Caddoan languages in the context of Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands

Agriculture on the precontact Great Plains describes the agriculture of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains of the United States and southern Canada in the Pre-Columbian era and before extensive contact with European explorers, which in most areas occurred by 1750. The most important crop was maize, usually planted along with beans and squash, including pumpkins. Minor crops such as sunflowers, goosefoot, tobacco, gourds, and plums, little barley (Hordeum pusillum) and marsh elder (Iva annua) were also grown. Maize agriculture began on the Great Plains about 900 AD.

Evidence of agriculture is found in all Central Plains complexes. Tribes periodically switched from emphasis on farming to hunting throughout their history during the Plains Village period (950-1850 AD), probably based on climatic fluctuations and the periodic abundance of bison. The northernmost area of intensive maize cultivation on the Great Plains was along the Missouri River in North Dakota, although there is evidence of maize cultivation in neighboring Manitoba. The southernmost area of agriculture was in northern Texas among the Caddoan peoples The farming Natives traded their surplus production to non-agricultural nomads.

The Wichita people, or Wichita: kirikir?i:s, are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita language and Kichai language, both Caddoan languages. Their ancestral homelands are in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.

Today, Wichita tribes, which include the Kichai people, Waco, Taovaya, Tawakoni, Yscani, and the Wichita proper (or Guichita), are federally recognized as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakoni).

Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the northeastern border of Mexico, that share common cultural traits. This classification is a part of the Eastern Woodlands. The concept of a southeastern cultural region was developed by anthropologists, beginning with Otis Mason and Franz Boas in 1887. The boundaries of the region are defined more by shared cultural traits than by geographic distinctions. Because the cultures gradually instead of abruptly shift into Plains, Prairie, or Northeastern Woodlands cultures, scholars do not always agree on the exact limits of the Southeastern Woodland culture region. Shawnee, Powhatan, Waco, Tawakoni, Tonkawa, Karankawa, Quapaw, and Mosopelea are usually seen as marginally southeastern and their traditional lands represent the borders of the cultural region.

The area was linguistically diverse, major language groups were Caddoan and Muskogean, besides a number of language isolates.

Indigenous people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady. In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The name Texas derives from táyshaʼ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies." In the recorded history of what is now the U.S. state of Texas, all or parts of Texas have been claimed by six countries: France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the United States of America.

The first European settlement was established in 1681, along the upper Rio Grande river, near modern El Paso. The settlers were exiled Spaniards and Native Americans from the Pueblo of Isleta after the Pueblo Revolt, from Santa Fe de Nuevo México (the northern part of present-day New Mexico). In 1685, Robert de La Salle (1643–1687), established a French colony at Fort Saint Louis, after sailing down and exploring the Mississippi River from New France (modern Canada) and the Great Lakes. He planted this early French presence at Fort Saint Louis near Matagorda Bay, along the Gulf of Mexico coast (near modern Inez, Texas), even before the establishment of New Orleans. The colony was killed off by Native Americans after three years, but Spanish authorities felt pressed to establish settlements to keep their claim to the land. Several Roman Catholic missions were established in East Texas; they were abandoned in 1691. Twenty years later, concerned with the continued French presence in neighboring Louisiana, Spanish authorities again tried to colonize Texas. Over the next 110 years, Spain established numerous villages, presidios, and missions in the province. A small number of Spanish settlers arrived, in addition to missionaries and soldiers. Spain signed agreements with colonists from the United States, bordering the province to the northeast ever since their Louisiana Purchase from the Emperor Napoleon I and his French Empire (France) in 1803. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican Texas was part of the new nation. To encourage settlement, Mexican authorities allowed organized immigration from the United States, and by 1834, over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas, compared to 7,800 Mexicans.