About Karankawa Canoes

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By Christie Leman
eHow Contributing Writer

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The Karankawa Indians were a tribe of Indians, now extinct, who lived along the coast of Texas from Galveston to Corpus Christi for many centuries. Karankawa culture and traditions came to an end when the last Karankawa people died in the 1850s, so most of what is known about Karankawa canoes comes from accounts by European and Anglo-American observers of the time and archeological findings.

Geography

The Karankawa were nomads, spending part of the year on the mainland of the Texas coast and the rest on the coastal barrier islands. Food availability and climate forced the Karankawa to live a nomadic life, moving whenever their fishing, hunting and gathering culture deemed it necessary. Since the Karankawa traveled back and forth over water to their different campsites, they needed some type of boat to travel in. Karankawa canoes were basic in design but practical and quite capable of navigating the shallow waters between the Texas mainland and the barrier islands.

Features

A dugout canoe similar to that of the Karankawa from The National Archives
Karankawa canoes were made from large trees felled by the men of the tribe. The bark was usually left on and one side was cut flat and then hollowed out. Before the Karankawa had axes they used fire to burn out the center of the trunk to create the the dugout part of the canoe. The ends of the Karankawa canoes came to blunt points with a small deck between the points and the hollowed-out hold.

Size

Made from large tree trunks, Karankawa canoes were not exceptionally large but were big enough to carry the Karankawa and their few possessions. Normally one family unit and their portable wigwams could fit into one canoe. The mother and children would sit in the hold, along with the wooden poles and animal skins or mats that they would use to construct their wigwams at the next campsite. The men often stood on the small decks of the Karankawa canoes with poles to help propel the canoes onward.

Function

Karankawa canoes were efficient and easy to make out of the resources available to the Karankawa. To construct their canoes, the Karankawa just needed an available timber source and axes to cut and hollow out the trees to form the design of the canoe. Karankawa canoes were easy to make, functioned well in the shallow coastal waters, and were big enough to carry a Karankawa family and their few possessions.

Time Frame

The Karankawa Indians were using this type of transportation from some point in their early existence until their extinction in the 1850s. Karankawa canoes were observed and described by early European explorers that had contact with the Karankawa and later by white settlers to the area.