| Total population | |
|---|---|
| fewer than 2,953[1] (2018) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Oklahoma,historically  Kansas and Texas | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerlyWichita | |
| Religion | |
| Native American Church,Christianity, Indigenous religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Caddo,Pawnee, otherWichita and Affiliated Tribes |
TheTaovaya tribe of theWichita people wereNative Americans originally fromKansas, who moved south intoOklahoma andTexas in the 18th century. They spoke theTaovaya dialect of theWichita language, aCaddoan language. Taovaya people today are enrolled in theWichita and Affiliated Tribes, afederally recognized tribe headquartered inAnadarko, Oklahoma.
The Taovaya have also been called the Aijado, Tahuayase, Taouaize, Tawehash, Teguayo, Toaya, and Towash.[2]
Taovaya culture and language was closely related to those of other tribes of the Wichita. They were a semi-agrarian society whose main crops consisted of maize (corn), beans, melons, gourds, and tobacco. Hunting practices consisted of taking on bison, deer and other smaller game.[2]
The Taovaya are part of the Wichita tribes, which also include theTawakoni,Waco (Iscani); andGuichita or Wichita Proper.[3] The Taovaya originated in Kansas, and possibly southern Nebraska.[2]
In 1541,Spanish conquistadorFrancisco Vásquez de Coronado led an expedition across theGreat Plains in search of a rich land calledQuivira. What he found were ancestral Wichita, a numerous farming and buffalo hunting people in centralKansas who possessed none of the wealth he sought. The furthest part of Quivira is believed to have been located on theSmoky Hill River nearLindsborg, Kansas. This area was called "Tabas", similar to the name Taovaya.[4]
From about 1630 to 1710, the Taovaya might have lived near present-dayMarion, Kansas, wherearchaeological sites belonging to theGreat Bend aspect have been discovered.[5]
In 1719, French explorerClaude Charles Du Tisne found two likely Taovaya villages of people he called "Paniouassa" near the present-dayNeodesha, Kansas. "Pani" was a generic term the French called bothPawnee Indians and Wichita. That same year another French explorerBernard de la Harpe visited a village, probably a few miles south ofTulsa, Oklahoma, in which the inhabitants were from several Wichita tribes including the "Toayas" or Taovayas. La Harpe said the Toavayas were said to be the most numerous of the Wichita.[6]
By the 18th century, theOsage encroached upon Wichita lands from the east, and theApache from the west. In their Kansas and Oklahoma homelands, the Wichita were under intense pressure from both Osage and Apache. In the 1720s the Taovayas and their Guichita relatives began to move south to theRed River establishing a large village on the north side of the river inJefferson County, Oklahoma, and on the south side atSpanish Fort, Texas. By the late 1750s, many of the Wichita tribes were living in Texas or across the Red River in Oklahoma.
The Taovaya were allied with the French, and in 1746 the French brokered a peace between the Taovaya and other Wichita with theComanche. The Taovaya achieved their maximum influence during the next few decades. The village at Spanish Fort was "a lively emporium where Comanches brought Apache slaves, horses and mules to trade for French packs of powder, balls, knives, and textiles and for Taovayas-grown maize, melons, pumpkins, squash, and tobacco."[7]
As French allies, the Taovaya ran afoul of theSpanish who had several posts and missions in southern Texas. In 1758, the Comanche, Taovaya, and other Wichita destroyed theSan Sabá de la Santa Cruz mission of the Spanish. The next year the Spanish sent a 500-man army north to attack the Taovaya village at Spanish Fort, Texas. An Indian army met the Spaniards and routed them, capturing two cannons and killing or wounding about 50 of the Spaniards.[9] The unsuccessful Spanish attack on Taovaya villages in Texas and Oklahoma in 1759 is known as theBattle of the Twin Villages.
The Taovaya continued to wage war against the Spanish and theirLipan Apache allies while also in the 1760s acting peacefully towards the Spanish missions among theHasinai, aCaddo tribe. In December 1764Eyasiquiche, one of the prominent leaders among the Taovaya, led an attack against Spaniards and Apaches nearMission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz. In this attack a Spanish soldier, Antonio Trevino, was taken prisoner by the Taovoya. Originally Eyasiquiche planned to adopt Trevino into the Taovaya people, but, on learning he was fromLos Adaes, Esquiche decided to return Trevino there.[10]
The French loss of their American colonies in 1763 in theFrench and Indian War interrupted the flow of trade goods to the Taovayas and made them more receptive to the Spanish. This process took years because the French traders remained in Louisiana, and it was not untilAlejandro O'Reilly became governor that regulations were enacted that forbade French trading with the Taovaya. In 1771 the Taovayas, the other Wichita, and theTonkawa made a peace agreement with the Spanish, defying the Comanche. The Taovaya trading empire was diminished by the Comanche and an epidemic, probablysmallpox, that struck the Wichita in 1777 and 1778, killing more than 300 of them.[11] In 1778, the Taovaya village at Spanish Fort had 123 houses and across the Red River a Wichita town had another 37 houses. Together the two towns counted 600 men and a total population of probably around 2,500.[12] This however, was far less than the Wichita population in the time of Coronado when they numbered several tens of thousands. In 1801 another epidemic killed a great number of them. The AmericanIndian agent Dr.John Sibley estimated in 1805 that they numbered 400 men.[13]
The Taovaya as a distinct tribe ended rather suddenly. In 1811, their chief, Awahakei, died during a visit to Americans inNatchitoches, Louisiana. The tribe did not select another leader and fragmented. Some joined the Tawakoni on the Brazos River. The Americans came to collectively call them "Wichita."[14]
In 1835, the Wichita, including the former Taovaya, signed a treaty with the Americans and were relocated from Texas to anIndian reservation in southwesternIndian Territory (now, Oklahoma).[2]
The site of the 1759 Taovaya victory over Spain during theBattle of the Twin Villages received a historic marker in 1976.[15] Its coordinates are33°56′52.9434″N97°36′58.33″W / 33.948039833°N 97.6162028°W /33.948039833; -97.6162028 (1759 Taovayo victory over Spain).
The Taovayan Valley, a geographic region encompassing the area between theWichita Mountains and theRed River of the South, is named after the tribe. The region was the tribe's last stronghold prior toremoval to Indian Territory.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), 18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), 17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), 19{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), pp. 19-20.| Federally recognized tribes | |
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| Other consulted tribes | |
| Indigenous languages | |
| Historical Indigenous peoples of Texas (Several are in Oklahoma today) |
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| Related topics | |
† extinct language /≠ extinct tribe / >< early,obsolete name of Indigenous tribe /° people absorbed into other tribe(s) /* headquartered in Oklahoma today | |