- Tunica-Biloxi
The Tunica-Biloxi is a tribe of native Americans living in
Mississippi and east centralLouisiana . They got their food by hunting, farming, and fishing. This tribe was very important to the making of Louisiana's history. Nowadays, they provide and operate a fully functional casino-resort inMarksville, Louisiana . The Casino is known for their contributions back to its members and fighting for Native American Rights. The Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation lies in central Avoyelles Parish, just south of the city of Marksville, with a part of the city actually extending onto reservation land. It has a land area of 1.682 km² (0.6495 sq mi, or 415.68acre s), and a 2000 census resident population of 89 persons.The French established a mission among the Tunica around the year 1700, on the
Yazoo River near theMississippi River in the present-day state ofMississippi . Archaeological evidence suggests that they had recently migrated to the region from easternArkansas , in the late 17th century.Father Antoine Davion was assigned as the missionary for the Tunica as well as the smaller tribes of the Yazoo, Courouias, and Couspe (or Houspe) Indians. Unlike the northern Indians that the French were familiar with, the Tunica (and the nearbyTaensa and Natchez) had complexreligion , withtemple s,idol s, and apriest class. The Tunica, Taensa, and Natchez retainedchiefdom characteristics, such as a complex religion, after they had disappeared elsewhere.During the Natchez War of 1729, the Tunica were forced to migrate south into present-day
Louisiana . The Tunica, along with other tribes along the lower Mississippi River, were subjected toChickasaw slave raids, for the South Carolina slave trade. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 slaves were captured from the Tunica, Taensa, and Arkansas Indians by 1715 (Gallay, 2002).The Tunica Biloxi were also hunters and gatherers, but most of all traders. They mostly traded salt from the many salt domes found in Louisiana.
References
* Gallay, Alan. "The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-1717". Yale University Press: New York (2002).
* [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CHECK_SEARCH_RESULTS=N&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-tree_id=4001&-all_geo_types=Y&-redoLog=false&-transpose=N&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=25000US4315&-search_results=27300US4315220099572599999&-format=&-_lang=en&-show_geoid=Y Tunica-Biloxi Reservation, Louisiana] United States Census BureauExternal links
* [http://www.tunica.org/ The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana]
*CathEncy|wstitle=Tonica Indiansee also
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Biloxi tribe External links
* [http://www.tunicabiloxi.org/tribal_history.php?PHPSESSID=1ef4b2c007154f00763bcb4a9883c8aa Tunica-Biloxi History]
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