Atákapa

Atakapa Indians

Atakapa Tribe: Meaning in Choctaw and Mobilian, “man eater,” because they and some of the Indians west of them at times ate the flesh of their enemies. Skunnemoke, the name of a chief, extended to the whole people. Tûk-pa’-han-yan-ya-di, Biloxi name. Yuk’hiti ishak, own name. Atakapa Connections. The Atakapa were originally placed in an independent linguistic stock, including also the Bidai, Deadose, and probably the Opelousa, but it has now been determined that they belonged to one family with the Chitimacha, their eastern neighbors, and probably the Tunican group on the Mississippi, the whole being called the Tunican stock. Atakapa … Read more

Atákapa Indian Tribe

The Atákapa tribe once existed upon the upper Bayou Tèche northwest and west of the Shetimasha, north and northwest of the Opelousa Indians, and from the Tèche extended beyond Vermilion river, perhaps down to the sea coast. The Atákapa of old were a well-made race of excellent hunters, but had, as their name indicates, the reputation of being anthropophagites.