Natchitoches people

Natchitoches
Náshit'ush
Total population
	merged into Caddo Nation
Regions with significant populations
	United States (formerly Louisiana; and Texas, today Oklahoma)
Languages
	Natchitoches language, Caddo language, English
Related ethnic groups
	other members of the Caddo Confederacy

The Natchitoches (/ˈnækətɪʃ/ NAK-ə-tish; Caddo: Náshit'ush)^[1] are a Native American tribe from Louisiana and Texas. They organized themselves in one of the three Caddo-speaking confederacies along with the Hasinai (between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas), and Kadohadacho (at the borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana).

History

Natchitoches territory was along the Red River of the South in northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana, they were important allies of the French in the 17th and 18th centuries, played a major role in the subjugation of the Natchez in the Natchez uprising and the so-called Natchez wars.

In the early 17th century, the Natchitoches were joined by some of the remnants of the Kadohadacho, a tribe with many members who had been killed or enslaved by the Chickasaw. They settled on the Cane River around present day Natchitoches, Louisiana, which is a city named after the tribe.

Name

Many historians have claimed that the name Natchitoches is derived from the native word nashitosh meaning "paw paw people". However, Native American linguist John R. Swanton wrote that the word may actually be derived from nacicit meaning "Place where the soil is red".^[2]^[3]

Member tribes

Member tribes of the historic Natchitoches Confederation:

Doustioni or Dotchetonne^[a] were a band who likely lived near the Gulf of Mexico. The French edition led by Sieur de la Salle in 1682 recorded them as allies of the Kadohadacho. J. R. Swanton identified them as a Caddo tribe from the area around Bayou Dauchite in northwestern Louisiana, both are not proven.^[4] At the invitation of their French allies, they settled near the related Lower Natchitoches on the Red River. Severely decimated by disease and war, they lost their independent identity and were absorbed by the other Caddo tribes. No further record of the tribe survives.
(Lower) Natchitoches (Caddo: Náshit'ush or Nashitosh) (lived in the vicinity of the French trading post Natchitoches in Northeast Louisiana; the Upper Natchitoches were part of the Kadohadacho Confederacy to the north)
Ouachita or Washita (Caddo: Wishita – "good hunting grounds",^[b] (lived along the Ouachita River named after them and along the Black River (the name for the lower reaches of the Quachita River after the confluence of the Taensa River) in northeastern Louisiana, about 1690 they settled near Pargoud Landing near today's Monroe, Louisiana, joined the Natchitoches Confederation around 1720 due to losses from disease and wars)
Yatasi or Lower Yatasi (Caddo: Yáttasih – "Those other people",^[c] lived in the area south of modern Shreveport in Northwest Louisiana, the French were welcomed by the Yatasi as allies in the fight against the then hostile Kadohadacho. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Chickasaw killed a large number of Yatasi, so that the majority joined the Natchitoches Confederation, but a small splinter group - the Upper Yatasi - joined the Kadohadacho Confederation, were important intermediaries first with the French, later with the Spanish, even after the takeover of Louisiana by the Americans they kept the fur trade.)

Today

Descendants of the Natchitoches along with other members of the Caddo Confederacy tribes are enrolled in the federally recognized Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.^[5]

In 2017, the State of Louisiana state-recognized The Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana, whose members identify as being descendants of the Natchitoches.^[6]

Notes

^ Other variants: Souchitioni or Dulcinoe.
^ Other variants: Yesito.
^ Other variants: Yataché, Natasse, Yatache or Yattasses, possible villages or subtribes: Nada and Choye.

References

^ Edmonds 2003, p. 28.
^ William A. Read (12 October 2008). Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin: A Collection of Words. University of Alabama Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8173-5505-0.
^ John Reed Swanton (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-8063-1730-4.
^ Dotchetonne Indians Handbook of Texas entry, retrieved March 30, 2007.
^ "Caddos". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
^ "The Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana Gains State Recognition". Natchitoches Parish Journal. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.

Sources

Edmonds, Randlett (2003). Nusht'uhtiʔtiʔ Hasinay: Caddo Phrasebook. Richardson, TX: Various Indian Peoples Publishing. ISBN 1-884655-00-9.
Lauber, Almon Wheeler (1969) [1913]. Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. New York: AMS Press [Columbia University Press]. p. 30.

External links

[4] Other variants: Souchitioni or Dulcinoe.

[6] Other variants: Yesito.

[7] Other variants: Yataché, Natasse, Yatache or Yattasses, possible villages or subtribes: Nada and Choye.

[FOOTNOTEEdmonds200328-1] Edmonds 2003, p. 28.

[Read2008-2] William A. Read (12 October 2008). Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin: A Collection of Words. University of Alabama Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8173-5505-0.

[Swanton1952-3] John Reed Swanton (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-8063-1730-4.

[5] Dotchetonne Indians Handbook of Texas entry, retrieved March 30, 2007.

[8] "Caddos". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska. Retrieved 29 May 2023.

[9] "The Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana Gains State Recognition". Natchitoches Parish Journal. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.

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v t e Caddo Confederacy
Hasinai	Hainai Nabedache Nabiti Nacogdoche Nacono Nadaco Nasoni (Lower) Nechaui Neche
Kadohadacho	Kadohadacho Nanatsoho Nasoni (Upper) Natchitoches (Upper)
Natchitoches	Doustioni Natchitoches (Lower)
Other groups	Adai Cahinnio Eyeish Ouachita Tula Yatasi
Related topics Caddo language Caddoan Mississippian culture Caddoan village bundle Dush-toh Spiro Mounds Turkey dance

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era