1. The Native American Tribes of Arkansas by Catherine Jones

2. Hernando de Soto
First encounter with Europeans in 1541, by Hernando de Soto.
Found Indians growing groves of nut and fruit trees and extensive fields of corn.
Systems of roads and trails connected the towns and cities to one another

3. Rivers and Streams were an essential source of travel and use for transportation of traded items

4. Arkansas Post was established to exchange beaver furs with the French
French Trading
Arkansas Post was the first and most significant European Establishment in Arkansas
Henri de Tonti received land from a trading concession at the juncture of the Arkansas and the Mississippi Rivers
Arkansas Post was established to exchange beaver furs with the French

5. Three Main Tribes of Early Arkansas
Quapaw
Osage
Caddo

6. Quapaw – people who live downstream
Quapaw natives were highly sophisticated agrarian cultures that lived along the rivers in the eastern part of the state, they are called the Mississippian Tribes too.
Quapaw communities were larger than other native tribes of Arkansas
Our state is named after the Quapaw Natives

7. Quapaw Distinctions
Native Americans had tattoos depending on their tribe and distinction, the tattoos had religious distinctions
Native Americans believed in animism which meant that spirits and deities cans from plants, animals, and the earth. Thunder was s significant God.

8. Quapaw Children
Quapaw Children were carried around on a cradleboard so the mothers could tend to their work, sometimes the cradleboard caused the head of the babies to become flat and elongated.
Children did many chores but got to play with dolls and play games – cricket is a worldwide sport that was originally Native American

9. Quapaw Pottery

10. Quapaw Homes
Homes of the Quapaw were sophisticated, they took time to build and were made of wood, vine, river cane, and had a thatched roof of grass or tree bark.
Communities were fortified with fencing to keep neighboring rivals out of the Quapaw villages

11. Quapaw Distinguishing Characteristics
The Quapaw were masters at pottery making, they used clay and shell to make there arts and vessels used for utilitarian reasons and for funeral rites
The Quapaw used dogs to travel by using a sled or travois or sled when traveling with heavy loads
They ate corn, beans, squash, and small game, bear and buffalo.
Storytelling was the primary source of passing along historical lineage, they unfortunately had no written language and much history is unknown because of this.

12. Caddo Natives of Arkansas
The Caddo Indians lived in the Ouachita Mountains Area and also inhabited parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas
Dwelling areas were not has populous as the Quapaw, they had sustenance farms and not farming on a large scale
Caddo were excellent weavers and potters
The rivalries among the Caddo’s were probably not as fierce as with the Quapaw during the 1500’s

13. Caddo Homes
Caddo homes could house more than one family, sometimes they could house as many as 30 people.
The homes were tall dome shape dwellings and made of grasses and bark. They looked like woven bee hives

14. Depictions of the Caddo Indian

15. Traditions of the Caddo
Caddo Customs
Diet of the Caddo
Traditions of the Caddo
The Caddo diet consisted of squash, corn, beans, and pumpkins.
For meat they would eat fish, small game such as deer, fish
The Caddo also made salt from salt water brines and traded it for other goods
The Caddo to stories handed down from generation to generation.
They used drums for dancing and for religious rituals
Men wore their hair long in a style called a scalplock. Women wore their hair in a bun.

16. Transportation
The Caddo preferred to travel on land but also used dug out canoes made from large Cyprus trees for traveling on rivers,

17. Osage Indians
The Osage tribes were more nomadic in nature and would establish camps for shorter periods of time.
The Osage di have gardens, eat corn squash, beans and pumpkins but they were more likely to follow herding patterns of animals.
The Osage moved further east as the Quapaw began to decline and die out.

18. Characteristics of the Osage
The Osage preferred to travel on land and used a travois which is a sled with dogs to help carry the heavy loads
The Osage used bows and arrows
Osage homes were called a lodge, and were made of elm bark
The Osage were masters of a native flute like instrument

19. What happened to the Native Americans of Arkansas?
Much speculation has been named as to why the Native Americans disappeared. Only factor I that Europeans brought with them devastating diseases such a influenza, smallpox, measles, mumps and other diseases. Native American had no immunity to the newly introduced disease. Up to 80% of Native Americans died upon contact with the European settlers.
After the purchase of the Louisiana Territory the desire for land made men greedy for what once belonged to the Native inhabitants. Treaties pushed American Indians off of their land.
Enslavement was also not uncommon, new settlers would kidnap Native Americans and force them to become slaves.

20. Credits
Special thanks to the Arkansas Heritage Commission for pictures and information. Arkansasheritage,com