The Conquering of the Karankawa Indians

The Karankawa Indians lived along the Gulf of Mexico in the coastal bend. Their

territory ranged from the west end of Galveston bay southwestward to Corpus Christi bay.

Contrary to popular belief the Karankawa were not cannibals. They did like many other Texas

Indian tribes eat their captured enemy warriors and leaders to gain their strength or courage but

never for food. The name Karankawa was given to many bands of Indians in the area including

the Cocos, Copanes, Cujanes, Guapites, Carancaguases (the source of the name Karankawa).

In 1528 a survivor, named Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, of the failed Spanish expedition

of Panfilo de Narvaez and some others landed on the west end of Galveston Island. The

Karankawa gave them food and shelter. Cabeza de Vaca gave us the first recorded accounts of

the Karankawas. Cabeza de Vaca lived with the Indians for several years and eventually joined

them. He talks about what it was like living with them and how the different bands interacted

with one another. During the winter they would move near the water because of large schools of

fish would stay in shallow waters making them easier to catch. They caught fish such as red fish

and drum. There were also lots of oysters and clams that were easy to get and could only be

safely eaten during the winter months. During the summer they would move in land because the

fish would move back to deeper waters that their canoes were not suited for and shellfish were

no longer safe to eat. They would hunt many types of animals such deer, rabbits, turtles, turkeys,

alligators and other edible animals. They would also split up into smaller bands to gather plants

and roots. Cabeza de Vaca tells of how sometimes food was hard...

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...pus Christie before settling. In the mid 1840s the

surviving Karankawas moved to Tamaulipas, Mexico to escape the Texans. Accused of raiding

settlements they were attacked by Mexican authorities and in the late 1850s they were back in

Texas. In 1858 Juan Nepomuceno Cortina attacked and killed all the members of the last band.

The Karankawa had become extinct.

For three centuries they fought to survive the invasive Europeans never letting go of their

ways. They remained as their ancestors did and refused to give up their culture of hunters and

gatherers to the end of their existence. They were victims as so many others of colonization and

xenophobia. That ultimately lead to what was genocide in it’s purest form. They were the Hitlers

and Stalins of their time, doing everything they could to wipe out a whole race and culture. An

entire ethnic group.