Koroa

Koroa
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
United States Mississippi
Languages
Tunica
Religion
Native tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Tunica, Yazoo, Tioux

The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous 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 basin. They were believed to speak a dialect of Tunica.

The Koroa may be the tribe identified by Hernando de Soto's expedition as the Coligua or Cologoa. They were met by Soto's company in the area of what is today Little Rock, Arkansas.[1]

Jacques Marquette referred to this tribe by the name Akoroa.[2] 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.[3]

In 1702 a French Catholic missionary named Foucault was killed while serving among the Koroa. The tribe's leaders had the murderers executed.[3] Many members of the Koroa tribe joined with the Tunica, Chickasaw, or Natchez tribes after European diseases had severely depleted their population.[4]

List of other de Soto Expedition Tribes

List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition

Sources

  1. Swanton, John R. The Indians of the Southeastern United States. (United States Government Pringting Office: Washington, 1946) p. 147
  2. Swanton. Indians of the Southeastern United States p. 147
  3. 3.0 3.1 Swanton. Indians of the Southeastern United States. p. 147
  4. Sabo III, George. "Indians in Arkansas: The Tunica & Koroa" (PDF). Arkansas Archeological Survey. Retrieved 1 October 2013.