About Us
Our History
The First Peoples of Louisiana and Texas
The Adai Caddo are an Indigenous tribe of present-day Louisiana and Texas. The Adai Caddo are amongst the first tribes met and documented by European explorers in the present-day United States. The first explorer and Spanish conquistador, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca met the Adai Caddo in 1530. The tribe is the host and eponym of the first capital of Texas (Los Adaes) and the first and second Catholic missions in Louisiana (San Miguel de Linares de los Adaes and San Miguel de Cuellar de los Adaes). The Adai Caddo helped establish and defend the oldest towns in Louisiana and Texas (Natchitoches and Nacogdoches).
The Adai Caddo are one of the few tribes in the U.S. who never sold or left their lands. The Adai Caddo still live, own, and work their ancestral lands.
Maps
A Graphical Record of Louisiana and Texas History
The Adai Caddo were an essential ally and trade partner to the early European colonies. The first maps of Louisiana and Texas, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, depict the Adai Caddo, their villages, territories, and the lakes, rivers, and churches that bear their name.
Learn why the Adai Caddo are the only Indian nation listed on French, Spanish, Portuguese, and British maps in the central and northwest region of Louisiana, today known as Sabine, DeSoto, Vernon, Beauregard, and Natchitoches Parishes.
Recognition
Centuries of contributions to the creation of Louisiana, Texas, and the United States
Over the past 500 years, the Adai Caddo have been recognized by various governments, kings, military leaders, universities, historical societies, and other organizations for their military, economic, civic, educational, and cultural contributions.
Heroes
Adai Caddo serve their people and their country
The Adai Caddo have always been a tribe of warriors dedicated to protecting their families and loved ones. The first European explorer of the present-day United States wrote of our war with the Susolas in 1530. The French and Spanish would establish military allegiances with the Adai Caddo that would last for the entire duration of the colonial period. The Adai Caddo are the oldest and longest serving ally of the Louisiana colony, and our military accomplishments include rescuing the famous French explorer La Harpe, brokering treaties between the Spanish and the western tribes, defending the colony from the Natchez and Choctaw Indians, fighting alongside our metis colonists united against the British in the American Revolution, and being the first Louisiana colonists (and first Americans) to explore the Continental Divide decades before Lewis and Clark albeit under Spanish commission. The tribe has an astonishing military record. Of its current members, 25% of the men have previously or are currently serving in the military. The national average is 6%.
El Camino Real
The Adai Caddo trails become "the Royal Road"
The centuries old, heavily traveled foot trails connecting the Adai Caddo villages in East Texas and Louisiana became known as the “Contraband Trail” as illegal goods were smuggled and traded between the Spanish and French colonies. The Adai Caddo transported these goods over land and water. In the 18th century, Spanish and French traders and smugglers would follow the Adai Caddo and use their trails. These trails later became known as the San Antonio Trace and the El Camino Real connecting Mexico with Louisiana. Today, the El Camino Real is still used to transport people and goods as part of the Louisiana and Texas public roadway system and is referred to as the “the Royal Road” or “the King’s Highway.”
Tayler finally placed Adaes as a definite Caddoan language, but it was the most deviant of all, and the Adaes became more and more western in their cultural orientation. They gradually extended to the Sabine River where a late trash pit (A.D. 1740) at Coral Snake Mound may be evidence of their presence. It contained glass trade beads, and a French musket lock was found nearby. Their Lac Macdon village, where they remained as late as 1820, was probably near the water body known today as Berry Brake and may well be on Allen Plantation.