Native American Indian Tribes of Texas: Past and Present

Long before Texas had its name, its flag or its first cowboy, it was home to dozens of Native peoples. Their ways of life were as varied as the land itself: farmers in the East Texas pine woods, fishermen paddling dugout canoes along the Gulf Coast, buffalo hunters on the plains and traders in the deserts of the far west.

People have lived in what is now Texas for a very long time. At the Gault site northwest of Austin, archaeologists have found stone tools estimated to be 16,000 to 20,000 years old, among the oldest evidence of people anywhere in North America.

Here is an overview of the major Native peoples of Texas, region by region, and the tribal nations that carry on their history today.

A note on names: Many Native people prefer to be called by their specific nation, such as Caddo, Comanche or Tonkawa. "Native American," "American Indian" and "Indigenous" are all widely used as general terms. Homelands described below are approximate, and they shifted over time as peoples moved, traded and were pushed from their lands.

East Texas: The Caddo

The Caddo lived in the forests and river valleys of East Texas and neighboring Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. They were skilled farmers who grew corn, beans and squash and lived in permanent villages of tall, beehive-shaped houses made of grass and wood. Their communities were organized into three large confederacies: the Hasinai, the Kadohadacho and the Natchitoches.

The Caddo were also mound builders. Around A.D. 800, Caddo people settled a village near present-day Alto and built three earthen mounds there. Today it's preserved as Caddo Mounds State Historic Site.

Texas owes its name to the Caddo. Spanish explorers heard the Caddo word for "friends" or "allies," which they wrote as Tejas, and used it for the people and the region. Fittingly, the state motto is "Friendship."

In the 1850s, many Caddo were moved to the Brazos Reservation in present-day Young County. In 1859, facing threats of a massacre by armed settlers, they were forced to leave Texas for Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The Caddo Nation is headquartered in Caddo County, Oklahoma, today.

The Gulf Coast: The Karankawa and Atakapa

The Karankawa lived along the Gulf Coast from Galveston Bay southwest to Corpus Christi Bay. They moved with the seasons between the barrier islands and the mainland, fishing, hunting and gathering, and traveling the shallow bays in dugout canoes. Small bands of about 50 people came together in larger winter camps when food was plentiful.

The Karankawa were among the first Native Texans to meet Europeans. In 1528, Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked on an island near Galveston and lived among coastal peoples for years. His account is the earliest written description of Texas and its people.

Disease, violence and the steady loss of their land took a heavy toll. By the 1840s only small groups remained, and after an 1858 attack by a Texan force, the Karankawa were long considered extinct. Descendants never fully disappeared, though. In the 21st century, people of Karankawa heritage organized as the Karankawa Kadla to keep their culture alive.

To the northeast, the Atakapa peoples, including the Akokisa, lived along the upper Texas coast around Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity River, and into Louisiana.

South Texas: Coahuiltecan Peoples

"Coahuiltecan" is a name scholars use for hundreds of small, independent bands that lived across South Texas and northeastern Mexico. They were hunters and gatherers who knew how to live well in a dry country, making use of plants like prickly pear, mesquite beans and agave.

Many Coahuiltecan families entered the Spanish missions of San Antonio in the 1700s, where they helped build the churches and farms that are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Their descendants are still part of San Antonio and South Texas today.

Central Texas: The Tonkawa

The Tonkawa lived in Central Texas, between the Trinity and Colorado rivers by the early 1800s. They were highly mobile hunters who followed buffalo and deer.

The Tonkawa often sided with Texans. They fought alongside them in the war for independence and later served as scouts for the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Army. During the Civil War, rival tribes attacked the Tonkawa and killed nearly half of those who remained.

In 1884, the 92 surviving Tonkawa were removed to Indian Territory. The Tonkawa Tribe is based near Tonkawa, Oklahoma, today. In December 2023, the tribe bought back a piece of its homeland: about 60 acres including Sugarloaf Mountain, a sacred site in Milam County.

The Plains: Comanche, Kiowa and Wichita

The Comanche moved onto the southern plains in the early 1700s. Expert riders who built their lives around the horse and the buffalo, they came to control a vast territory known as the Comanchería, stretching across West and Central Texas and into neighboring states. For more than a century, the Comanche were one of the most powerful nations in North America, and they fought hard to defend their land against the Spanish, Mexicans and Texans.

The Kiowa became close allies of the Comanche in the late 1700s and shared the southern plains with them.

The Comanche and Kiowa, along with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, fought the U.S. Army in the Red River War of 1874–75. In September 1874, soldiers attacked their camps in Palo Duro Canyon, burned their villages and killed more than a thousand of their horses. Without horses and supplies, the people were forced onto reservations. Quanah Parker and the last free Comanche band surrendered at Fort Sill in June 1875.

The Comanche Nation (Lawton, Oklahoma) and Kiowa Tribe (Carnegie, Oklahoma) are thriving nations today.

The Wichita peoples, including the Waco and Tawakoni, farmed and lived in grass-house villages in north and central Texas. The city of Waco is built on the site of a Waco village on the Brazos River and is named for them. Their descendants belong to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, based in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

West Texas: The Apache and Jumano

Apache peoples ranged across West Texas and into New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. The Lipan Apache lived farthest east and had the most contact with Spanish and Anglo settlers in Texas, sometimes as enemies and sometimes as allies. The Mescalero Apache lived in the mountains of far West Texas and southern New Mexico. Many Lipan joined the Mescalero, whose reservation is in New Mexico today. The Texas Legislature officially recognized the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas in 2009.

The Jumano were bison hunters and long-distance traders based around La Junta de los Ríos, where the Rio Conchos meets the Rio Grande near present-day Presidio, and in the Pecos and Concho river valleys. They traded meat and hides for crops, carried goods between distant peoples and served as go-betweens with the Spanish. Disease, drought, slave raids and war took a heavy toll, and by about 1750 the Jumano had largely merged into other groups, including the Apache.

Newcomers from the East

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, other Native nations moved into East Texas. Many were pushed west as American settlers took their lands east of the Mississippi River. They included the Cherokee, Alabama, Coushatta, Choctaw, Kickapoo, Shawnee and Delaware.

The Cherokee settled in East Texas around 1820. In 1836, Sam Houston signed a treaty promising them land, but the Texas Senate refused to ratify it. In July 1839, under President Mirabeau B. Lamar, Texas troops drove the Cherokee and their allies out of the republic at the Battle of the Neches near present-day Tyler. Their leader, Chief Bowl, was killed in the fighting.

Native Nations in Texas Today

Three federally recognized tribes have their homes in Texas today:

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas: The Alabama and Coushatta peoples arrived in East Texas in the late 1700s. In 1854, the state of Texas bought land for them in Polk County, in the Big Thicket. The reservation is about 17 miles east of Livingston and has grown to more than 4,500 acres.
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo: Tigua (Southern Tiwa) people founded this community in 1682 after being forced south from New Mexico during the Pueblo Revolt. It's in the Ysleta neighborhood of El Paso.
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas: The tribe's community is on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, and it also has lands in Coahuila, Mexico. A 1983 act of Congress recognized the Texas Band of Kickapoo.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo regained their federal status through the same 1987 act of Congress, after their federal relationship had been ended in the 1950s and 1960s.

Many other tribes with deep roots in Texas, including the Caddo, Comanche, Kiowa, Tonkawa, Wichita and Apache nations, are based in Oklahoma and New Mexico today. Texas is also home to many Native people from tribes across the country, especially in cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Texas Place Names With Native Roots

Native peoples left their mark all over the Texas map:

Texas comes from the Caddo word for "friends" or "allies."
Waco is named for the Waco people, a Wichita group.
Nacogdoches is named for the Nacogdoche, a Caddo group.
The Neches River is named for the Neches, another Caddo group.
Wichita Falls takes its name from the Wichita peoples.
The town of Comanche and Comanche County are named for the Comanche.
The town of Quanah is named for Quanah Parker, the Comanche leader.

Where to Learn More in Person

Caddo Mounds State Historic Site near Alto, with its 1,200-year-old mounds.
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and its cultural center in El Paso.
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas near Livingston. Check the tribe's website for events open to visitors.
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, where Native people built and lived in the missions.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park, site of a key battle of the Red River War.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Native American tribes lived in Texas? Dozens of Native peoples lived in Texas over the centuries, and some groups, like the Coahuiltecan peoples, included hundreds of small bands. The best-known include the Caddo, Karankawa, Atakapa, Coahuiltecan, Tonkawa, Comanche, Kiowa, Wichita, Apache and Jumano, plus nations that arrived from the East in the 1800s.

What was the largest tribe in Texas? The Caddo were among the largest and most settled peoples, with farming villages across East Texas. On the plains, the Comanche controlled the largest territory.

Are there any reservations in Texas? Yes. The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas all have tribal lands in the state.

Where did the name "Texas" come from? It comes from a Caddo word meaning "friends" or "allies," which the Spanish wrote as Tejas.