Activity 2
Comanche Indians
Document B
Directions: You will underline or highlight the PEGS characteristics of the Krankawa Indians.
Political
Economic
Geographic
Social
The Comanche, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains,
played an important role in Texas frontier history. During the late seventeenth century
[1750-1800], the Comanche acquired horses. This acquisition greatly changed or
altered their culture. The Comanche evolved from a tribe who traveled, fought, and
hunted by foot to a tribe who migrated, battled,
and searched for food on horseback. Horses
allowed the tribe to become more mobile. They
were able to leave their homes in the mountains and
move onto the plains of Colorado and Kansas where
game [animals hunted for food] was plentiful. The
warm climate and abundance of buffalo were the
primary reasons the Comanche migrated south. A
www.legendsofamerica.com
large area of the Southern Plains [much of North,
Central, and West Texas] soon became Comanche country.
The Comanche remained a nomadic people throughout their free existence.
Buffalo provided food, clothing, and shelter. They relied heavily on the buffalo for
survival. Their diet was based mainly on meat, but they also ate wild roots, fruits, nuts,
or produce obtained by trade with neighboring tribes. The Comanche were skilled
traders who controlled most of the commerce [trade] of the Southern Plains. They
bartered [traded] buffalo products, horses, and captives for manufactured goods
and food. They lived in Plains-type tepees constructed of tanned buffalo hide and
lodge poles. Their clothing was made of bison or buffalo hide
or buckskin [skin for deer]. Buffalo robes provided protection
form cold weather.
The horse clearly defined the Comanche way of life. It
gave them the mobility needed to follow and hunt buffalo
herds. They were also able to conduct warfare while on
horseback. Horses also became a sign of wealth and were
traded for large amounts of money. In horsemanship, the
Comanche had no equal. Children learned to ride at an
early age, and both men and women developed
www.odessahistory.com/comanche.jpg
exceptional riding skills.
Comanche gained their positions as leaders through special abilities or skills.
Members of the tribe elected their leaders. They could lose their position in the tribe if
the tribe lost confidence in their ability to lead. Tribal decisions were made by a
council of chiefs presided over by the head civil chief. Individuals did not have to
accept council decisions. Comanche society permitted great individual freedom.
This fierce independence was contrary to European beliefs. The European need to
dominate greatly complicated relations with Native Americans.
Native Texas -3
Karankawa Indians
Document C
Directions: You will underline or highlight the PEGS characteristics of the Krankawa Indians.
Political
Economic
Geographic
Social
The Karankawa Indians played an important role in the early history of
Texas. The Karankawa inhabited areas of the Gulf Coast that stretched from
Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. They were poorly equipped, nomadic
people who migrated according to the
seasons between the islands and the
mainland. They obtained food by a
combination of hunting, fishing, and
gathering. Fish, shellfish, and turtles were
the basis of the Karankawa diet. They also
ate a wide variety of animals and plants.
The Karankawa were always on the
move and rarely remained at a single
campsite for more than a few weeks. Their
primary means of transportation was a
http://www.calhouncountymuseum.org/images/kipic5.jpg
dugout canoe, a watercraft made by
hollowing out the trunk of a large tree. The
Karankawa traveled by foot and were often describes as powerful runners and
expert swimmers. They lived in wigwams, huts covered with animal skins, bark
and rush mats. Karankawa crafted baskets and pottery lined with asphaltum,
a natural tar substance found on the gulf coast beaches. The main weapon
of the tribe, for both hunting and warfare, was
the long bow and arrow. The men of the tribe
were tall and muscular. Men and women wore
deerskin, painted and tattooed their bodies,
and had various piercings. They traveled in
small bands of thirty to forty people headed by
a chief. Communication was maintained by a
well- developed system of smoke signals that
enabled the scattered group to come together
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/webcasts/goliad/imag
for social events, warfare, or other purposes.
es/42_indians_goliad.gif
Karankawa ceremonies centered on
gatherings called “mitotes”. The Karankawa also participated in competitive
games demonstrating weapons skills or physical strength. Wrestling was so
popular among Karankawa that neighboring tribes referred to them as “the
Wrestlers”.
Native Texas -4
Jumano Indians
Document D
Directions: You will underline or highlight the PEGS characteristics of the Jumano Indians.
Political
Economic
Geographic
Social
Between 1500 and 1700 the name Jumano was used to identify people of the
Southwest and South Plains. The Jumano were buffalo hunters and traders. They
played an active role as middlemen between the Spanish colonies and various
Indian tribes.
Men and women wore clothing and shoes,
probably moccasins, made from tanned skins.
Women had skirts or aprons and short sleeve tunics.
Both men and women used capes or cloaks for
protection against the weather. Men cut their hair
short, decorated it with paint, and left one long lock
to which the feathers of various birds might be tied.
Women wore their hair long or in braids. The Jumano
were characterized as a rayado (striped) people
because of a distinctive pattern of facial marking in
horizontal lines or bars.
Some Jumano groups lived in permanent ranch
style homes built of reeds or sticks while those in the
pueblos of New Mexico had masonry houses. Each
village had its own leader and system of government.
http://ojinaga.com/mx/history/Juman03.jpg
The Jumano hunted with bow and arrow. In war, they
used clubs of hardwood. Jumano traders supplied bows and arrows to the Indians of
central and eastern Texas. Jumano traded corn, dried squashes, beans, and other
produce from the farming villages for pelts (furs), meat, cactus fruits, and mesquite
beans. Other trade goods included textiles, turquoise, exotic, exotic feathers, mineral
pigments, shells, salt, and possibly hallucinogens. The Jumano obtained horses early
and may have been instrumental in introducing horses to the Caddo, Tonkawa, and
other Texas tribes.
On the western edge of the plains, bands
of Jumano hunter-gatherers established
good, long-standing trading relationships
with people of the farming villages in the
Rio Grande valley. These relationships were
initially disrupted when the eastern
Apaches began to extend and migrate
into the South Plains. When Apache the
population increased, the Jumano were
forced to retreat.
http://www.desertusa.com/ind1/ind_new/photos/ind16_
03 jpg
Native Texas -5
Caddo Indians
Document E
Directions: You will underline or highlight the PEGS characteristics of the Caddo Indians.
Political
Economic
Geographic
Social
The Caddo people lived on the Red River and in East Texas. Archeological
investigations of many Caddo sites show their culture began to settle down in small
communities, to manufacture
ceramics for cooking and storage,
and to develop a horticultural way of
life based on the raising of corn,
squash, and beans along with certain
native plants.
The Caddo had complex,
socially ranked societies that included
elaborate rituals and ceremonies.
They developed long-distance trade
networks with items of trade including
www.tpwd.state.tx.us
bison hides, salt, and bios d’arc bows.
They also traded finished products
such as pottery vessels and large ceremonial bifaces. The Caddo
are particularly well known for the beautiful artistic and functional
ceramic. Stone was used to make arrowheads, stone celts, and
axes that were used for removing trees and turning over the soil.
Deer was the most important source of meat to the Caddos They
hunted and killed bison and bear for their furs and meats.
The Caddo lived in communities of grass and cane covered
houses, isolated farmsteads, small villages, and the civicceremonial centers. The civic-ceremonial centers had earth
mounds used as platforms for temple structures during civic and
religious functions.
The Caddo traced their ancestry through the mothers. The
http://www.caddotc.com/M
Caddo recognized and ranked clans. Religious
and political authority in Caddo history rested in
a chain of command with inherited leadership. The xinesi
inherited a position of spiritual leadership. The caddi inherited the
position of principal headman of a community and the canahas
held the position of village elders. The caddi was primarily
responsible for making important political decisions for the
community. The caddi sponsored important ceremonies, led
councils for war expeditions, and conducted the calumet [peace
http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/
pipe] ceremony with visitors to the communities.
hiddenhistory/Images/0caddoturke
y.jpg
Native Texas -6