The Hasinai Confederacy (Caddo: Hasíinay[1]) was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans located between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today they are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
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They were known as the Tejas—Texas, old Spanish spelling—by Spanish explorers, or even Hasini, being the plural Spanish version of the Caddo word táyshaʼ "friend". This name was later given to the state of Texas. They are also referred to as Hasini, Asenai, Asinai, Assoni, Asenay, Cenis and Sannaye.
At the time of the Spanish and French encounter with the Hasinai in the 1680s the Hasinai were a centrally organized chiefdom under the control of a religious leader known as the Grand Xinesi. The Xinesi lived in a secluded house. He met with a council of councilors. The Hasinai chieftainship consisted of several sub-divisions which the have been designated "contonments". Each of these was under the control of a Caddi. There was also men designated as Canahas and Chayas who helped the Caddi run the system.[2]
During the 17th century the Hasinai carried on trade with the Jumanos at the western Hasinai city of Nabedache.[3] Some consider the residents of Nabedache to have been a distinct people designated by that name.
It is estimated that in 1520 the people who would become the Hasinai, the Kadohadacho and the Natchitoches numbered about 250,000.[4] Over the next 250 years the population of these Caddoan-speaking peoples was severly reduced by epidemics of diseases inadvertently brought by Spanish and French coming to the Americas and spread by indigenous trading networks.
In 1690 the Hasinai numbered in the vicinity of 10,000 people or a little more. By 1720 as a result of diseases such as small pox brought by the Spanish the Hasinai population had fallen to 2,000.[5]
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