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Atakapan . By: Torri Weeks and Morgan Byrd Teacher: Mrs. Smalley Date: October 21, 2011. Where did they live in Texas?. They lived in the southeastern part of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico.
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Atakapan By: Torri Weeks and Morgan Byrd Teacher: Mrs. Smalley Date: October 21, 2011
Where did they live in Texas? • They lived in the southeastern part of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. • Most of their villages and campsites were near the Trinity, Sabine, and San Jacinto Rivers, and the Galveston Bay area. • They usually lived in huts made from animal skins. • Some bands lived along the shores of the Brazos River.
What did they eat and how did they get it? • Atakapans were hunter gatherers and they caught fish, crabs, clams, shrimp, and oysters. • They ate lots of small game, plant foods, fruit, nuts, and wild honey. • The men hunted larger game like deer, bear, bison, and alligators. • The women gathered bird eggs and herbs, farmed maize, and cooked the food.
What did they eat and how did they get it? Cont’d. • They used poisons to catch fish. • They used tools like bows and arrows and fishing spears for hunting and fishing. • They killed alligators by spearing them in the eyes.
What were their daily life activities? • They spent time moving camps near water and food sources. • The men made tools like spears for hunting. • The women took care of the children and made clothing. • They built crude huts, bear skin tents, and dugout canoes. • Much of their time involved hunting and gathering food.
What were their daily life activities? Cont’d. • They traded goods and animal skins with other tribes and with the French and Spanish. • Some tribes were able to farm successfully beans and other crops, but not usually, because of the marshy terrains of the coastal areas.
What were their traditions and celebrations? • The men wore breech cloths and the women wore wraparound skirts from deer skin or woven fabric. • They took part in story-telling, artwork, music, ceremonial dances, and traditional medicine. • They smeared alligator grease all over their bodies to repel bugs. • They flattened their skulls at the front.
What were their traditions and celebrations? Cont’d. • They used wet bark for baby carriers and Spanish moss for diapers. • Fathers would rename themselves after the birth of their sons. • Usually, only men were allowed to become Atakapan chiefs.
What did they believe and who did they worship? • They believed in a creator or great spirit that established the rules for appropriate conduct. • They displayed tattoos on their bodies to symbolize their family tribe and beliefs. • They opened their ceremonies with prayer. • They believed that men who died from snakebites and men who were eaten by other men were denied life after death.
What did they believe and who did they worship? Cont’d. • Their oral history of myths says they were created from a sea oyster. • They believed in a prophet, or author of all things who sent the spirits of those who did well, above, and those that did evil, under the earth and into the shadows.
What are they known for? • The biggest thing they are known for is practicing cannibalism against their enemies. • They are a Southeastern culture of Native American tribes who spoke Atakapa. • They called themselves the Ishak which means, “The People.” • The name Atakapa is Choctaw in origin and means, “Maneater.”
What contributions did they give to Texas? • Some people say their descendants exist today and have organized to be recognized as a tribe that maintains their culture. • Some present day towns can be traced back to them. • Atakapan is a language, not really a tribe and is still studied today. • Zydeco music is believed to have come from Atakapans.
What changed for them as settlers arrived? • They were decimated by infectious diseases of the late 18th Century after European contact. • French settlers exterminated the Eastern Atakapa. • Some of them married into different tribes in Louisiana and migrated to other areas. • Poverty also led to the demise of many bands.
Sources • www.texasindians.com/atakap.htm • viking.coe.uh.edu/~mroy/edwards/page14.htm • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atakapa_people • www.ehow.com › Culture & Society • www.angelfire.com/tx2/ecc/karankawa.html • www.freewebs.com/beatleslover3393/contrastoftwotribes.htm • www.bigorrin.org/atakapa_kids.htm
