Description
The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter gatherers. First encountered by Europeans in the 16th century, their population declined due to European diseases, slavery, and numerous small-scale wars fought against the Spanish, criollo, Apache, and other Indigenous groups. After the Texas secession from Mexico, Coahuiltecan peoples were largely forced into harsh living conditions. The Coahuiltecan lived in the flat, brushy, dry country of northern Mexico and southern Texas, roughly south of a line from the Gulf Coast at the mouth of the Guadalupe River to San Antonio and westward to around Del Rio. Spanish colonists created the name Coahuiltecan, derived from Coahuila, the state in New Spain where they first encountered Coahuiltecan peoples.
Language
The Coahuiltecan languages are a collection of related languages. It should not be confused with the Coahuilteco language. The Coahuiltecan languages are extinct, but there are efforts to revive them.
Culture
The Coahuiltecans, despite the single overarching name, represented many different ethnic groups, tribes, and nations native of the South Texas and Northeast Mexico region. Historic accounts describe these people as highly mobile family units of hunters and gatherers that resided near rivers and streams. The peoples shared the common traits of not farming, living in small autonomous bands, and having no political unity above the level of the band and extended family. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers, who carried few possessions on their backs as they adaptively moved to acquire seasonal food sources without depleting them. Coahuiltecan peoples hunted deer, bison, peccary, armadillos, rabbits, rats, mice, snakes, lizards, frogs, salamanders, and snails for meat. They fished and caught shellfish. Fish was probably most important as food for groups living near the Rio Grande delta. Plants provided most of their diet. Pecans were an important protein source, gathered in the fall and stored for future use. Most of the Coahuiltecan seemed to have had a regular round of travels in their food gathering.