Coushatta

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For the town in Louisiana, see Coushatta, Louisiana.

Coushatta


Total population

Regions with significant populations
United States (Louisiana)
Languages
SPANISH , Coushatta
Related ethnic groups
Other Muskogean peoples

The Coushatta (also Koasati) are a Native American people living primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Most Coushatta live in Allen Parish, just north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, though a smaller number share a reservation near Livingston, Texas with the Alabama people. There is also an Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town in Oklahoma.

The Coushatta were traditionally agriculturalists, growing maize and other food crops, and supplementing their diet by hunting game. They are also known for their skill at basketry. In the 20th century they began cultivating rice and crawfish on tribally owned farms.

The Coushatta language, in the Muskogean family, is still spoken, although in the early 21st century fewer young people are learning it.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the Coushatta (Koasati) joined the emerging Creek Confederacy, where they became known as part of the "Upper Creeks". They were said to be closely related to the Alabama Indians. They had moved from eastern lands under pressure of Euroopean settlers.

Earlier, nearly all the Spanish expeditions into the interior of Spanish Florida recorded encountering the original town of the tribe. They referred to them as "Coste", with their nearby neighbors being the Chiaha, the Chiska,the Yuchi, the Tasquiqui, and the Tali. This town was most likely in the Tennessee Valley.

[edit] Film

Rediscovering America: The Legends and Legacy of Our Past, part 2: Indians Among Us (1992). Produced and directed by Jonathan Donald; written by Roger Kennedy. Discovery Communications, Inc.