Native American tribes in Texas are the Native American tribes who are currently based in Texas and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas who historically lived in Texas. Many individual Native Americans, whose tribes are headquartered in other states, reside in Texas. The state formed the Texas Commission for Indian Affairs in 1965 to oversee state-tribal relations; however, the commission was dissolved in 1989.

Federally recognized tribes

Texas has three federally recognized tribes. They have met the seven criteria of an American Indian tribe: # being an American Indian entity since at least 1900 # a predominant part of the group forms a distinct community and has done so throughout history into the present # holding political influence over its members # having governing documents including membership criteria # members having ancestral descent from historic American Indian tribes # not being members of other existing federally recognized tribes # not being previously terminated by the U.S. Congress. The three federally recognized tribes in Texas are: * Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas, originally from Tennessee and Alabama *

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, based in Eagle Pass, is a federally recognized tribe that uses revenue from its gaming and business operations to provide housing, education, and social services to its members. The tribe has been held as ...

, originally from the Great Lakes *

Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (also Tigua Pueblo) is a Puebloan Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribal entity in the Ysleta, El Paso, Texas, Ysleta section of El Paso, Texas. Its members are Southern Tiwa people who had been displace ...

originally from New Mexico.

American Indian reservations

These are three Indian Reservations in Texas: * Alabama-Coushatta Reservation, in Polk County, Texas *

Kickapoo Reservation The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, based in Eagle Pass, is a federally recognized tribe that uses revenue from its gaming and business operations to provide housing, education, and social services to its members. The tribe has been held as ...

, in

Maverick County, Texas Maverick County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 57,887. Its county seat is Eagle Pass. The county was created in 1856 and organized in 1871. It is named for Samuel Maverick, cattleman ...

* Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, in

El Paso County, Texas El Paso County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 865,657, making it the ninth-most populous county in the state of Texas. Its seat is the city of El Paso, the sixth-most populous ...

State-recognized tribes

Texas has "no legal mechanism to recognize tribes," as journalists Graham Lee Brewer and Tristan Ahtone wrote. State-recognized tribes do not have the government-to-government relationship with the United States federal government that federally recognized tribes do. Texas has no state-recognized tribes. Texas Senate Bill 274 to formally recognize the

Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and ...

, introduced in January 2021, died in committee.

Historical tribes of Texas

These are some of the tribes that have existed in what is now Texas. Many were forcibly removed to Indian Territory, now

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, in the 19th century. Others no longer exist as tribes but may have living descendants. * Adai people, formerly eastern Texas * Apache people, western Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma :* Lipan Apache, southwest :* Salinero, formerly west :*

Teya Teya may refer to: * Teya, Burma, in Taungtha Township of Myingyan District in Mandalay Region of Burma * Teya people, an extinct Native American tribe from Texas * Teya Municipality, a municipality in Yucatán, Mexico ** Teya, Mexico, the seat of ...

, formerly Panhandle :*

Vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

, also Querecho, formerly northwestern Texas, possible ancestral Apache people * Aranama, formerly southeast *

Atakapa The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct band ...

, formerly Gulf Coast :*

Akokisa The Akokisa were the indigenous tribe that lived on Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity and San Jacinto rivers in Texas, primarily in the present-day Greater Houston area.Campbell, Thomas N. "Akokisa Indians.''The Handbook of Texas Online.''(re ...

, formerly Galveston Bay, Gulf Coast :* Bidai, formerly Trinity River, Gulf Coast :*

Deadose The Deadose were a Native American Tribe in present-day Texas closely associated with the Jumano, Yojuane, Bidai and other groups living in the Rancheria Grande of the Brazos River in eastern Texas in the early 18th century. Like other groups i ...

, formerly southeast :* Patiri, formerly San Jacinto River * Biloxi, formerly Neches River in the 19th century, now Louisiana *

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...

, formerly eastern Texas, now Oklahoma :* Cacachau, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :*

Eyeish The Eyeish were a Native American tribe from present-day eastern Texas. History The Eyeish were part of the Caddo Confederacy,Sturtevant, 616 although their relationship to other Caddo tribes was ambiguous, and they were often hostile to the Hasi ...

, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Hainai, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Kadohadacho, formerly northeast, now Oklahoma :* Nabedache, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Nabiti, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Nacogdoche, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :*

Nacono The Nacono were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Today they are part of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma. History The Nacono were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy.Sturtevant 616 ...

, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Nadaco, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Nanatsoho, formerly Red River, now Oklahoma :*

Nasoni The Nasoni are a Native American tribe from eastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas. History The Nasoni were divided into two bands. The Upper Nasoni, who lived along the Red River in the southwestern corner of Arkansas.Natchitoches, formerly Red River, now Oklahoma :* Nechaui, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Neche, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma Flag of the Comanche Nation

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

, formerly north and west, now Oklahoma * Coahuiltecan, formerly southern :*

Comecrudo Comecrudan refers to a group of possibly related languages spoken in the southernmost part of Texas and in northern Mexico along the Rio Grande of which ''Comecrudo'' is the best known. Very little is known about these languages or the people wh ...

, formerly southern :*

Ervipiame The Ervipiame or Hierbipiame were a Native people of modern Coahuila and Texas. Beginning in the 16th century Spanish settlement in what is today Northern Mexico and the accompanying diseases and slave raiding to supply ranches and mines with Nativ ...

, formerly south and central Texas :* Geier, formerly south central :*

Pajalat The Pajalat were a Native American group who lived in the area just south of San Antonio, Texas, prior to the arrival of the Spanish to the region in the 18th century. Language The Pajalat spoke a dialect of the Coahuiltecan language. They spo ...

, formerly central :* Pastia, formerly south-central :*

Payaya The Payaya people were Indigenous people whose territory encompassed the area of present-day San Antonio, Texas. The Payaya were a Coahuiltecan band and are the earliest recorded inhabitants of San Pedro Springs Park, the geographical area that ...

, formerly south-central :*

Quepano The Quepano were a band of Coahuiltecan people of American Indians from what is now Nuevo León, Mexico and Texas, United States. Names The name ''Quepano'' has also been written Cuepano and Quepana. History In the late 17th century, the ...

, formerly south-central :* Unpuncliegut, formerly south coast :*

Xarame The Xarames were a Native American people of the San Antonio, Texas region. They were the dominant Native American group during the early history of Mission San Antonio de Valero The Alamo is a historic Spanish missions in the Americas, Spani ...

, formerly south-central *

Dotchetonne The Natchitoches (Caddo language, Caddo: Náshit'ush) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe from Louisiana. They organized themselves in one of the three Caddo-speaking confederacies along with the Hasinai (between the ...

, formerly northeastern *

Escanjaque Indians The Escanjaques were an American Indian tribe who lived in the Southern Plains. Juan de Oñate encountered the Escanjaque in 1601 during an expedition to the Great Plains of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The Escanjaques may have been identical with ...

, formerly north-central * Jumano, formerly southwestern *

La Junta La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas Ri ...

, formerly west * Karankawa, formerly south coast * Kiowa, formerly panhandle, now Oklahoma * Manso, formerly west *

Quems The Quems were an indigenous people who lived along the Rio Grande in what is now the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahuila in the 17th and 18th centuries. They are known to have settled around present-day Eagle Pass and Piedras ...

, formerly southwest *

Quicuchabe The Quicuchabe were one of 20 groups of American Indians who chose to join Juan Domínguez de Mendoza on his trek across Texas from the area of El Paso to the area around what is now San Angelo between 1683 and 1684. Mendoza did not indicate at wh ...

, formerly west *

Quide The Quide were a band of Native Americans, friends of the Jumano, in the area around what is now Texas. In 1683, Juan Sabeata reported them as desiring missionaries. They are recorded as having lived three days' travel east of the mouth of the Co ...

, formerly west * Suma, formerly west, joined Apaches * Teyas, Panhandle Bandera Wichita

* Tonkawa, formerly southeast, now Oklahoma :* Mayeye, formerly south :* Yojuane, formerly east-central * Wichita, formerly north-central, now Oklahoma :*

Kichai The Kichai tribe (also Keechi or Kitsai) was a Native American Southern Plains tribe that lived in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Their name for themselves was K'itaish. History The Kichai were most closely related to the Pawnee. French explo ...

, formerly north, now Oklahoma :*

Taovaya The Taovaya tribe of the Wichita people were Native Americans originally from Kansas, who moved south into Oklahoma and Texas in the 18th century. They spoke the Taovaya dialect of the Wichita language, a Caddoan language. Taovaya people today a ...

, formerly north in the 19th century, now Oklahoma :* Tawakoni, formerly north and east in the 19th century, now Oklahoma :* Waco, formerly north, now Oklahoma

Unrecognized organizations

More than 30 organizations claim to represent historic tribes within Texas; however, these groups are unrecognized, meaning they do not meet the minimum criteria of federally recognized tribes and are not state-recognized tribes. Some of these cultural heritage groups form

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

References

External links

Tribal Contacts
Texas Historical Commission
American Indians
Texas State Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Native American tribes In Texas Texas Texas Texas