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Avoyel

  

 

Ethnie: AVOYEL
Language: Natchez
Family: Natchez
Stock: Gulf Muskhogean
Phylum: Muskhogean
Macro-Culture: Eastern Woodlands
Speakers Extinct
      The Avoyel were a small sedentary hunter/farmer tribe situated along the Lower Red River of Louisiana.  They were closely related to the much larger Natchez, a mound culture.  They were allied with the French against the Spanish and British.  Ultimately the few survivors were apparently absorbed by other cultures, primarily the Tunica.
Aboriginal Locations (# of Villages)
LA   (1)
Present Locations
Extinct
Year History
1699 Tribe described to Iberville, called "Tassenocogoula
1700 Iberville visited tribe, called them "Little Taensas"
1714 Encountered by LaHarpe and St. Denis
1719 Du Prayz reported tribe acted as middlemen for horses and cattle plundered by western tribes from Spaniards
1764 Took part in attack on British regiment ascending Mississippi along with Ofo, Tunica, and Choctaw
1767 Village still near the rapids of the Red River
1805 Only two or three female survivors of tribe 
1932 Last individual known to have Avoyel ancestry passed away among Tunica
Year Total LA Population Source
1698 280 LaHarpe estimate
1700 300 NAHDB calculation
1800 0 NAHDB calculation
1805 5 Sibley estimate
1900 0 NAHDB calculation 
2000 0 NAHDB calculation 
Other speakers of the same language:
Natchez, Taensa
Avoyel Sites:
Avoyel Indian Tribe  http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/avoyelindianhist.htm
Avoyelles Parish  http://www.answers.com/topic/avoyelles-parish-louisiana
Avoyelles Parish History  http://www.mindspring.com/~jwbarron/history.htm
Kisatchie National Forest History Heritage  http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/kisatchie/kisatchie_national_forest/heritage_program/archeological%20history.html
Louisianan Native Nations  http://www.eatel.net/~wahya/tribes.html

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