This is a more in-depth look at the First Peoples of Texas. Why” because there were people here long before the Spanish and any other Europeans set foot on the land, First, allow me to try and clear up some terminology especially one word and that word is “Indians”.  The people Columbus encountered when he first reached the shores of the continent where misnamed, because Columbus thought he had reached India and as we know, he was wrong.  That’s all I’m going to say about the subject.

The inhabitants themselves did not refer to themselves in any specific way, other than often using the term “the people”, they did refer to other tribes with names. For example, the early Spanish encountered a group of nomadic buffalo hunters, they called Querechos.  That group was later named Apache, which came from the Zuni word for enemy “apachu” which is what they were called by the Navajo.  While some tribes were “farmers” the Apaches were hunter-gatherers and didn’t do a lot of agriculture. 

When we speak of the tribes, it is important that we remember that those tribes that were hunter-gatherers had a certain lifestyle dictated by necessity as did those who were farmers.  There is no one broad brush we can paint all tribes with; however, there are certain characteristics that many tribes have in common with one another.

One area that was of particular importance to all tribes was in the area of religion or spirituality. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century, the tribes that lived in the area that is now Texas maintained a variety of religious practices.  The majority of them embraced the idea of some type of supreme being and they all had creation stories.  They were usually not monotheistic; many held a belief in a variety of powers often organized in a form of hierarchy. For agricultural tribes, there were various ceremonies that accompanied the planting and harvesting of crops. Hunter-gatherers often sought the help of spirits before searching for game which served as food for the tribe.

Most tribes saw the universe in three levels.  The upper level was one of predictability, lower level of chaos, and the level where humans lived which was a mixture of both of the other levels.  The world was divided into 6 regions, north, south, east, west, up, and down and the year had a cold period and a hot period.

All believe there is a spirit in everything, including animals such as buffalo, wolves, bears, etc.

Spiritual leader shaman,AKA medicine man while all shamans were medicine men, not all medicine men were shamans.

Shamans in addition to using plants and instructions from spiritual helpers, they also went into trances to visit land of the dead, where they gathered information on the sickness.

What were some of the Hunter-Gatherer Tribes and where did they live?

Comanches – North Central / Northwest Texas

Kiowas – Panhandle – shared territory with Comanche

Held a summer Sun Dance – to insure regeneration of the Buffalo

Tonkawas - Gulf Coast (Houston area)

Venerated the Great Wolf

Karankawas – Gulf Coast (shared territory with Tonkawas – inner gulf coast)

Apache – (Lipan) South and Southwest Texas – (Mescalero) West Texas – El Paso

Coahuiltecans (KOE-ha-HWEE-ta-kanz) Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico

Farmers

Farming groups tended to revere the earth, corn, rain, sun, and developed their beliefs based on fertility, and crop cycles.

Spiritual leader priest –

The medicine man or woman, acted like Shamans even going into trances for healing help. 

Priests, who most often were men, were religious specialists, had a long period of training valued not for healing abilities but because they knew the rituals and ceremonies to ensure bountiful harvests and healthy people.

They also had witches who were evil.  Could change their appearance, become animals, or even sparks of a fire. They stole people’s lives and souls.