Техас мұхит жағасындағы ежелгі Акокиса тайпасы

Historic Indigenous tribe of Texas

The Akokisa (also known as the Accokesaws, Arkokisa, or Orcoquiza) were an Indigenous tribe who lived on Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity and Sabine rivers in Texas, primarily in the present day Greater Houston area. They were a band of the Atakapa Indians, closely related to the Atakapa of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca wrote about the Akokisa in 1528, calling them the "Han." For water transportation and fishing, Akokisas carved cypress logs into dugout canoes. Akokisa were hunter gatherers and had a diet of deer, fish, oysters and bison. Black drink was used for purification in certain ceremonies. They are reported to have grown "superfine" maize. Tubers of the greenbrier vine provided meal for baking and cooking. During warm seasons they ate bird eggs, fish, shellfish, and American lotus rhizomes and seeds; during cold seasons they moved further inland and hunted deer, bear, and bison. Horses were used to hunt bison. Tanned deer hides and bear fat were their primary commercial exports. Almost nothing is known about their kinship systems, life cycle, or marriage customs.

The Akokisa language is extinct and unknown. Swanton claimed that the Akokisa spoke a language related to Atakapa based on the similarity of a vocabulary of 45 words ascribed to the Akokisa collected by Captain Jean Béranger in 1721 on Galveston. However, there is no clear evidence that this document actually represents the language of Akokisa (Béranger provides a tribal designation for the vocabulary). Sibley also reported that they had their own language "peculiar to themselves" and used sign language to communicate with other Indians (also reported for other peoples in eastern Texas). He did not connect them with the Atakapa. Only two Akokisa words have been found in Spanish records: Yegsa meaning "Spaniard(s)" and Quiselpoo, a female name.