The
Atakapa (pronounced "ah-TAHK-ah-pah", also spelled
Attakapa,
Attakapas,
Attacapa, formally known as the
Ishaks, pronounced "ee-SHAKS", translated as
The People) were a
Southeastern cultureSoutheastern tribes or Southeastern cultures are an ethnographic classification for Native American peoples that inhabited the Southeastern United States that shared common cultural traits...
of
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
tribes and with a common language that lived along the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
, and lived from the present-day
Greater HoustonHouston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas...
area to coastal
LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Very little is known about them.
Their territory ranged from
Atchafalaya RiverThe Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi and Red rivers, approximately 170 miles long, in south central Louisiana in the United States. It is navigable and provides a significant industrial shipping channel for the state of Louisiana, as well as the cultural heart of the Cajun...
in
LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
to
Trinity RiverThe Trinity River is a 710-mile long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River.Robert Cavelier de La Salle...
and
Galveston BayGalveston Bay is a large estuary located along the upper coast of Texas, United States. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropic marshes and prairies on the mainland...
in
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
.
The
Atakapa (pronounced "ah-TAHK-ah-pah", also spelled
Attakapa,
Attakapas,
Attacapa, formally known as the
Ishaks, pronounced "ee-SHAKS", translated as
The People) were a
Southeastern cultureSoutheastern tribes or Southeastern cultures are an ethnographic classification for Native American peoples that inhabited the Southeastern United States that shared common cultural traits...
of
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
tribes and with a common language that lived along the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
, and lived from the present-day
Greater HoustonHouston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas...
area to coastal
LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Very little is known about them.
Their territory ranged from
Atchafalaya RiverThe Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi and Red rivers, approximately 170 miles long, in south central Louisiana in the United States. It is navigable and provides a significant industrial shipping channel for the state of Louisiana, as well as the cultural heart of the Cajun...
in
LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
to
Trinity RiverThe Trinity River is a 710-mile long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River.Robert Cavelier de La Salle...
and
Galveston BayGalveston Bay is a large estuary located along the upper coast of Texas, United States. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropic marshes and prairies on the mainland...
in
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. They hunted small game, and ate fish, roots, berries, and shellfish and also planted crops. Though the tribe's population at various times was speculated in tens of thousands, historians agree those numbers had dwindled to mere hundreds when Louisiana was undergoing colonization in the 1700s and different bands migrated westward.
Subdivisions or tribes
- Western Atakapa
- Akokisa
The Akokisa were the indigenous tribe that lived on Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity and San Jacinto rivers in Texas. They are regarded as a band of the Atakapa Indians, closely related to the Atakapa of Lake Charles, Louisiana.-History:...
. Trinity BayTrinity Bay is the northeast portion of Galveston Bay, bordered by Chambers and Harris counties. The bay, approximately long, heads at the mouth of the Trinity River. Trinity Bay fronts on the vast network of Chambers County marshes and prairie land. The Trinity Basin contributes 54% of the total...
and the lower course of Trinity RiverThe Trinity River is a 710-mile long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River.Robert Cavelier de La Salle...
- Bidai. Trinity River
The Trinity River is a 710-mile long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River.Robert Cavelier de La Salle...
about Bidai Creek.
- Deadose. South central Texas.
- Patiri. Along Caney Creek, Texas.
- Tlacopsel. southeast Texas
- Eastern Atakapa
- Atakapa (Attakapas). Present-day Acadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that comprise Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate region....
parishes of St. Martin, Lafayette, Iberia, St. Landry, Vermilion, St. Mary and Acadia in LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
History
The
ChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group...
Indians told the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
settlers about the "people of the West" , who represented numerous subdivisions or tribes and called them
Atakapa. The French referred to them as
"le savage". The name
Atakapa is a Choctaw name meaning 'people eater' (
hattak 'person',
apa 'to eat'), which is a reference to the practice of cannibalism exercised by Gulf coast peoples on their enemies.
French historian
Antoine-Simon Le Page du PratzAntoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz was an ethnographer, historian, and naturalist who is best known for his Histoire de la Louisiane, which was published in three volumes in Paris in 1758 and later translated into English...
, who spent 16 years in
LouisianaThe State of 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 divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, from 1718 to 1734, wrote:
- Along the west coast, not far from the sea, inhabit the nation called Atacapas (sic), that is, Man-Eaters, being so called by the other nations on account of their detestable custom of eating their enemies, or such as they believe to be their enemies. In the vast country there are no other cannibals to be met with besides the Atacapas; and since the French have gone among them, they have raised in them so great an horror of that abominable practice of devouring creatures of their own species, that they have promised to leave it off: and, accordingly, for a long time past we have heard of no such barbarity among them.
Another French explorer, Simars de Bellisle, descriped Atakapa cannibalistic feasts that he observed firsthand. The practice of cannibalism may have been religious in nature.
Louis LeClerc Milfort, a Frenchman, who spent 20 years living with and traveling among the Muscogee Creeks, came upon the Atakapas during his travels. He wrote:
- The forest we were then in was thick enough so that none of my men could be seen. I formed them into three detachments, and arranged them in such a way as to surround these savages, and to leave them no way of retreat except by the pond. I then made them all move forward, and I sent ahead a subordinate chief to ascertain what nation these savages belonged to, and what would be their intentions toward us. We were soon assured that they were Atakapas, who, as soon as they saw us, far from seeking to defend themselves, made us signs of peace and friendship. There were one hundred and eighty of them of both sexes, busy, as we suspected, smoke-drying meat. As soon as my three detachments had emerged from the forest, I saw one of these savages coming straight toward me: at first sight, I recognized that he did not belong to the Atakapas nation; he addressed me politely and in an easy manner, unusual among these savages. He offered food and drink for my warriors which I accepted, while expressing to him my gratitude. Meat was served to my entire detachment; and during the time of about six hours that I remained with this man, I learned that he was a European; that he had been a Jesuit; and that having gone into Mexico, these people had chosen him as their chief. He spoke French rather well. He told me that his name was Joseph; but I did not learn from what part of Europe he came.
- He informed me that the name Atakapas, which means eaters of men, had been given to this nation by the Spaniards because every time they caught one of them, they would roast him alive, but that they did not eat them; that they acted in this way toward this nation to avenge their ancestors for the torture that they made them endure when they had come to take possession of Mexico; that if some Englishmen or Frenchmen happened to be lost in this bay region, the Atakapas welcomed them with kindness, would give them hospitality; and if they did not wish to remain with them they had them taken to the Akancas, from where they could easily go to New Orleans.
- He told me: "You see here about one-half of the Atakapas Nation; the other half is farther on. We are in the habit of dividing ourselves into two or three groups in order to follow the buffalo, which in the spring go back into the west, and in autumn come down into these parts; there are herds of these buffalo, which go sometimes as far as the Missouri; we kill them with arrows; our young hunters are very skilful at this hunting. You understand, moreover, that these animals are in very great numbers, and as tame as if they were raised on a farm; consequently, we are very careful never to frighten them. When they stay on a prairie or in a forest, we camp near them in order to accustom them to seeing us, and we follow all their wanderings so that they cannot get away from us. We use their meat for food and their skins for clothing. I have been living with these people for about eleven years; I am happy and satisfied here, and have not the least desire to return to Europe. I have six children whom I love a great deal, and with whom I want to end my days."
- When my warriors were rested and refreshed, I took leave of Joseph and of the Atakapas, while assuring them of my desire to be able to make some returns for their friendly welcome, and I resumed my Journey.
In 1528, one Western Atakapa tribe or subdivision saved the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
explorer Cabeza de Vaca and his mates from ship-wreck and starvation. De Vaca remained with them until 1535. Cabeza de Vaca described Ishaks as "well built".
In 1703, Bienville sent three Frenchmen up the
Sabine RiverThe Sabine River is a river, 555 miles long, in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. In its lower course, it forms part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. The river formed part of the United States-Mexican international...
who met one Western Atakapa tribe or subdivision and in 1714 this tribe is one of 14 that come to De l'Epinay, who was acting French Governor of Louisiana between 1717 and 1718, while he is fortifying
Dauphin Island, AlabamaDauphin Island is a town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States, located on a barrier island also named Dauphin Island. The population was 1,371 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Mobile metropolitan statistical area...
.
In 1760, the French Gabriel Fuselier de la Claire, coming to the Attakapas Territory, bought all the land between
Vermilion RiverThe Vermilion River is a river, 72 mi long, in southern Louisiana in the United States. It is formed on the common boundary of Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes by a confluence of small bayous flowing from St. Landry Parish, and flows generally southward through Lafayette and Vermilion Parishes,...
and
Bayou TecheThe Bayou Teche is a 125-mile long waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana. Bayou Teche was the Mississippi River's main course when it developed a delta about 2,800 to 4,500 years ago...
from the Eastern Atakapa Chief Kinemo. It was shortly after that a rival Indian Tribe, the
AppalousaThe Appalousa were Native Americans who had occupied the area around Opelousas, Louisiana before European contact.The name Opelousas has been thought to have many meanings, but the one most commonly accepted is "Blackleg", possibly because the tribe painted or stained their legs a dark color...
(Opelousas) coming from the area between Atchalafaya River and
Sabine RiverSabine River may refer to:*Sabine River , USA*Sabine River, New Zealand...
exterminated the Eastern Atakapa who occupied the area between Atchalafaya River and Bayou Nezpique (Attakapas Territory).
William Byrd Powell (1799-1867), a medical doctor and physiologist regarded the Atakapas as cannibals and noted that they traditionally flattened their skulls frontally and not occipitally – the opposite practice of neighboring tribes, such as the Natchez Nation.
Today
It is believed that most Western Atakapa tribes or subdivisions were decimated in the 1850s mainly from disease and poverty. However, many descendants still exist and fight for a recognition of their identity. Numerous descendants today share a mixed lineage of African-American and Atakapas-Ishak Indian, making it difficult to get federal recognition.
Many names of present day towns can be traced back to the Ishaks. The town of Mermentau is a corrupted form of the local chief
Nementou. The word
Plaquemine of Bayou Plaquemine Brûlée means "
persimmonA persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family...
" in the Indian language.
Bayou NezpiquéBayou Nezpique is a small river located in the Mermentau River basin of south Louisiana, USA. The bayou is long and is navigable by small shallow-draft boats for of lower course....
was named for an Indian with a tattooed nose.
Bayou Queue de TortueBayou Queue de Tortue Bayou Queue de Tortue Bayou Queue de Tortue (pronounced "KYOOD tor-TYOO", translated to "turtle-tail bayou", is a waterway in the Mermentau River basin of south Louisiana. The bayou is 40 mi/64 km long and is partly navigable...
was believed to have been named for Chief Celestine La Tortue of the Atakapas nation. The name "Calcasieu" comes from the Atakapa language
katkosh, for "Eagle", and
yok, "to cry".
On October 28, 2006, the Atakapa-Ishak nation met for the first time in over 100 years as "One nation". There were 450 people who represented Louisiana and Texas. The mistress of ceremony and newly appointed Director of Publications and Communications, Rachel Mouton started out by introducing Billy LaChapelle who opened the afternoon with an Atakapa prayer in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
and in the Atakapa language.
A descendant of Nezat Alexandre or "Alexandre of Attakapas" (1781-1824),
Jack Claude NezatJack Claude Nezat is an American author. His works have been written in English, German and French.- Biography :* born April 23, 1943 in Châteauroux, Province Berry, France;...
recently published the book of Atakapa genealogy,
The Nezat And Allied Families 1630-2007.