The Archaeology of the Caddo

15. The Terán Map and Caddo Cosmology

431 15. The Terán Map and Caddo Cosmology george sabo iii Introduction The well-known Terán map of an Upper Nasoni village along the Red River, produced as a result of the 1691–1692 exploration of eastern Texas led by Domingo Terán de los Ríos, plays an important role in modern understandings of pre- and post-Columbian Caddo settlement patterns. The map reflects a dispersed community of individual farmsteads, a centrally located leader’s residence, and an associated temple mound; this depiction has been identified as an archetype of Caddo settlement patterning (Schambach 1982a; Trubowitz 1984; Perttula 1992). Here I want to explore an additional interpretation: that the map also reflects key elements of Caddo beliefs about their relations with the spirit world. In short, I suggest that the Terán map represents a cosmogram embedded in the layout of the depicted community. Historical Background The attempted settlement of the Texas Gulf Coast in 1684–1685 by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, prompted a series of Spanish expeditions to locate and arrest his group. Beginning with the Barroto/Romero expedition in 1686, several explorations scoured the coast east to west from Pensacola and west to east from New Spain until the destroyed colony’s remains were discovered in 1689 during the third expedition undertaken by Alonso De León, governor of the province of Coahuila in northern New Spain (Kessell 2002:135–141; Weber 1992:148–152). Secondhand information acquired by De León during the course of his explorations led to Spanish beliefs that the Tejas Indians, who occupied central and eastern Texas, were a settled, agricultural , and monotheistic society whose conversion surely would come more readily than that of their less sedentary neighbors. What is more, De León was persuaded that the Tejas (also known as the Hasinai Caddo) 432 Sabo already possessed elements of Christian belief and practice, bestowed by miraculous visits from the so-called Lady in Blue (see Colahan 1994; Hickerson 1990). Government and church officials alike viewed this information as direct evidence of “the workings of divine providence” in the events connected with the search for La Salle’s colony (Dunn 1917:111). Plans consequently were made for placing missions in east Texas, leading to several expeditions involving Franciscan priests who hoped to gather the region’s inhabitants into permanent agrarian settlements where the Indians could be “civilized” and converted to Catholicism (Castañeda 1936–1958:2:17–22). The first of these expeditions departed from Santiago de Monclova, the capital of Coahuila, in March 1690. De León led the expedition along with Father Damián Massanet, head of the Colegio de la Santa Cruz in Querétaro, which had been designated by the bishop of Guadalajara (Mexico) to take charge of the Texas missionary effort. The expedition succeeded in establishing the mission San Francisco de los Tejas along the Neches River in the heart of Hasinai country, despite the development of a fractious relationship between the two leaders. Three friars—Miguel de Fontcuberta, Francisco Casañas de Jesús María, and Antonio Bordoy—remained at the mission when De León and Massanet returned to Monclova in June (Chipman 1992:87–90). De León and Massanet submitted separate plans for the further settlement of the east Texas region and the establishment of additional missions. De León’s plan included provision for a string of military presidios to protect the mission communities. Massanet strongly opposed any secular intervention in his zealous quest to harvest Indian souls, and he worked vigorously to undermine De León’s plan as well as the governor ’s character and fitness for leadership. In this he succeeded, and in 1691 the Conde de Galve, viceroy of Mexico, appointed Domingo Terán de los Ríos as the first governor of the province of Texas and charged him with leading the next expedition, again in the company of Massanet . This expedition had three main goals: to establish additional missions among the Indians, to explore the province and describe its major natural and cultural features, and to investigate rumors concerning the lingering presence of Frenchmen (Dunn 1917:130–131; Hatcher 1932:6– 7; Chipman 1992:91–94). The expedition departed Monclova in May 1691, but discord quickly 433 The Terán Map and Caddo Cosmology developed between Massanet and Terán...