Karankawa Indians Research Paper

The Karankawa were speculated to be descendants of the “Carib” indians who according to Wikipedia, arrived by sea from the Caribbean basin in the seventeenth century. They were observed to be taller than any of the other indians in the region, and resembled the Caribs. The Karankawa Indians lived in the Coastal Plains region, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Their territory extended from the west end of present day Galveston down to Corpus Christi. We know that there were several tribes or bands in this area. The Gulf Coast where the Karankawa once lived is made of many inlets, bays, and lagoons. A lot of rivers empty into the Gulf, the largest of which is the the Mississippi river. Much of the coastline was marshland. Landforms like South Padre Island helped protect as a barrier to oncoming waves.The Gulf Coast area is vulnerable to hurricanes as well as floods and severe thunderstorms. Tornadoes are extremely rare at the coast but do occur. …show more content…
The first group was led by the Civil Chief and the second was led by the War Chief. The Civil Chief was chosen by the other tribe members. He was in charge of organizing his people and keeping things peaceful when they moved before the summer months. The War Chief took over when his tribe had to go to battle with another tribe. This chief was always the son of the oldest member of the Karankawa. For a time, Kaycee Pilgreen was the leader of the Karankawas but it was only a female, because the males were always busy hunting and gathering food or just generally trying to make life for the tribe