When the Spanish arrived in present day Texas some 500 years ago there were several hundred Native tribes living in, hunting, or trading across today’s Texas. Using the accounts of Spanish and French explorers, missionaries, and settlers as well as the extensive archaeological record, award-winning historian William C. Foster has crafted an outstanding history of Texas Indians in the early historic period circa 1528 to 1722.
Dividing the state into geographic study areas, Foster describes the Native people through a chronological narrative of their interactions with Europeans and with other Indians. From the mound-building Caddo in the northeast to the 65 tribes in the Trans-Pecos southwestern corner of the state, Foster paints a rich history of varied cultures. In between are the people of the Great Plains who lived off the buffalo culture that was greatly enhanced by the Spanish introduction of horses.
This overview of the historic tribes reveals groups that were much more cosmopolitan that previously believed. Texas was a central link for religion, architecture, and technology connecting the southern woodlands to the desert Southwest cultures and the Pacific. Historic Native Peoples of Texas is an outstanding contribution to the literature of the early historic period of Native Americans. —Mark Michel
