FOUR DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE

 

Atakapa

  

 

Ethnie: ATAKAPA (ISHAK, AKOKISAS)
Language: Atakapa
Family Gulf
Stock: Gulf
Phylum: Tunican
Macro-Culture: Texas
Speakers Langauge extinct
      The Atakapa were located along the Texas/Louisiana gulf coast.  They were said to be cannibalistic toward their enemies, though this is disputed.  Sufsereing from disease and conflicts, the tribe was finally assimilated into other cultures particularly the Tunica.
Aboriginal Locations (Subdivisions, #of villages)
LA   (Eastern,2)
TX   (Western, 3)
Present Locations
Extinct as a culture though some descendants in other cultures
Year History
1528 Tribe saved shipwrecked Cabeza de Vaca and Spanish mates from starvation
1703 Met by three Frenchmen on Sabine River sent by Bienville
1714 Visited Dauphin Island while it was being fortified by de l'Epinay
1731 Tribe aided St. Denis in fighting Natchez
1735 Atakapa warriors posed for artist de Badtz in New Orleans
1760 Began raising cattle
1779 Furnished 180 warriors to Galvez (Spanish governor) to battle British forts on Mississippi
Year Total Population LA TX Source
1650 2,000 1,500 500 Mooney est.
1700 2,000 1,500 500 NAHDB calculation
1747 900 Spanish report
1800 150 150 NAHDB calculation
1805 150 Swanton estimate
1900 0 NAHDB calculation 
1908 9 Swanton
2000 0 NAHDB calculation
Other speakers of the same language:
None
Atakapa Sites:
Atakapa Authors  http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/t130
Atakapa Indians  http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/AA/bma48.html
Atakapa-Ishak  http://www.beau.org/~velmer/atakapa/
Atakapa Ishak Indians of Southwest Louisiana  http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=page&mode=display&gid=00012000001057159068977842
Atakapa Ishak Indian of S. W. Louisiana  http://www.beau.org/~velmer/local/drivingtour.html
Atakapa Langauge  http://www.native-languages.org/atakapa.htm
Atakapa Language  http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ALE
Atakapan Indian Groups  http://www.texasindians.com/atakap.htm

Last updated 09/21/07  Copyright © 2007 by Four Directions Press