The Karankawa ( kə-RANK-ə-wə)[3] were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys.[4] They consisted of several independent, seasonal nomadic groups who shared a language and some culture.
From the onset of European colonization, the Karankawa had violent encounters with the Spanish. After one attack by the Spanish, who ambushed the Karankawa after the establishment of Presidio La Bahía in 1722, the Karankawa allegedly felt "deeply betrayed [and] viewed Spanish colonial settlement with hostility."[5]
In the 1800s, European-American colonists arrived in their land under the leadership of Stephen Austin. He commissioned a captain to expel the Karankawa from the Austin land grant,[6][7] leading to multiple attacks, including the Skull Creek massacre of 19 Karankawa.[8]
In 1824, Stephen F. Austin sent Captain Randal Jones with a group of 23 Army soldiers to what is now Brazoria County to fight and disperse the Karankawa Indians from their encampment. Fifteen Indians were killed, and the remaining fled the area. This event is known as the Battle of Jones Creek.[9]
By the 1840s, the Karankawa, now exiled, split into two groups, one of which settled on Padre Island while the other fled into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. In 1858, Mexican rancher Juan Nepomuceno Cortina led a group of Mexicans and Texan colonists against what was believed to be the Karankawa's last known refuge, killing many.[7] By 1891, the Karankawa ceased to exist as a functioning tribe. Today, however, there are unrecognized tribes who claim Karankawa descent.[10]
Name
The Karankawa's autonym is Né-ume, meaning "the people".[1]
The name Karakawa has numerous spellings in Spanish, French, and English.[1][11]
Swiss-American ethnologist Albert S. Gatschet wrote that the name Karakawa may have come from the Comecrudo terms klam or glám, meaning "dog", and kawa, meaning "to love, like, to be fond of." The plural form of kawa is kakáwa, so the term would mean "dog-lovers" or "dog-raisers."[1]
The Tonkawa called them Wrestlers ("Keles" or "Killis").[1] They alternatively called them the barefooted or those without moccasins ("Yakokon kapa-i"), but this name was also applied to other groups with which the Tonkawe were acquainted. The Lipan Apache called the Karankawa the "people who walk in the water" ("Nda Kun dadehe"), possibly referring to their mode of fishing and catching turtles, or simply their location near the swampy coast. The Karankawa called themselves "Karankawa" as well.[1]
Later speculation placed the Karankawa language in the Cariban linguistic stock. Linguistic data suggests that the Karankawa name originated from the old Spanish Main, "Kalina," and a suffix from a Northern Carib tribe, "kxura, "meaning "people." A compound emerges: Karinxkxura, meaning "Carib people."[11] But this theory is disputed, and ultimately, the origins of the name "Karankawa" remain unknown.[12]
Alternate spellings of the name Karankawa have historically included: Carancahua, Carancagua, Carancaguase, Carancahuare, Caranchuasye, Carancahuase, Carancahuaye, Carancahuaze, Carancohuace, Caray, Carrai, Carray, Saray.[13]
Origins
According to some contemporary sources, the migrations of their ancestors were entirely unknown to the Karankawa of the early 19th century.[6][page needed] Linguist Herbert Landar, however, argues that based on linguistic evidence, the Karankawa language and people originated from a Carib subgroup, which remains to be discovered. Their exact migratory path northward is equally indistinct. Migration northward is theorised to have occurred during the late 15th century. The route north was from the original land north of the Amazon River toward Tamaulipas and Texas, and was probably done over a long period of time by short bursts of migration.[11] Scholars have speculated that the Karankawa were descended from a group of Carib Indians who arrived by sea from the Caribbean basin. This is partially based on the similarity of their physical appearance to Caribbean natives, but no ethnographic or archaeological evidence has been found for this speculation.[12]
Recent archaeological records that used radiocarbon dating for artefacts indicated that these Native groups had been in the area as early as the fifth millennium BCE.[14]
Lifestyle
Seasonal nomadic lifestyle
The Karankawa voyaged from place to place on a seasonal basis in their dugouts, made from large trees with the bark left intact. They travelled in groups of thirty to forty people and remained in each place for about four weeks. After European contact, canoes were of two kinds, both being called "awa'n": the original dugout and old skiffs obtained from the whites. Neither was used for fishing but for transportation only, and their travels were limited to the waters close to the land. The women, children, and possessions travelled in the hold while the men stood on the stern and poled the canoe. Upon landing at their next destination, the women set up wigwams (called ba'ak in their native language) and the men hauled the boats on the shore. Their campsites were always close to the shoreline of the nearby body of water.[6][page needed]
They constructed houses by arranging willow branches in a circle, bending the tops of the branches toward the centre, and interlocking them in wickerwork. This wickerwork was fastened with deerskin. Upon this framework, the Karankawa lay deer, wildcat, panther or bear skins, again fastened with deer hide thongs.[6][page needed]
The next step was to make a fire. After European contact, the Karankawa sought matches or tinderboxes from settlers; otherwise, they resorted to the traditional method of using their firesticks, which they always carried in a package of deerhide thongs. The fire was always made in the centre of their dwellings and kept burning day and night. They used animal hides and pelts to sit and sleep on within their dwellings. Their household goods and utensils included wooden spoons, ceramic vessels, fishbone needles, and fine deer sinew.[6][page needed]
Environment
The Karankawa travelled to the coastal region. They hunted and gathered food from rivers and by the shore.[15]
In the region that the Karankawa inhabited, numerous small chunks of asphaltum have been found along the coast from oil seepage beneath the Gulf of Mexico. These chunks were used to bind arrowheads to their shafts; as a coating for pottery such as ollas, jars, and bowls; and as a way to waterproof woven baskets.[16]
Cuisine
Karankawa cuisine included venison, rabbit, fowl, fish, turtles, oysters, and other shellfish. Their cuisine also included food gathered from the wild, such as berries, persimmons, wild grapes, sea-bird eggs, tuna and nopales (prickly pear cactus fruit and paddles, respectively), and nuts.[6][page needed] They boiled food in ceramic pots or roasted entrés and seasoned their dishes with chile.
After European contact, the Karankawa made bread from imported wheat flour. They laid the dough on a flat stone and then baked it on an open fire. They also enjoyed imported sweet coffee.[6][page needed]
The Karankawa were skilled at obtaining pure, fresh water. White settlers did not know where they obtained it, because the wells of the whites had a brackish taste.[6][page needed][11]
