Etzanoa

Etzanoa was a great settlement of the ancestors of the Wichita, near the meeting of the Walnut and Arkansas rivers. Houses covered with grass stood in groups along the river, surrounded by fields where people cultivated maize, beans and squash. The inhabitants also hunted bison and maintained far-reaching exchange networks across the southern Plains.

In 1601 Juan de Oñate led a Spanish expedition from New Mexico to this country. His party encountered people the Spaniards called Rayados and reached a settlement whose inhabitants had withdrawn before their arrival. Oñate turned back toward New Mexico, but on the return journey his men fought a large force of Escanxaque warriors. The account of the expedition preserves a glimpse of a populous Plains society before prolonged European settlement.