The Tula were a Native American group that lived in what is now western

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

.Sturtevant, 617 The Tula are known to history only from the chronicles of Spanish conquistador

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

's exploits in the interior of North America.

History

The Tula were possibly a

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 ...

an people, but this is not certain. Based on the descriptions of the various chroniclers, "Tula Province", or their homeland, may have been at the headwaters of the Ouachita,

, Little Missouri, Saline, and

Cossatot River The Cossatot River is an river in Howard, Polk and Sevier counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Cossatot begins in the Ouachita Mountains southeast of Mena, Arkansas. The river flows through the Ouachita National Forest and then in a ...

s in Arkansas.Swanton, 29 They are also thought to have lived in the northern

Ouachita Mountains The Ouachita Mountains (), simply referred to as the Ouachitas, are a mountain range in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. They are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thru ...

in the Petit Jean and Fourche valleys.Perttula, 23 De Soto entered Tula territory on September 30, 1541 near present-day

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

and violently clashed with the tribe multiple times during the beginning of October 1541. His secretary, Rodrigo Ranjel described the Tula as, "the best fighting people that the Christians met with." A statue was erected in the late 20th century to commemorate the Tula, but de Soto scholars suspect that the location of the statue does not correspond with the Tula's actual homeland. The Tula are thought to be the first Caddo band to encounter Europeans. The 16th century Spanish chroniclers wrote that the Tula practiced

cranial deformation Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying ...

and tattooed their faces. They fought with large spears. An archaeological site,

Bluffton Mound Site The Bluffton Mound Site is a Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site in Yell County, Arkansas on the Fourche La Fave River. Site description See also * Spiro Mounds * List of Mississippian sites This is a list of Mississippian si ...

(3YE15), 35-40 southwest of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

is associated with the Tula. The site is a

Caddoan Mississippian culture The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Wes ...

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...

center. It was suggested by Swanton that the Tula assimilated into other Kadohadacho tribes, meaning their descendants would be enrolled in the

Caddo Nation of Oklahoma 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 ...

today.

Synonymy

The word "Tula" is not a Caddo word. The tribe and province are also known as Tulia.Swanton, 30

Notes

References

* Carter, Cecile Elkins
''Caddo Indians: Where We Come From''.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. * Perttula, Timothy K
''The Caddo Nation: Archaeological and Ethnohistoric Perspectives.''
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997. . * Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast''. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. . * Swanton, John Reed
''Source material on the history and ethnology of the Caddo Indians''.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. . {{authority control Caddoan peoples Native American history of Arkansas Native American tribes in Texas Native American tribes in Arkansas