During the subsequent Spanish regime, the Quapaw helped defend the colony from invasion by Indians allied with the English. Ironically, the Quapaw and French had an amicable relationship, for the French were usually at war with most other native tribes. Afterward, the numbers continued to decline due to epidemics and raids by other tribes, particularly the Chickasaw. However, after a smallpox epidemic in 1698, their population declined dramatically, to about 800 to 1,200. Quapaw population figures vary in the late 17th century and in the 18th century, with estimates ranging from 3,500 to 7,500. However, the village leaders would come together when matters concerned the entire tribe. Clans were named for animals, heavenly bodies, or natural phenomena like thunder.Įach village had a leader who was advised by a council of male elders who managed their affairs independently from other villages. The family was the basic unit of Quapaw social organization, with groups of families related through the males joined into clans. In art, they were particularly noted for their red-on-white pottery designs. After contact with Europeans, melons, peaches, and chickens were raised. They also collected fruits, nuts, seeds, and roots and hunted for deer, bear, and buffalo as well as smaller mammals and fished seasonally. They practiced extensive agriculture, growing corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, gourds, and tobacco in fields near their villages. The houses were arranged around an open area or plaza that included a roofed structure with open walls and a platform where public ceremonies were held and guests were received. In the larger villages, well-crafted lodges were seen with most people living in longhouses with domed roofs covered in bark. Later they were contacted by French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673. When they were encountered by the DeSoto expedition (1539-43), they were living in a fortified, walled city. They are identical to the Arkansa Nation. ![]() The Quapaw people historically resided in four villages on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas. Their name translates to “Downstream People,” so-called from a tradition that they went down the Missouri River while the rest of the Sioux went upriver. The Quapaw people are a Siouan tribe, closely related to the Kanza, Omaha, Osage, and Ponca.
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