Teya people facts for kids
The Teyas were a Native American group who lived near what is now Lubbock, Texas. Europeans first met them in 1541 when the Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado traveled through their lands.
We don't know for sure which tribe the Teyas belonged to or what language they spoke. Many experts think they spoke a language from the Caddoan family and were related to the Wichita tribe. Coronado also met the Wichita people later in a place called Quivira. It seems the name "Teyas" was given to them by the Rio Grande Pueblo Indians.
Who Were the Teyas?
Experts have different ideas about who the Teyas really were and what language they spoke. Some historians think they might have been Apache people. Others believe they were connected to the Rio Grande Pueblos, possibly speaking a Tanoan language. They might even be the same people later known to the Spanish as the Jumano. However, "Jumano" might have just been a general name for different Plains Indian groups, not one specific tribe.
The Teyas traded a lot with the Pueblo people. Coronado was told that around the 1520s, the Teyas destroyed some Pueblo villages near Santa Fe, New Mexico. This suggests the Teyas were a large and strong group who traveled widely.
Many experts believe the Teyas spoke a Caddoan language and were related to the Wichita peoples whom Coronado found in central Kansas.
The Teyas might not have been full-time nomads (people who move around a lot) on the Plains. They might have also lived in farming villages further east. Tribes in this area often went onto the plains for long buffalo hunts. Archaeologists have found old farming villages (from the Wheeler phase, thought to be Caddoan) near the Washita River in southwestern Oklahoma. The Teyas were close to these villages, which suggests a connection. Also, the Teyas were described as painted and tattooed, just like the Caddoan-speaking Wichita, who were called "Raccoon People" because they tattooed around their eyes.
While most people think "Teyas" came from a Pueblo word, it sounds a lot like "Tejas," a Caddoan word meaning "friend." This word "Tejas" is actually where the name "Texas" comes from!
It's also possible the Teyas were a Coahuiltecan or Tonkawa group, who mostly lived in southern and central Texas. An old man among the Teyas told Coronado he had met Spaniards before, probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who traveled across southern Texas about ten years earlier. This could mean the Teyas came from the south.
We may never know for sure who the Teyas were. But figuring it out would help us understand the early history of the Southern Plains. Later groups like the Escanjaque Indians, Aguacane, and Iscani might be related to the Teyas.
Coronado's Journey
In 1541, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an expedition onto the Great Plains. He was looking for a rich country called Quivira.
As Coronado traveled across the Texas panhandle, he met two groups of Native Americans: the Querechos and the Teyas. The Querechos were nomadic buffalo hunters, likely Apaches, who lived on the Llano Estacado (a large, flat area). The Teyas lived in the canyons below the eastern edge of the Llano. The Querechos and Teyas were enemies. Spanish items found at an archaeological site northeast of Lubbock suggest that Blanco Canyon, near the Brazos River, is where Coronado first met a large group of Teyas.
Teyas Culture and Life
The Teyas were described as nomadic buffalo hunters who lived in tents. But they also had other ways to find food. The canyons had trees and flowing streams. The Teyas grew or gathered beans, but Coronado's writers said they didn't "sow corn, nor eat bread, but instead raw meat." The Spanish also saw mulberries, roses, grapes, nuts (probably pecans), and plums.
After this first meeting, Coronado traveled for four more days and found a settlement called Cona. This settlement stretched for three days of travel along a small river in a canyon that was two or three miles wide. It's not clear if Coronado followed the Brazos River downstream or went to a different canyon to find Cona.
The Spanish writers said, "The country was well occupied," meaning many people lived there.
Coronado's writers described the Teyas as smart and very skilled archers. One Teyas person shot an arrow that went through both shoulders of a bison, which was considered an amazing shot, "a good shot for a musket." The women dressed well and were modest, covering their whole bodies with a petticoat under a fringed cloak with sleeves. One woman was "as white as a Castillian lady except that she had her chin painted like a Moorish woman." Coronado noted that they "tattoo their bodies and faces, and are large people of very fine appearance."
An interesting moment was when Coronado met an old, blind, bearded man among the Teyas. Beards were rare among Native Americans. This man said he had met four Spaniards far to the south. He was probably talking about Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who, with three shipmates, traveled across southern Texas almost ten years before Coronado.
What Happened to the Teyas?
The Teyas, or at least their name, disappeared from history not long after Coronado met them. It's likely they were pushed out of their home in West Texas by the Apache people, who were moving into the area. If their descendants were later met by the Spanish in a different place, they were not recognized as the same people Coronado had encountered.
