The Native Americans of Texas

Karankawa

The Karankawa Indians lived in the southern Coastal Plains region of Texas. They lived along coast near the Gulf of Mexico.

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Karankawa

The Karankawa migrated to find food and moved very often, usually every few weeks.

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They traveled on the water using dugout canoes made from dug-out tree trunks.

Karankawa

• Their homes were tent-like structures that were made of a willow-pole frame and covered with animal skins. They called these homes a wigwam.

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Wigwam

Karankawa

• Food was found from hunting, fishing, and gathering. They ate fish, shellfish, turtles, and other plants and animals.
• Spearfishing was one method of getting food. They used sharpened sticks to catch the fish.
• Other methods of fishing include hand gathering, nets, and the type of fishing we think of, called angling.

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One type of spearfishing

Karankawa

• European settlers who were new to Texas slowly moved into the Karankawa land.
• Disease and more new settlers moving into their land quickly changed the lives of the Karankawa.
• By the 1840s, only a few scattered tribes remained.

Karankawa

• The Karankawa had many different “bands” of people, but were all led by one chief.
• The Karankawa are now considered an extinct tribe of Texas.
• A Spanish explorer named Cabeza de Vaca lived with the Karankawas for many years.

Karankawa

• Did you know that only 100 words of the Karankawa language have been preserved from this extinct tribe?
• The dugout canoes were large enough to carry an entire family and their things, including their wigwam.
• They were very good fighters
• The Karankawa heavily pierced and tattooed their bodies.