COAHUILTEC

Little is known of Coahuiltec (or Coahuilteco) history. More than 200 politically autonomous bands are classified as Coahuiltec based on their being part of a linguistic family, Coahuiltecan. Some scholars consider Coahuiltecan part of the Hokan phylum, and others consider it related to the Karankawan language of the KARANKAWA, but both views are hypothetical. Moreover, some of the bands grouped among the Coahuiltec may have in fact spoken a different language. The name Coahuiltec, pronounced kwah-WEEL-teck, is derived from the name of the Mexican state Coahuila, part of their desert homeland on both sides of the Rio Grande in present-day northern Mexico and southern Texas; in addition to northern Coahuila, the tribe’s territory included present-day northern Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas in Mexico, as far north in Texas as present-day San Antonio, and from the Gulf Coast to as far west as present-day Eagle Pass.

What is known about the Coahuiltec comes mostly from early reports of Spanish explorers, soldiers, and missionaries. The Coahuiltec were hunter-gatherers, and, unlike some of the other peoples of ancient SOUTH WEST CULTURES and later tribes of the Southwest Culture Area (see SOUTHWEST INDIANS) in which they are grouped, they knew nothing of irrigation to farm arid lands. With little large game in the region, they subsisted mainly on small mammals, lizards, insects, and wild plant foods, much like GREAT BASIN INDIANS to the north.

The explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca traversed Coahuiltec territory in 1535—36. Although Spanish forces regularly traveled on tribal lands over the next decades, they did not establish a permanent presence there until the 1670s. A mission was estabished at Nadadores in northern Mexico in 1677; many Coahuil-tec were forced to live and work there. Overwork, diseases, and raids by other tribes from the north, such as the COMANCHE, took their toll on the scattered bands, and Coahuiltec numbers were drastically reduced. In the late 19th century, some Coahuiltec families were reported south of the Rio Grande, but they did not speak their ancient language. The tribe, despite some descendants now living in Mexico, is considered extinct.