Wichita (tribe)

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Tribal flag

Wichita camp, 1904

The Wichita are a tribe of Native Americans, indigenous inhabitants of North America, who speak Wichita, a Caddoan language. The tribe was most populous in the southern regions of the United States.

The Wichita formed a loose confederation on the Southern Plains, including such tribes as Panis Piques, Taovayas, Guichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wacos, and they lived in fixed villages notable for domed-shaped and grass-covered dwellings. The Wichita were successful hunters and farmers, skillful traders and negotiators. They ranged as far south as San Antonio, Texas to as far north as Great Bend, Kansas. A semi-sedentary people, they occupied northern Texas in the early 1700's and were involved in trade with other Southern Plains Indians on both sides of the Red River and as far south as Waco. The Wichita lived in huts made of forked cedar poles cover by dry grasses, but would abandon them in the winter to go hunt American Bison.

The Wichita were known to tattoo their faces and bodies with solid and dotted lines and circles. They called themselves "raccoon-eyed people" (Wichita Kitikiti'sh) because of the tattooed marks around their eyes. They wore clothes made of tanned hides, the women often decorating their dresses in elk teeth.

[edit] First European contact

The Wichita's population at the time of first contact with the Europeans was estimated to be 200,000. Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado encountered several villages in 1541, where the tribe was very populous. The area is now modern-day Kansas. Coronado said:

"There are not more than twenty-five towns, with mud houses, in it, nor any more in all the rest of the country that I have seen and learned about . . . All they have is the tanned skins of the cattle they kill, for the herds are near where they live, at quite a large river. They eat meat raw like the Querechos [the Apache] and Teyas. They are enemies of one another...These people of Quivira [later known as the Wichita] have the advantage over the others in their houses and in growing of maize".^{[citation needed]}

By 1719 the Wichita had largely migrated southward to Oklahoma. During the Civil War they moved back to Louisiana and established a village at the site of present-day Wichita, Kansas. Their numbers dwindled rapidly upon contact with people of European descent. In 1890, it was estimated that there were about 3,200 total Wichita. By 1868, the population is recorded as being 572 total Wichita. By the time of the census of 1937, there were only 100 Wichita officially left.

[edit] U.S. Recognition

The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs officially recognizes the tribe, and circa 2003 the officially recognized name is, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma. Tribe offices are located in Anadarko, Oklahoma. The Affiliated tribes include the Caddo and Delaware Indians. The Wichita tribal lands are centered today around Gracemont, Oklahoma.