The Quinipissa (sometimes spelled Kinipissa in French sources) were an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

group living on the lower

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, in present-day

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, as reported by

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...

in 1682. They were joined together with the

Mougoulacha The Mougoulacha were a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe that lived near Lake Pontchartrain. Population In 1699 Iberville said that the Bayagoula and Mougoulacha together had about 180-250 warriors and an estimated 1,250 ...

. The combined group shared a village with the

Bayagoula The Bayagoula were a Native American tribe from what is now called Mississippi and Louisiana in the southern United States. Due to transcription errors amongst cartographers who mistakenly rewrote the tribe's name as their name is erroneously assu ...

. In 1700 the Bayagoula massacred both the Quinipissa and Mougoulacha. In 1682, La Salle encountered a group of Quinipissa living with the

Koroa The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. Language The Koroa are bel ...

in a village on the western bank of the

Language

The Quinipissa may have spoken the same language as the Mougoulacha and Bayagoula. The Bayagoula language is only attested with a single word.

Albert Gatschet Albert Samuel Gatschet (October 3, 1832, Beatenberg, Canton of Bern – March 16, 1907, Washington, D.C.) was a Swiss-American ethnologist who trained as a linguist in the universities of Bern and Berlin. He later moved to the United States and se ...

considered Quinipissa a

Muskogean Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...

language ''Coast Choctaw'' ("Coast Chaʼhta") based on evidence that many peoples of this area spoke the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

Mobilian Jargon Mobilian Jargon (also Mobilian trade language, Mobilian Trade Jargon, Chickasaw–Choctaw trade language, Yamá) was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlem ...

and have names that appear to be

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

s of Mobilian Jargon or Muskogean origin. This is repeated by John W. Powell and

John Swanton John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethn ...

. However, a map by

Nicolas de Fer Nicolas de Fer (, 1646 – 25 October 1720) was a French cartographer and geographer. He also was an engraver and publisher. His works focused more on quantity than quality, there were often geographical errors, and they were more artistic than ...

states that all nations of this region spoke different languages and barely understood each other. Thus, there is no real linguistic evidence to conclude that the Quinipissa are Muskogean.

References

External links

Indian Tribal Histories Quahatika-Quinipissa

Bibliography

* de Fer, Nicolas. (1701). ''Les costes aux environs de la Riviere de Misisipi, decouverte par Mr. de la Salle en 1683, et reconnues par Mr. le chevallier d'Yberville en 1698 et 1699''. * Gatschet, Albert S. (1884). ''A migration legend of the Creek Indians'' (Vol. 1). Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton. * Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''47'' (1), 1-60. * Margry, Pierre (Ed.). (1876-1886). ''Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l'ouest et dans le sud de l'Amérique septentrionale (1614-1754)'' (Vols. 1-6). Paris: D. Jouaust. * Powell, John W. (1891). ''Indian linguistic families of America north of Mexico''. Bureau of American Ethnology annual report (No. 7, pp. 1–142). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. * Swanton, John R. (1911). ''Indian tribes of the lower Mississippi Valley and adjacent coast of the Gulf of Mexico''. Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 43). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. {{authority control Native American tribes in Louisiana Pre-statehood history of Louisiana Unclassified languages of North America