Featured Tribe: Anadarko - Texas

Anadarko (from Nädä'ko, their own name). A tribe of the Caddo confederacy whose dialect was spoken by the Kadohadacho, Hainai and Adai. The earliest mention of the people is in the relation of Biedma (1544); who writes that Moscoso in 1542 led his men during their southward march through a province that lay east of the Anadarko.

The territory occupied by the tribe was southwest of the Kadohadacho. Their villages were scattered along Trinity and Brazos Rivers, Texas, higher up than those of the Hainai, and do not seem to have been visited so early as theirs by the French.

A Spanish mission was established among the Anadarko early in the 18th century, but was soon abandoned. La Harpe reached an Anadarko village in 1719, and was kindly received. The people shared in the general friendliness for the French. During the contentions of the latter with the Spaniards and later with the English, throughout the 18th century, the Anadarko suffered greatly. They became embroiled in tribal wars; their villages were abandoned; and those who survived the havoc of war and the new diseases brought into the country by the white people were forced to seek shelter and safety with their kindred toward the north east.

In 1812 a village of 40 men and 200 souls was reported on Sabine River. The Anadarko lived in villages, having fixed habitations similar to those of the other tribes of the Caddo confederacy, to whom they were evidently also similar in customs, beliefs, and clan organization. Nothing is known definitely of the subdivisions of the tribe, but that such existed is probable from the fact that the people were scattered over a considerable territory and lived in a number of villages.

They are now incorporated with the Caddo on the allotted Wichita reservation in Oklahoma. The town of Anadarko perpetuates the tribal name.