The Ancestral Wichita people lived in the eastern Great Plains from the Red River in Arkansas north to Nebraska for at least two thousand years.

Early Wichita people were hunters and gatherers who gradually adopted agriculture.

Farming villages are developed about 900 CE on terraces above the Washita and South Canadian Rivers in present-day Oklahoma.

The women of these tenth-century communities cultivate varieties of maize, beans, and squash (known as the Three Sisters), marsh elder (Iva annua), and tobacco, which is important for religious purposes.

The men hunt deer, rabbits, turkey, and, primarily, bison, and catch fish and harvest mussels from the rivers.

These villagers live in rectangular, thatched-roof houses.

The fourteenth century saw significant population movements and cultural changes among Native American peoples across North America, though these occurred within distinct regional and linguistic contexts rather than as part of a unified migration.

Southwestern Pueblo Peoples The Keres people settled along the upper Rio Grande valley in what is now New Mexico. Along with their Tanoan-speaking neighbors and the Zuni and Hopi peoples to the west, these agricultural communities maintained their pueblo settlements during a period when many other Southwestern agricultural societies experienced decline or abandonment. The fourteenth century marked important transitions for Ancestral Pueblo peoples, with many groups migrating from the Four Corners region to areas with more reliable water sources.

Siouan Language Family The Siouan language family encompasses numerous distinct tribal groups across a vast geographic area. While some linguists have proposed connections between Siouan and other language families, including the isolated Yuchi language, these relationships remain unproven and controversial among specialists.

Siouan-speaking peoples include the Catawba of South Carolina and numerous other groups. The Missouri River branch includes the Mandan of the northern Great Plains (primarily in present-day North Dakota), the Absaroke (Crow) and Hidatsa, who share close linguistic and cultural ties. The Mississippi Valley Siouan speakers include the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota (collectively known as the Sioux), the Dhegiha groups (Omaha, Osage, Kansa, Ponca, and Quapaw), and the Chiwere-speaking peoples (including the Ho-Chunk/Winnebago). The southeastern branch included the now-extinct Tutelo, Ofo, and Biloxi languages.

Yuchi The Yuchi people, historically located in the southeastern United States including parts of present-day Tennessee and Georgia, spoke a language that most linguists classify as an isolate, though some researchers have suggested possible distant relationships to Siouan languages.

Caddoan Language Family The Caddoan language family includes the Caddo of the southern Plains and several northern groups. The Caddo proper inhabited areas of present-day Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The northern Caddoan groups include the Pawnee of the central Plains, the Arikara of the northern Plains (particularly along the Missouri River in present-day North Dakota), and the Wichita of the southern Plains.

Gulf and Western North America (1396–1539 CE)

Mound Centers, Pueblos, and Coastal Gardens

Geography & Environmental Context

From the Mississippi Delta to California’s valleys, this vast region spanned wetlands, plains, deserts, and Pacific shores. Anchors included the Gulf Coast, Rio Grande, Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Sacramento Valley—a panorama of climatic and cultural extremes.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The Little Ice Age brought alternating droughts and floods. Hurricanes reshaped Gulf deltas; aridity challenged maize fields in the Southwest; Pacific upwelling sustained rich fisheries despite inland dryness.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Mississippi Valley & Gulf States: Descendant chiefdoms of the Mississippian tradition farmed maize, beans, and squash, supplemented by fish and waterfowl around mound-centered towns.

• Plains & Prairies: Semi-sedentary communities mixed horticulture with bison hunting.

• Southwest (Pueblo worlds): Stone and adobe towns along the Rio Grande irrigated maize, cotton, and chili peppers.

• Great Basin: Numic foragers pursued seeds, roots, and game across dry basins.

• California & Oregon coasts: Villages of Chumash, Miwok, and Pomo peoples relied on acorns, salmon, and shellfish, storing surpluses in granaries.

• Florida & Lower Southeast: Timucua and Muskogean groups combined maize farming with fishing and hunting in rich estuaries.

Technology & Material Culture

Mississippian artisans crafted shell gorgets and copper ornaments; Pueblo masons perfected multistory architecture and canal irrigation; Californians built plank canoes (tomols) for open-sea voyaging. Bison traps, acorn mortars, and intricate basketry displayed ecological range.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

The Mississippi, Rio Grande, and Colorado rivers carried goods and pilgrims between plains, deserts, and coasts. Plains trails linked obsidian and bison hides; Pacific canoes moved fish oil and beads between villages. Early Spanish entradas—Ponce de León, Narváez, Cabeza de Vaca—touched Florida and Texas, opening fragile corridors of contact and contagion.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

Green Corn ceremonies renewed fertility in the Southeast; kachina dances governed rain and harvest in Pueblo towns; California rock art and oral epics depicted spirits and ancestors. Ritual and agriculture merged across ecological zones.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Floodplain farmers rebuilt fields after inundation; Pueblos shared water through communal rights; Plains peoples diversified mobility and diet; foragers rotated harvest sites. Storage and exchange made societies robust amid climatic flux.

Transition

By 1539 CE, from the Gulf to California, Indigenous nations sustained populous towns and networks independent of Europe. Spanish explorers brought horses, iron, and disease but little control. North America’s western and southern arc remained wholly Indigenous—diverse, adaptive, and interconnected.

Archaeologists describe the Washita River Phase of Wichita occupation from 1250 to 1450, when local populations grewand villages of up to twenty houses were spaced every two or so miles along the rivers. These farmers may have had contact with the Panhandle culture villages in the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, farming villages along the Canadian River. The Panhandle villagers showed signs of adopting cultural characteristics of the Pueblo peoples of the Rio Grande Valley, with whom they interacted. In the late fifteenth century, most of these Washita River villages were abandoned for reasons that are not known today.

Gulf and Western North America (1540–1683 CE)

Spanish Entradas and Enduring Societies

Geography & Environmental Context

The subregion of Gulf and Western North America includes Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, nearly all of California (except the far northwest), nearly all of Florida (except the extreme northeast), southwestern Georgia, most of Alabama, southwestern Tennessee, southern Illinois, southwestern Missouri, most of Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota, southern Montana, southern Idaho, and southeastern Oregon. Anchors included the lower Mississippi valley, the Gulf Coast, the Rio Grande valley, and the California littoral.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The Little Ice Age shaped environments with harsher winters, episodic droughts, and occasional floods. The Southwest endured extended dry spells, stressing Pueblo agriculture. The Gulf Coast remained humid, with hurricanes periodically devastating villages and colonies. California’s maritime climate sustained oak groves and fisheries despite drought cycles inland.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Puebloans farmed maize, beans, and squash in irrigated fields; multi-storied pueblos and kivas anchored communities. Revolts and migrations reshaped settlement after Spanish intrusions.

• Navajo and Apache expanded raiding and herding economies across plateaus.

• Mississippian remnants persisted in the southeast, though large mound centers had declined; farming villages continued.

• California tribes (Chumash, Tongva, Miwok, and others) relied on acorns, fish, shellfish, and trade; plank canoes (tomols) facilitated coastal exchange.

• Spanish colonists attempted missions and forts in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico; most early settlements were fragile and dependent on Indigenous alliances.

Technology & Material Culture

Pueblo irrigation and adobe architecture remained central. California societies crafted baskets, shell ornaments, and tomols. The Spanish introduced horses, cattle, sheep, iron tools, and firearms. Mounted horse culture spread rapidly on the southern Plains, transforming hunting and warfare.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

Spanish entradas included Hernando de Soto (1539–1542) through the southeast and lower Mississippi, and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1540–1542) into the Southwest and Plains. The Rio Grande valley became a corridor of Spanish–Pueblo interaction. California’s coasts remained Indigenous, tied together by canoe and trade networks. Horses diffused northward from Spanish settlements into Plains societies.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

Pueblo rituals of kachina dances and sipapu renewal persisted despite missionary suppression. Southeastern groups maintained Green Corn ceremonies. California communities celebrated shamanic dances, stories, and feasts. Spanish missionaries introduced Catholic sacraments and saints’ festivals, often blending with Indigenous ritual.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Communities shifted settlement to buffer droughts; storage pits and diversified crops cushioned shortfalls. Horse adoption enhanced resilience on Plains margins. Spanish colonists struggled to adapt without Indigenous assistance.

Transition

By 1683 CE, Gulf and Western North America was contested: Spanish entradas had failed to fully conquer vast regions, but horses, diseases, and missions had begun reshaping Indigenous worlds. Pueblo and coastal peoples remained strong, while colonists clung to fragile outposts in Florida and New Mexico.

Numerous archaeological sites in central Kansas near the Great Bend of the Arkansas River share common traits and are collectively known as the "Great Bend aspect."

Radiocarbon dates from these sites range from CE 1450 to 1700.

Great Bend aspect sites are generally accepted as ancestral to the Wichita peoples described by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and other early European explorers.

The discovery of limited quantities of European artifacts, such as chain mail and iron axe heads at several Great Bend sites, suggests contact of these people with early Spanish explorers.

Great Bend aspect peoples' subsistence economy includes agriculture, hunting, gathering, and fishing.

Villages are located on the upper terraces of rivers, and crops appear to have been grown on the fertile floodplains below.

Primary crops are maize, beans, squash, and sunflowers, cultivated for their seeds.

Gathered foods included walnut and hickory nuts, and the fruits of plum, hackberry, and grape.

Remains of animal bones in Great Aspect sites include bison, elk, deer, pronghorn, and dog, one of the few domesticated animals in the pre-Contact Plains.

Several village sites contain the remains of unusual structures called "council circles," located at the center of settlements.

Archaeological excavations suggest they consist of a central patio surrounded by four semi-subterranean structures.

The function of the council circles is unclear.

Archaeologist Waldo Wedel suggested in 1967 that they may be ceremonial structures, possibly associated with solstice observations.

Recent analysis suggests that many non-local artifacts occur exclusively or primarily within council circles, implying the structures were occupied by political and/or ritual leaders of the Great Bend aspect peoples.

Other archaeologists will leave open the possibility that the council circle earthworks served a defensive role.

One of these sites is the city Etzanoa, located in present-day Arkansas City, Kansas, near the Arkansas River, that flourishes between 1450 and 1700.

Francisco Vásquez Coronado’s expedition, searching for the fabled riches of Gran Quivira, has journeyed east from the Rio Grande Valley in 1541 in search of a rich land called Quivira.

In Texas, probably in the Blanco River Canyon near Lubbock, Coronado meets people he calls Teyas who might have been related to the Wichita and the earlier Plains villagers.

The Teyas, if in fact they are Wichita, are probably the ancestors of the Iscani and Waco, although they might also have been the Kichai, who speak a different language but will later join the Wichita tribe.

Coronado crosses the western part of the region of present Oklahoma and ...

...undertakes the first European exploration of present Kansas.

Coronado pushes on to the seminomadic village of Quivira, near the town of Lyons, Kansas, but finds little wealth here.

The people later known as the Wichita, who live southeast of the great bend of the Arkansas River in south central Kansas, are of Caddoan linguistic stock, and call themselves Kitikitish. (A century later, the French will call them “Pani Pique” ("Tattooed Pawnee") because they practice tattooing.

A semisedentary agricultural people, the Wichita raise maize, pumpkins, and tobacco, and live in villages composed of conical thatch-covered lodges.

Coronado is disappointed in his search for gold as the Quivirans appear to have been prosperous farmers and good hunters but have no gold or silver.

There are about twenty-five villages of up to two hundred houses each in Quivira.

Coronado says: "They were large people of very good build", and he was impressed with the land, which was "fat and black."

Though Coronado is impressed with Wichita society, he often treats the Wichita poorly in his expedition.

Even after Wichita migration, some settlements are thought to have remained in northern Quivira in 1680.

Coronado also noted: "They eat meat raw/jerky like the Querechos [the Apache] and Teyas. They are enemies of one another...These people of Quivira have the advantage over the others in their houses and in growing of maize".
 
The Quivirans apparently call their land Tancoa (which bears a resemblance to the later sub-tribe called Tawakoni) and a neighboring province on the Smoky Hill River is called Tabas (which bears a resemblance to the sub-tribe of Taovayas).

Settlements will exist here until the Wichita are driven away in the eighteenth century.

Juan de Oñate, the founder of New Mexico, visits Etzanoa, the Wichita city, sixty years after Coronado's expedition.

Oñate had journeyed east from New Mexico, crossing the Great Plains and encountering two large settlements of people he called Rayados, most certainly Wichita, and Escanjaques, who may be identical with the Aguacane who live along the tributaries of the Red River in western Oklahoma.

If so, they are probably related to the people later known as the Wichita.

The Escanjaques try to persuade Oñate to plunder and destroy "Quiviran" villages.

The Rayado city is probably on the Walnut River near Arkansas City, Kansas.

Oñate describes the city as containing "more than twelve hundred houses" which would indicate a population of about twelve thousand.

His description of the Etzanoa is similar to that of Coronado's description of Quivira.

The homesteads are dispersed; the houses round, thatched with grass and surrounded by large granaries to store the corn, beans, and squash they grow in their fields.

Oñate's Rayados are probably the Wichita sub-tribe later known as the Guichitas.

What the Coronado and Oñate expeditions show is that the Wichita people of the sixteenth century are numerous and widespread.

They are not, however, a single tribe at this time but rather a group of several related tribes speaking a common language.

The dispersed nature of their villages probably indicates that they are not seriously threatened by attack by enemies, although that will change as they will soon be squeezed between the Apache on the West and the powerful Osage on the East.

European diseases will also probably be responsible for a large decline in the Wichita population in the seventeenth century.