Tonkawa

The Tonkawa were a people of the rivers and prairies of central Texas. They hunted bison and gathered wild foods, moving in bands and camping along streams. Their name came from a Waco word meaning that they all stay together. By the eighteenth century the Tonkawa included several smaller communities, whose members came together amid changing relationships across the southern Plains.

Tonkawa leaders sought alliances with their neighbors and with Spanish authorities. In 1771 the chief Neques supported a peace council among the Caddo, sending other chiefs to speak for him. A Tonkawa delegation later went to San Antonio de Béxar to ratify an agreement. Disease and the expansion of colonial settlements brought heavy pressure, while Comanche power reshaped the country farther west.