Acolapissa
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[edit] Acolapissa
The Acolapissa were a small tribe of native Americans, said to originate from the shores of the Pearl River, between Louisiana and Mississippi before 1702. After that time, they moved further west, into what is now the area around New Orleans. Pressured by European settlement of the area and disease, the small tribe eventually was absorbed into the Houma, which now live in and around Houma, Louisiana. Current population of the Houma tribe is said to be around 11,000 persons. A petition for federal status for the Houma was denied by the U.S. government in 1994.[1]
[edit] Miscellaneous
The name Acolapissa means "those who listen and see" in Choctaw.
Other names for the tribe were: Aqueloupissa, Cenepisa, Colapissa, Coulapissa, Equinipicha, Kinipissa, Kolapissa, and Mouisa.
The Acolapissa are of Muskogean stock and closely related to Choctaw and Chickasaw.
The Acolapissa adorned their bodies with tattoos, since they wore little clothing due to their location.
Some sources indicate that the Acolapissa may have been the same tribe as the Quinipissa or the Tangipahoa. According to several sources related to the Houma, tribes in the area of Lake Ponchartrain called them Mugulashai.
The tribe is considered "extinct" by European sources, even though most historic writings indicate the Acolapissa joined with the Houma in the era following European entrance into their lands.
[edit] References
Bushnell, David I., Jr. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 48: The Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909.
Shovel, Dick. Acolaphissa History. http://www.dickshovel.com/acol.html
Swanton, John Reed. The Indian Tribes of North America. Washington: U.S. Goverment Printing Office, 1959.
Access Genealogy: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/choctaw/acolapissahist.htm
Russian (?) Wiki page on the Acolapissa: http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acolapissa
