in 1938. December 12, 2023

1856-709: The Rio Grande". The Tonkawas often visited the capital city of Austin during the days of the Republic of Texas (1836–1846) and during early statehood in the mid-19th century. By 1838 the Tonkawas' main camp was near Bastrop, Texas 30 miles east of Austin. The camp was on the east side of the Colorado River , below Alum Creek , on lands claimed by General Edward Burleson . William Bollaert, English writer, geographer, and ethnologist traveled through Texas in 1842 to 1843 visiting

1920-599: The Tonkawa Tribal Museum in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, which shares the history and culture of the tribe through photographs, art, and artifacts with free admission. They also maintain the Tonkawa and Nez Perce cemeteries. The annual Tonkawa Powwow is held on the last weekend in June to commemorate the end of the tribe's own Trail of Tears when the tribe was forcefully removed and relocated from its traditional lands to present-day Oklahoma. The City of Austin and leadership from

1984-488: The Tonkawa Tribe purchased Sugarloaf Mountain, near Gause, Texas in Milam County. The mountain figures into a number of tribes' histories and is along El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail near the site of Rancheria Grande. The tribe knows it as "Red Mountain" and is a part of their origin story. The tribe partnered with El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association with plans to make it into

Copano people - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-654: The Tonkawa were forced to move from Fort Griffin in Texas to the Oakland Agency in northern Indian Territory, present-day Kay County . They arrived on June 29, 1885, and have remained there to the present. This journey involved going to Cisco , Texas, where they boarded a railroad train that took them to Stroud in Indian Territory, where they spent the winter at the Sac and Fox Agency. The Tonkawas traveled 100 miles (160 km) to

2112-624: The United States forcibly removed the Tonkawa and other Texas Indian tribes to the Wichita Agency in Indian Territory, and placed them under the protection of nearby Fort Cobb . During American Civil War , the Tonkawa allied with the Confederacy. Texas also declared for the Confederacy, so the federal troops at the fort received orders to march to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas, leaving the Indians at

2176-567: The Wichita Agency unprotected. On October 24, 1862, Pro-Union tribes, including the Delaware , Shawnee , and Osage decimated the Tonkawa in the Tonkawa Massacre . After the attack on the Tonkawa, by the summer of 1863, some survivors began migrating back south into Texas, some going as far as Central Texas including Austin, Texas. As the capital of a Confederate state, Austin during the Civil War

2240-406: The area as early as the fifth millennium BCE. The Karankawa voyaged from place to place on a seasonal basis in their dugouts , made from large trees with the bark left intact. They travelled in groups of thirty to forty people and remained in each place for about four weeks. After European contact, canoes were of two kinds, both being called "awa'n": the original dugout and old skiffs obtained from

2304-596: The coastal region. They hunted and gathered food from rivers and by the mountains. In the region that the Karankawa inhabited, numerous small chunks of asphaltum have been found along the coast from oil seepage beneath the Gulf of Mexico. These chunks were used to bind arrowheads to their shafts; as a coating for pottery such as ollas , jars, and bowls; and as a way to waterproof woven baskets. Karankawa cuisine included venison, rabbit, fowl, fish, turtles, oysters, and other shellfish. Their cuisine also included food gathered from

2368-482: The common language and shared war expeditions. The ritual to become a chief has been studied by 18th-century Spaniards. They have stated that a selection starts from many candidates, and each is injured by a comb created from the spines of a sea fish, long wounds being dug into their skin from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet and then tied to a pole for several days to either emerge thin or emaciated and close to death. While this description can indeed be

2432-435: The corpse in a well-prepared buffalo hide, the same one that he had used in life to cover himself, they bury him with his club, his bow, and his arrows, a quantity of smoked meat, some corn and vegetables, and two pieces of a certain rock that they use instead of gun flint to make fire.[[For this purpose they make a little hole in one of the pieces of wood, which is flat, and which they lean against something; and having sharpened

2496-411: The day. Karankawa never communicated their native names to the whites. However, they all adopted English or Spanish names. Many men adopted American military epithets and Christian names, and they would change these frequently. Among the Karankawa existed an in-law taboo. Once a man and his wife had become, in the Karankawa sense, married, the husband and his children were no longer allowed to enter

2560-413: The fire. They chanted in chromatic ascending and descending tones, and all the natives joined in the chorus. This ceremony continued throughout the night. Other than this, only a few other rituals were observed, and their purposes are unknown. The Karankawa stared at the sun when it disappeared into the sea, like some other native groups of the area. They also smoked tobacco through their nostrils first to

2624-450: The height of each archer, reaching from the foot to the chin or eye. The bows were always kept in perfect repair. The arrows were about a yard long, tipped with steel, and fletched with wild goose feathers. Karankawa engaged in archery for hunting and as a recreational activity. They often shot at the mark or shot arrows perpendicularly into space. The shooting matches they held were lively and festive. Many young men were able to split in two

Copano people - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-561: The mission era likely merged into other Karankawa groups, but by 1858 all Karankawa tribes had died off. Karankawa people From the onset of European colonization , the Karankawa had violent encounters with the Spanish . After one attack by the Spanish, who ambushed the Karankawa after the establishment of Presidio La Bahía in 1722, the Karankawa allegedly felt "deeply betrayed [and] viewed Spanish colonial settlement with hostility." In

2752-550: The mouth. Moreover, 16th-century European explorers wrote that Karankawa people had labrets , or piercings of cane on the lower lips, nose, and other parts of the body. The woman in some tribes such as the Coco group also had a tattoo of concentric black circles from their nipple to circling their entire breast. Men, women, and children alike rubbed sharks' oil on their entire bodies regularly to deter mosquitoes effectively and to keep their skin soft and supple. Europeans who encountered

2816-439: The north, then to the east, west, and south. They frequently whistled at certain times and apparently for some objective, but ultimately for unknown purposes. Jean-Baptist Talon, in response to interrogation, reported, "one could only infer that they have some confused impression of the immortality of their souls and the resurrection of the dead by the ceremonies that they observe in the burial of their dead. After having wrapped

2880-483: The origins of the name "Karankawa" remain unknown. Alternate spellings of the name Karankawa have historically included: Carancahua, Carancagua, Carancaguase, Carancahuare, Carancahuase, Carancahuaye, Carancahuaze, Carancohuace, Caray, Carrai, Carray, Saray. According to some contemporary sources, the migrations of their ancestors were entirely unknown to the Karankawa of the early 19th century. Linguist Herbert Landar, however, argues that based on linguistic evidence,

2944-471: The other, which is round, they adjust the point of i in the hole and make some fire by rubbing these two pieces of wood, by turning the one that is round between their hands, as fast as they can]] and all that in order that he may use them (so they say) when he wakes up". According to some sources, the Karankawa practiced ritual cannibalism , in common with other Gulf coastal tribes of present-day Texas and Louisiana. Tonkawa The Tonkawa are

3008-477: The parents of the girl he wishes to marry, to secure their permission, the bride service is based on a ritual where the husband must give every morsel of food he managed to collect or hunt to his wife. His wife then delivers the bounty to her parents and in return is given food to give back to her husband. This ritual goes on for an unknown number of months, but when it is concluded, the pair typically then engages in patrilocal residence . In terms of marriage, divorce

3072-487: The previous arrow in the target from a distance of at least 80 feet. The groups of Karankawa were commonly led by two chiefs - a civil government chief with a hereditary succession in the male lines, and a war chief, probably appointed by the civil government chief. No evidence of a confederacy, like that of the Caddo or Creeks , was found. The Karankawa were probably a loose-knit body living under separate chiefs only united by

3136-445: The residence of his wife's parents, nor could his wife's parents enter his or his children's home. These two groups were also no longer allowed to talk with one another and never came face to face with one another. If a situation of coming face to face with one another arose, both parties averted their eyes and moved away from each other. This taboo only seemed to apply to the husbands and their children, most likely due to inconvenience on

3200-403: The rituals of the Karankawa because the latter did not reveal the purposes of their actions or their beliefs. When Joutel, an explorer and companion of Robert Cavalier de La Salle, questioned their religious beliefs, the Karankawa only pointed at the sky. At the full moon and after very successful hunting or fishing expeditions, the Karankawa traditionally held a ceremony. After gathering around

3264-422: The shoreline of the nearby body of water. They constructed houses by arranging willow branches in a circle, bending the tops of the branches toward the center, and interlocking them in wickerwork. This wickerwork was fastened with deerskin. Upon this framework, the Karankawa lay deer, wildcat, panther or bear skins, again fastened with deer hide thongs. The next step was to make a fire. After European contact,

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3328-410: The smoke of a small fire ascend toward the sky in many different ways, and it was as intelligible to them across long distances as their language. Their methods are unknown. The Karankawa had a specific way of conversing. They carefully repressed their breath while speaking; at the end of their sentences, they exhaled heavily, releasing the air they held back during speaking. Moreover, their expression

3392-437: The sun, but most often half raw. They only meals that horrid them were those they made of human flesh as they are cannibals, but toward their savage enemies only. They never ate a single Frenchman that they had killed because, they said, [simply that] they do not eat them. And the same Jean-Baptiste Talon vouches that he once went three days without eating, because nothing presented itself during that time except some human flesh of

3456-471: The swampy coast. The Karankawa called themselves "Karankawa" as well. Later speculation placed the Karankawa language in the Cariban linguistic stock. Linguistic data suggests that the Karankawa name originated from the old Spanish Main, "Kalina," and a suffix from a Northern Carib tribe, "kxura,"meaning "people;" a compound emerges: Karinxkxura, meaning "Carib people." But this theory is disputed and ultimately,

3520-408: The time. The men, in contrast with the women, had lithe builds and slender hands and feet. Their skin color was said to be lighter and closer to cinnamon-colored than the women. Both men and women were noted for their spectacularly white teeth, even elders. Karankawa people practiced forehead flattening . They shaped the foreheads of babies by first with a piece of cloth, then a thin board, and then

3584-541: The warriors partook in cannibalizing, as it was apparently thought, in order to gain the deceased warrior’s bravery. The Karankawa's autonym is Né-ume, meaning "the people". The name Karakawa has numerous spellings in Spanish, French, and English. Swiss-American ethnologist Albert S. Gatschet wrote that the name Karakawa may have come from the Comecrudo terms klam or glám , meaning "dog", and kawa , meaning "to love, like, to be fond of." The plural form of kawa

3648-401: The wells of the whites had a brackish taste. Little is known of the extinct Karankawa language , which may have been a language isolate . The Karankawa also possessed a gesture language for conversing with people from other Native American tribes. The Karankawa were noted for their skill of communicating with each other over long distances using smoke signals . The Karankawa could make

3712-471: The western most band of the Karankawa Texas Indian group. The first person to document the Karankawa's cannibalism was French Jean Baptiste Talon who lived as a captive among the tribe for several years who stated in 1689: "We all went naked like them, and every morning at daybreak, in any season, they went to plunge into the nearest river. Like them, they ate meat from the hunt, fresh or cured in

3776-435: The whites. Neither was used for fishing but for transportation only, and their travels were limited to the waters close to the land. The women, children, and possessions travelled in the hold while the men stood on the stern and poled the canoe. Upon landing at their next destination, the women set up wigwams (called ba'ak in their native language) and the men hauled the boats on the shore. Their campsites were always close to

3840-485: The wife's part, as Karankawans were typically patrilocal. The Karankawa possessed at least three musical instruments - a large gourd filled with stones, which was shaken to produce sound, a fluted piece of wood, which the Karankawa drew a stick over to produce sound, and a flute, which was softly blown. The Karankawa practiced hatchet throwing , recreational brawls with knives, ball games, and wrestling matches. No gambling or guessing games seemed to have developed among

3904-552: The wild, such as berries, persimmons, wild grapes, sea-bird eggs, tuna and nopales (prickly pear cactus fruit and paddles, respectively), and nuts. They boiled food in ceramic pots or roasted entrés and seasoned their dishes with chile. After European contact, the Karankawa made bread from imported wheat flour. They laid the dough on a flat stone then baked it on an open fire. They also enjoyed imported sweet coffee. The Karankawa were skilled at obtaining pure, fresh water. White settlers did not know where they obtained it, because

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3968-547: Was fortified anticipating Union attack so provided a refuge for the pro-Confederate tribe. After the Civil War, Texas being a Confederate state, Union forces occupied Texas, and in 1867 as many as 135 Tonkawa were escorted back north from Austin to Jacksboro, Texas by the Indian agent for the United States. That same year the Tonkawa were then resettled on a reservation near Fort Griffin in Shackelford County. Later, in 1884,

4032-430: Was interpreted by Europeans as impassive, especially because they never looked at the person to whom they were speaking. Their pronunciation was very exact, and they ridiculed poor elocution by the whites who tried to learn their language. The Europeans described their general demeanor as surly and fatigued. They did not have a regular sleep schedule, but slept whenever they wished. They also ate and drank at all times of

4096-482: Was news of a split in the tribe, one group heading to the Rio Grande raising Texas' concern of an alliance with Mexico, but as was reported "The main body of the tribe is still in the vicinity of Bastrop, and the chiefs profess to be still faithful to our [Republic of Texas] government". The group that split from the main tribe was described as "ten camps or families" comprising about "thirty or forty warriors". In 1859,

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