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Okelousa

  

 

Ethnie: OKELOUSA
Language Group: Choctaw
Family: Choctaw
Stock: Western Muskhogean
Phylum: Muskhogean
Macro-Culture: Eastern Woodlands
Speakers 24,640   1998 in total language
      The Okelouse were a bellicose sedentary hunter/farmer nation.  Their location when met by De Soto was apparently on the west side of the Mississippi River above Point Coupee.  The cause of their population loss is unclear, but the survivors ultimately united with the Washa and Chawasha with the entire confederacy finally joining the Houma sometime in the 1800's.
Aboriginal Locations (# of Villages)
LA [?] 90+ villages (Some or all of the villages may have been in Mississippi)
Present Locations
Descendents among the Houma in Louisiana
Year History
1541 Described by De Soto as having "... more than 90 villages not subject to anyone, with a savage population, very warlike and much dreaded."
1682 Nicolas de la Salle wrote that the Okelousa along with the Houma destroyed another tribe
1831 LaHarpe reported the Okelousa to be wandering about the seacoast with the Chawasha and the Washa
18XX Finally absorbed into the Houma
Year Total LA Population Source
1541 10,000 De Soto described tribe as having more than 90 villages, NAHDB estimate of 110 per village
1650 200 Swanton estimated 700 population for Okelusa, Chawasha, and Washa
1700 200 NAHDB calculation
1800 100 NAHDB calculation
2000 - NAHDB calculation 
Other speakers of the same language:
Acolapissa, Bayougoula, Chakchiuma, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Houma, Mobile, Napochi, Pascagoula, Pensacola, Tohome
Okelousa Sites:
At different times there were about 40 Indian tribes in Louisiana ...  http://www.charentonheritage.com/laIndianhistory.html
Choctaw Language  http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Virtual_Books/Keeping_It/creole_book_keep_choc.html
Choctaw Language  http://www.angelfire.com/al2/gasaguali/CHOCTAW.HTM
Choctaw Language  http://www.turtle-tracks.org/issue84/i84_10.html
Choctaw Language  http://www.native-languages.org/choctaw.htm
Choctaw Language  http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=CCT
Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana  http://www.frenchcreoles.com/LouisianaPeople/louisianaindians/louisianaindians.htm
Louisiana Indian Tribes  http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/louisiana/
Louisiana Tribes Index  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~prsjr/na/se/la_pg1.htm

Last updated 04/25/05  Copyright © 2005 by Four Directions Press