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The Wichita are a Tribe of Native Americans , indigenous inhabitants of North America , who speak Wichita , a Caddoan Language . The Wichita formed a loose confederation on the Southern Plains, including such tribes as Panis Piques, Taovayas, Guichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wacos, and they lived in fixed villages notable for domed-shaped and grass-covered dwellings. The Wichita were successful hunters and farmers, skillful traders and negotiators. They ranged as far south as San Antonio, Texas to as far north as Great Bend, Kansas . A semi-sedentary people, they occupied northern Texas in the early 1700's and were involved in trade with other Southern Plains Indians on both sides of the Red River and as far south as Waco . The Wichita lived in huts made of forked cedar poles cover by dry grasses, but would abandon them in the winter to go hunt American Bison . The Wichita were known to Tattoo their faces and bodies with solid and dotted lines and circles. They called themselves " Raccoon -eyed people" (Wichita ''Kitikiti'sh'') because of the tattooed marks around their eyes. They wore clothes made of tanned hides, the women often decorating their dresses in Elk teeth. FIRST EUROPEAN CONTACT Their population at the time of first contact with the Europeans is estimated at 200,000. The first records of the Wichita Tribe come to us from Francisco Vásquez De Coronado , a Spanish explorer who encountered a belt of villages in 1541 in what is now south-central Kansas . He is recorded as saying: "There are not more than twenty-five towns, with straw houses, in it, nor any more in all the rest of the country that I have seen and learned about . . . All they have is the tanned skins of the cattle they kill, for the herds are near where they live, at quite a large river. They eat meat raw like the Querechos [the Apache ] and Teyas [the Jumano ]. They are enemies of one another...These people of Quivira known as the Wichita have the advantage over the others in their houses and in growing of Maize ." By 1719 they had largely migrated southward to Oklahoma. During the Civil War they moved back to Kansas and established a village at the site of present-day Wichita, Kansas . Their numbers dwindled rapidly upon contact with people of European descent. In 1780, it was estimated that there were about 3,200 total Wichita. By 1868, the population is recorded as being 572 total Wichita. By the time of the census of 1937, there were only 385 Wichita officially left. Place names such as; Wichita, Kansas, Wichita Falls, Texas and Waco, Texas are previous camping or village locations of this tribe at the time of European, Texan or American contact. U.S. RECOGNITION The United States Bureau Of Indian Affairs officially recognizes the tribe, and circa 2003 the officially recognized name is, ''Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma''. Tribe offices are located in Anandarko, Oklahoma. The Affiliated tribes include the Caddo and Delaware Indians. The Wichita tribal lands are centered today around Gracemont, Oklahoma. SOURCES
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