The Caddo people (Caddo language: Hasí꞉nay) comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They formerly spoke the Caddo language.
The Caddo Confederacies were networks of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who historically inhabited much of what is now northeast Texas, western Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, and southeastern Oklahoma. Prior to European contact, they were the Caddoan Mississippian culture, who constructed huge earthwork mounds at several sites in this territory, flourishing about 800 to 1400 CE. In the early 19th century, Caddo people were forced to a reservation in Texas. In 1859, they were removed to Indian Territory.
Government and civic institutions The Caddo Nation of Oklahoma was previously known as the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribal constitution provides for election of an eight-person council, with a chairperson.
Some 6,000 people are enrolled in the nation, with 3,044 living in Oklahoma.2011 Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory. Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission. 2011: 7. Retrieved 2 January 2012. Individuals are required to document at least 1/16 Caddo ancestry to enroll as citizens.
In July 2016, Tamara M. Francis was reelected as the chairman of the Caddo Nation. Chairman Tamara Francis is the daughter of the first elected female chairman, Mary Pat Francis. She was the fourth elected female leader of the Caddo Nation.
As of 2025, the tribal council consists of: Chairman: Bobby Gonzalez Vice Chairwoman: Kelly Howell Factor Secretary: Jennifer Reeder Treasurer: Verna Castillo Anadarko representative: Tracey Martine Binger representative: Kara Dougherty Fort Cobb representative: Arlene Kay O'Neal Oklahoma City representative: Brittany Habbart.
The tribe has several programs to invigorate Caddo culture. It sponsors a summer culture camp for children.Hasinai Summer Youth Camp . Hasinai Society. 2008. Retrieved 13 Sept 2009. The Hasinai SocietyGeneral Information. Hasinai Society (2008). Retrieved 13 Sept 2009. and Caddo Culture ClubEdge, Donald. Caddo Culture Club. Caddo Nation: Heritage and Culture. (retrieved 13 Sept 2009) both teach and perform Caddo songs and dances to keep the culture alive and pass it on to the next generations. The now-defunct Kiwat Hasinay Foundation was dedicated to preserving and increasing use of the Caddo language.Background. Kiwat Hasinay Foundation.(retrieved 13 Sept 2009)
Precontact history
Archaeology
The Caddo are thought to be an extension of Woodland period peoples, the Fourche Maline and Mossy Grove cultures, whose members were living in the area of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas areas between 200 BCE and 800 CE. The Wichita and Pawnee are also related to the Caddo, since both tribes historically spoke Caddoan languages.
By 800 CE, this society had begun to coalesce into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. Some villages began to gain prominence as ritual centers. Leaders directed the construction of major earthworks known as platform mounds, which served as temple mounds and platforms for residences of the elite. The flat-topped mounds were arranged around leveled, large, open plazas, which were usually kept swept clean and were often used for ceremonial occasions. As complex religious and social ideas developed, some people and family lineages gained prominence over others.
By 1000 CE, a society that is defined by archaeologists as "Caddoan" had emerged. By 1200, the many villages, hamlets, and farmsteads established throughout the Caddo world had developed extensive maize agriculture, producing a surplus that allowed for greater density of settlement. In these villages, artisans and craftsmen developed specialties. The artistic skills and earthwork mound-building of the Caddoan Mississippians flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries.Carter, 17=8
The Spiro Mounds, near the Arkansas River in present-day southeastern Oklahoma, were some of the most elaborate mounds in the United States. They were made by Mississippian ancestors of the historic Caddo and Wichita tribes, in what is considered the westernmost area of the Mississippian culture.Fforde et al., 154 The Caddo were farmers and enjoyed good growing conditions most of the time. The Piney Woods, the geographic area where they lived, was affected by the Great Drought from 1276 to 1299 CE, which covered an area extending to present-day California and disrupted many Native American cultures."Great Drought". (2008). Encyclopædia Britannica. (Retrieved September 30, 2008). Encyclopædia Britannica Online
Archeological evidence has confirmed that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present among these peoples. The Caddoan Mississippian people were the direct ancestors of the historic Caddo people and related Caddo-language speakers, such as the Pawnee and Wichita, who encountered the first Europeans, as well as of the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
Religion
The Caddo creation story, as told in their oral history, says the tribe emerged from a cave, called Chahkanina or "the place of crying", located at the confluence of the Red River of the South and Mississippi River (in northern present-day Louisiana). Their leader, named Moon, instructed the people not to look back. An old Caddo man carried a drum, a pipe, and fire, all of which have continued to be important religious items to the people. His wife carried corn and pumpkin seeds. As people and accompanying animals emerged, the wolf looked back. The exit from the underground closed to the remaining people and animals.Sturtevant, 625
The Caddo peoples moved west along the Red River, which they called Bah'hatteno in Caddo. A Caddo woman, Zacado, instructed the tribe in hunting, fishing, building dwellings, and making clothing. Caddo religion focuses on Kadhi háyuh, translating to "Leader Above" or "Leader in the Sky". In early times, the people were led by priests, including a head priest, the xinesi, who could commune with spirits residing near Caddo temples. A cycle of ceremonies developed around important periods of seasonal corn cultivation. Tobacco was also cultivated, and was and is used ceremonially. Early priests drank a purifying sacrament drink made of wild olive leaves.Sturtevant, 626
Territory Centuries before extensive European contact, some of the Caddo territory was invaded by migrating Dhegihan Siouan–speaking peoples - the Osage, Ponca, Omaha, Quapaw, and Kaw. They moved west beginning about 1200 CE after years of warfare with the Haudenosaunee nations in the Ohio River area of present-day Kentucky. The powerful Iroquois took control of hunting grounds in the area.
The Osage in particular fought the Caddo, pushed them out of some former territory, and became dominant in the region of present-day Missouri, Arkansas, and eastern Kansas. These tribes had become settled in their new territory west of the Mississippi prior to mid-18th-century European contact.
Most of the Caddo historically lived in the Piney Woods ecoregion of the United States, divided among the state regions of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. This region extends up to the foothills of the Ozarks. The Piney Woods are a dense forest of deciduous and pinophytal flora covering rolling hills, steep river valleys, and intermittent wetlands called "bayous". Caddo people primarily settled near the Caddo River.
When they first encountered Europeans and Africans, the Caddo tribes organized themselves in three confederacies: Natchitoches, Hasinai, and Kadohadacho. They were loosely affiliated with other neighboring tribes, including the Yowani Choctaw. The Natchitoches lived in now northern Louisiana, the Haisinai lived in East Texas, and the Kadohadacho lived near the border of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.Sturtevant, 616–617
The Caddo people had a diet based on cultivated crops, particularly maize (corn), but also sunflower, pumpkins, and squash. These foods held cultural significance, as did wild turkeys. They hunted and gathered wild plants, as well.
Culture The Caddo Native Americans had a culture that consisted of the hunting and gathering dynamic. The men hunted year round, while the young and healthy women were responsible for the gathering of fruits, seeds, and vegetables for the tribe. Elderly women planted and cultivated the seeds for the season's crop. Gathered items included maize, sunflowers, beans, melons, tobacco, and squash during the warm seasons. Acorns and roots were gathered and processed to provide food other than meat in the cold seasons when crops did not grow.
The men used handcrafted bows and arrows to hunt animals such as wild turkey, quail, rabbits, bears, and bison during winters. Most tools and items were made by women. They made wooden mortars, as well as pots and other utensils out of clay. These wood and clay tools were carved and molded to help with daily jobs such as cooking meals for the tribe. These tools were viewed with such reverence that men and women were buried with the items that they had made.
The Caddo also decorated their bodies. Men favored body modifications and ornamentation such as the painting of skin, jewelry, ear piercing, and hair decorations, like braids, adorned with bird feathers or animal fur. While the women of the tribe wore some jewelry and styled their hair similarly to men, most used the art of tattooing to decorate their bodies. Such tattoos covered most of the body, including the face.
Post-contact history
The Caddo first encountered Europeans and Africans in 1541 when the Spanish Hernando de Soto Expedition came through their lands.Sturtevant, 619 De Soto's force had a violent clash with one band of Caddo Indians, the Tula people, near present-day Caddo Gap, Arkansas. This historic event has been marked by the modern town with a monument.
The Spanish were considered outsiders. All Franciscan missions were set up in peripheral locations in relation to temples complexes which were the center of the Caddo's world. The Caddos didn't want to move near the missions because they would abandon their sacred fires. According to Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa, the Caddo believed "our [Spanish] fire is different." On a deeper level the security of the Caddo relied on centuries of living in dispersed settlements.
French explorers in the early 18th century encountered the Natchitoche in northern Louisiana. They were followed by fur traders from French outposts along the Gulf Coast. Later Catholic missionaries from France and Spain also traveled among the people. The Europeans carried infections such as smallpox and measles, because these were endemic in their societies. As the Caddo peoples had no acquired immunity to such new diseases, they suffered epidemics with high fatalities that destroyed the tribal populations. Influenza and malaria were additional new diseases that caused many deaths among the Caddo.
French traders built their trading posts and associated forts near Caddo villages. These were already important hubs in the Great Plains trading network well before the 18th and 19th centuries. These stations attracted more French and other European settlers. Among such settlements are the present-day communities of Elysian Fields and Nacogdoches, Texas, and Natchitoches, Louisiana. In the latter two towns, early explorers and settlers kept the original Caddo names of the villages.