Tunica-Biloxi
The Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, formerly known as the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana, is a Federally recognized tribe of primarily Tunica and Biloxi people, located in east central Louisiana. Descendants of Ofo (Siouan-speakers), Avoyel (a Natchez people), and Choctaw (Muskogean) are also enrolled in the tribe.
Today they speak mostly English and French. Many live on the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation (31°06′48″N 92°03′13″W / 31.11333°N 92.05361°W / 31.11333; -92.05361) in central Avoyelles Parish, just south of the city of Marksville, Louisiana. The Reservation is 1.682 km² (0.6495 sq mi, or 415.68 acres).
The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe operates Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort. It opened in Marksville in June 1994. It is now the biggest employer in Avoyelles Parish. The 2000 census lists 648 persons self-identified as Tunica.
History
By the Middle Mississippian period, local Late Woodland peoples in the Central Mississippi Valley had developed or adopted a Mississippian lifestyle, with maize agriculture, hierarchical political structures, mussel shell-tempered pottery, and participation in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). The archaeological evidence suggests that the valley was home to several competing paramount chiefdoms, with supporting vassal states. The groups in the area have been defined by archaeologists as archaeological phases; these include the Menard, Tipton, Belle Meade-Walls, Parkin and Nodena phases.
Biloxi people
The Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks(a) in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi. They were eventually forced west into Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Biloxi language--Tanêksąyaa ade--has been extinct since the 1930s, when the last known native semi-speaker, Emma Jackson, died.
Today, remaining Biloxi descendants have merged with the Tunica and other remnant peoples. Together they were federally recognized in 1981; today they are called the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe and share a small reservation in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Descendants of several other small tribes are enrolled with them. The two main tribes were from different language groups: the Biloxi were Siouan-speaking and the Tunica had an isolate language. Today the tribe members speak English or French.
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