Karankawa people

The Karankawa's autonym is Né-ume, meaning "the people". The name Karakawa has numerous spellings in Spanish, French, and English. 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." == Origins ==

According to some contemporary sources, the migrations of their ancestors were entirely unknown to the Karankawa of the early 19th century. 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. == 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. The first person to document the Karankawa's cannibalism was French Jean Baptiste Talon, who lived as a captive among the tribe for several years, and stated in 1689: "We all went naked like them, and every morning at daybreak, in any season, they went to plunge into the nearest river. Like them, they ate meat from the hunt, fresh or cured in the sun, but most often half raw. The only meals that horrid them were those they made of human flesh, as they are cannibals, but toward their savage enemies only. They never ate a single Frenchman that they had killed because, they said, [simply that] they do not eat them. And the same Jean-Baptiste Talon vouches that he once went three days without eating, because nothing presented itself during that time except some human flesh of the Ayenis whom they had killed on one of the expeditions." == Culture and Language ==

Language and communication Little is known of the extinct Karankawa language, which may have been a language isolate. The Karankawa also possessed a gesture language for conversing with people from other Native American tribes. Arts, athletics, and recreation The Karankawa possessed at least three musical instruments: a large gourd filled with stones, which was shaken to produce sound, a fluted piece of wood, which the Karankawa drew a stick over to produce sound, and a flute, which was softly blown. The woman in some tribes such as the Coco group also had a tattoo of concentric black circles from their nipple to circling their entire breast. Men, women, and children alike rubbed sharks' oil on their entire bodies regularly to deter mosquitoes effectively and to keep their skin soft and supple. Europeans who encountered the Karankawa were disgusted by the odor. Cannibalism According to some sources, the Karankawa practiced ritual cannibalism, in common with other Gulf coastal tribes of present-day Texas and Louisiana. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador who lived among the Karankawa for several years in the 1530s and wrote a memoir, made no mention of cannibalism except for ritualistic consumption of deceased relatives in the form of funeral ashes "presented in water for the relatives to drink." Upon his return to Spain, Cabeza De Vaca noted in his written report to the King, "that five Christians quartered on the coast [Galveston, the Island of Doom] came to the extremity of eating each other. Only the body of the last one, whom nobody was left to eat, was found unconsumed. Their names were Sierra, Diego Lopez, Corral, Palacios, and Gonzalo Ruiz,"this, after shipwrecking off Galveston Bay. The Karankawa people "were so shocked at this [Spanish] cannibalism that, if they had seen it sometime earlier, they surely would have killed every one of us." Whites never actually witnessed an act of cannibalism, and second- and third-hand accounts are of disputed credibility. Dogs The Karankawa kept dogs that accompanied them on hunts, swims, and recreational activities. The dogs were voiceless, with straight ears and fox-like snouts. == History ==

Early encounters with the Spanish and French (16th - 17th centuries) on the west end of Galveston Island In 1528, one of two barges put together by survivors of the failed Pánfilo de Narváez expedition to Florida struck aground at Galveston Island. Survivors, including Cabeza de Vaca, were cared for by the Capoque band of Karankawa. From 1527, Cabeza de Vaca subsisted for seven years among the coastal tribes, making a living as a medical practitioner and occasional trader. De Vaca reported that extensive trade occurred with inland groups as far as the extent of the entire length of the present-day United States. After the introduction of the horse by Spaniards, these trade networks strengthened. In 1806, the Rosario mission was merged with that of Refugio. In 1830, Refugio and La Bahía del Espiritu Santo were secularized. == Contemporary heritage group ==

As of 2021, a group of individuals who claim descent from the Karankawa people formed the Karankawa Kadla. They have volunteered to help preserve Corpus Christi Bay archaeological sites from oil development, develop education programs, and are interested in reviving the Karankawa language. Members of this group have family stories connecting them to the Karankawa people, amid forced assimilation among both Mexicans and White Texans and separation from other Karankawa. This organization is an unrecognized organization. They are neither a federally recognized tribe nor a state-recognized tribe. == Tribes ==

Tribes within the Karankawa include: • the Copano people • the Cujane • the Coco ==Notes==