CADDO

one of a confederacy of tribes of North American Indians that composed the Caddoan linguistic family. The Caddo proper originally occupied the lower Red River area in what are now Louisiana and Arkansas. In the late 17th century they numbered 8,000 persons living in villages scattered along the Red River and its tributaries. This is also the region of the Caddoan archaeological complex, where many striking examples of Indian workmanship have been found. Archaeological research shows the Caddoan tenancy to be ancient. During the 18th century the French and Spanish disputed over Caddo territory, and the tribe was at first friendly to the French. By the close of the 18th century various pressures from white settlers on the Caddo had broken up their tribal life and turned many of them into wanderers in their own land. When Louisiana was purchased by the U.S., white immigration increased, and the tribe was pushed farther south. Under the treaty of 1835 the Caddo ceded all their land to the U.S. The Louisiana Caddo moved southwest to join others of the tribe in Texas. There they lived peaceably for a time, but in 1859 threats of a massacre by the whites forced them to flee to east central Oklahoma, where they were settled on a reservation on the banks of the Washita River. When first encountered, the Caddo were a semi-sedentary agricultural people. They lived in conical-shaped dwellings constructed of poles covered with a thatch of grass; these were grouped around ceremonial centres of temple mounds. The Caddo were skillful potters and basket makers. They wove cloth of vegetable fibres and, on special occasions, wore mantles decorated with feathers. They also wore nose rings and practiced tattooing. Descent was matrilineal, and a hereditary upper group, marked by head deformation and other status symbols, directed political and religious activities. There are scattered reports of ceremonial human sacrifice and cannibalism. These and other traits relate the Caddo to the centres of high Indian culture in Mexico and Yucatn.