The land where New Orleans now sits once belonged to the Chitimacha Tribe.
“The Chitimacha, according to oral history, ‘have always been here,’ ” the Chitimacha Nation states. “Unfortunately, over thousands of years the Chitimacha land base has significantly decreased.”
According to the American Library Association, the tribe’s land once stretched from Lafayette to New Orleans and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
It is the only Louisiana tribe that still lives on part of its original homeland, about two hours from New Orleans in St. Mary Parish.
Once considered “prolific ceramics producers,” the Chitimacha Tribe currently is known for its “river cane basketry, both single and double woven,” the Chitimacha Nation states. “According to tribal legend, basketry was taught to the Chitimacha by a deity and has been practiced by tribal families for thousands of years. There are at least 50 different design elements, which can be combined to create hundreds of different basket designs.”
When Europeans arrived, the Chitimacha Tribe was considered the most powerful from Texas to Florida. Following slave raids and French aggression in 1706, the Chitimacha Nation states, tribe members killed a slave-owning priest and his fellow missionaries. The French struck back by convincing other tribes to join them in a war against the Chitimacha.
For 12 years, Chitimacha tribe members were enslaved, killed and displaced to the south and west, the American Library Association states. The war ended when a peace treaty was signed in New Orleans in 1718.
Today, the tribe owns and operates several businesses, and is the second-largest employer in St. Mary Parish. With membership close to 1,300, most tribe members live in Louisiana.
“Deeply rooted in the traditional past,” 64 Parishes states, “the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana continues its work to ensure a promising cultural and economic future for Chitimacha people.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.