The Koroa were one of the groups of
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original 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
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before th ...
basin.
Language
The Koroa are believed to have spoken a dialect of
Tunica. However, French missionaries described the Koroa (which they spelled Courouais) as speaking the same language as the Yazoo but a different tongue from the Tunica. This may be describing a distinct dialect or a related
Tunican language.
History
The Koroa may be the tribe identified by
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 expedition as the ''Coligua'' or ''Cologoa''. They were met by Soto's company in the area of what is today
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
, in 1541.
Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ign ...
referred to this tribe by the name ''Akoroa''. The Koroa lived on both sides of the Mississippi River when the French encountered them in the late 17th century. At least one of their villages was on the east bank of the river.
[Swanton. ''Indians of the Southeastern United States''. p. 147] In 1682,
La Salle visited a Koroa village on the Western side of the Mississippi twice, both on the descent and the return journey. His party was feasted there, and saw
Quinipissa
The Quinipissa (sometimes spelled Kinipissa in French sources) were an indigenous group living on the lower Mississippi River, in present-day Louisiana, as reported by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682.
They were joined together wit ...
s, whom they described as the Koroa's allies, living in the village.
A 1698 French missionary expedition also found them living in the same area as the Tunica, Yazoo, and
Houspé, and Father
Antoine Davion
Antoine Davion was originally from Saint-Omer in Artois, France. He served in various churches on the Île d'Orléans in Québec before departing for the Mississippi River in 1698 to help establish missions among the indigenous peoples. He would s ...
was assigned to missionize them.
In 1702, a French
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
named Nicolas Foucault was killed while serving among the Koroa. The tribe's leaders had the murderers executed.
Many members of the Koroa tribe joined with the
Tunica,
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...
, or
Natchez tribes after European diseases had severely depleted their population.
See also
Sources
* Gibson, Arrell M. "The Indians of Mississippi," in McLemore, Richard Aubrey, ed. ''A History of Mississippi'' (Hattiesburg: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1973) vol. 1
References
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Middle Mississippian culture
Native American tribes in Mississippi
Native American tribes in Arkansas
Extinct Native American peoples