When the Caddo Nations split they settled themselves as follows:
1. The Attaquopois, at the confluence of the Kiamechi River and the Red River in southern Oklahoma.
2. The Caddoquopois or Caddo proper remained on the Red River near Fulton, Arkansas.
3. The Peticaddo on Caddo Lake hear Shreveport, Louisiana.
4. The Koasatti near Coushatta, Louisiana.
5. The Destonies on Saline Bayou near Winnfield, Louisiana.
6. The Yatasse on Nantanchie Lake near Montgomery, Louisiana.
7. The Natchitoches on the Red River at Natchitoches, Louisiana.
8. The Adais near Robeline, Louisiana, on a large lake now called Spanish Lake.
9. The Ais at San Augustine, Texas.
10. The Nacogdoches at Nacogdoches, Texas.
11. The Hasinai consisting of four tribes on the Trinity River in Texas, referred to by the Spanish as the Tejas (some historians classify them as Caddos. They spoke the Caddo language).
The Ais Indians had as their neighbors to the west the Hasinai federation of Indians which was composed of four tribes: The Nacogdoches at Nacogdoches; the Bidais, the Nasoni and the Nabidache, the latter three were located on the Trinity River.
Such was the situation when the first aliens came in contact with the Caddos.
II
SOME EARLY HISTORY
In his book, “La Relacion que Dio Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca delo Acaescido unlas Indias”, De Vaca writes in the year 1530 that “we were among the Adayes (Adais), the others were Juan Castillo, Andrea Dorantes and Estabancio of Azmor who was a slave of Dorantes.” These four survivors were of 300 of the Panfilio Narvez expedition that went into Florida in 1528.
Narvez’s expedition, beaten by the Apalache Indians, unable to return to their ships, killed their horses, ate the meat, used the hides to make bellows and water casks; they forged their armor and weapons to make tools and nails, then constructed four boats. They skirted the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, foraging for food. During a storm the boats were wrecked, four survived to become slaves of the coastal Indians.
De Vaca and his companions became traders and medicine men. Meanwhile they learned to live off the land as the Indians did. They planned and successfully escaped.... And now they were among the Adais seeking directions. They were the first white men to travel westward over the Buffalo Trail. They wandered ever westward and finally found a Spanish patrol from Mexico.
De Vaca was the only one of the three hundred to return to Spain and even before he published his book in 1542, he had inspired the Hernando DeSoto expedition into Florida with his story of the City of Cibola, a city built entirely of gold.
Hernando DeSoto, the Golden Eagle, led the next expedition into Florida. Continuously harassed by the Appalachie tribes of Indians of the southeastern states he crossed the Mississippi and now in the year 1540 he marched into Louisiana, pillaging, raping and destroying. He was assisted by these trusting Lieutenants: Don Luis Moscoso, Don Juan de Anasco, Don Baltazarde Gallegardo, Don Juan Labillo, Don Carlos Chinquez, Juan de Quizman, Don Vasco de Procello, and Don Diago Vasquez, and these Captains: Espilando, Gallegardo, Maldamando, and Luis Fuentes. The Chronnicalor, Gonzado Quadrado Charmillo de Zafra who wrote (From the translations of B. F. French):