THE TAENSA WERE ORIGINALLY FROM NORTHEAST LOUISIANA. THEY NUMBERED 1200 PEOPLE IN SEVERAL VILLAGES. THE PLAQUEMINE CULTURES ARE CONSIDERED ANCESTRAL TO THE TAENSA. THE FRENCH CATHOLICS MISSIONARIES CONTACTED THEM AROUND 1700 AND SETTLED AMONG THEM. THEY LIVED ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, SOUTH OF TUNICA. THEY WERE FORCED SOUTH BY THE CHICKASAW SLAVE RAIDS, AFTER WHICH THEY LIVED WITH THE BAYOGOULA. THEY ATTACKED AND BURNED THIS VILLAGE DOWN. THEY SETTLED DOWN ON THE TENSAW RIVER NEAR MOBILE BAY IN 1715 WITH THE APALACHEE, PAKALANA AND MERGED WITH OTHERS IN ALABAMA.
THEY WERE AGRICULTURAL AND CANOE BUILDERS AND LIVED IN LARGE HOUSES NOW WITH WALLS OF EARTH. THEY USED LOGS PLASTERED WITH CLAY AND ROOFED WITH MATS OF WOVEN CANE. THEIR CHIEFS HAD GREAT RESPECT. THIS WAS UNLIKE THE TRIBES ON THE NORTH. THE MISSIONARIES SAW THEY HAD A COMPLEX RELIGION. THEY HAD CHIEFDOMS SIMILAR TO THE NATCHEZ PEOPLE OF SACRIFICE AND HIERARCHICAL SOCIAL CLASSES. THEIR DEITIES WERE THE SUN AND THE SERPENT. THEY HAD A DOME SHAPED TEMPLE. THE WALLS AND ROOF WERE OF CANE MATS, PAINTED RED. IT HAD A PERPETUAL CAMPFIRE. WHEN A CHIEFDOM DIED HIS WIFE WAS KILLED AS WELL SO BOTH SPIRITS WENT TO THE OTHER WORLD.
BY 1700, THE FRENCH MISSIONARY SAID THAT SMALL POX HIT THEIR VILLAGES. THE CHICKASAW ATTACKED THEM AND OTHERS FOR SLAVE RAIDS TO SELL TO THE BRITISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA. DURING THE NATCHEZ WAR IN 1729, THE TAENSA MIGRATED TO LOUISIANA. THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THIS TRIBE IN HISTORICAL RECORDS WAS THAT THEY MOVED TO SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. APPARENTLY THEY SPOKE NATCHEZ. BOTH FRENCH AND SPANISH MISSIONARIES LEARNED NATCHEZ LANGUAGE. IN 1881 A FRENCH STUDENT PUBLISHED A GRAMMATICAL SKETCH OF THEIR LANGUAGE.
WIKIPEDIA.COM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment