The ancestors of the West Texas Native Americans lived in camps perhaps as long as 37,000 years ago. Possessing only crude spears and flint-pointed darts, these hunters survived primarily on wild game. In the more fertile areas of East Texas, some of the Native American tribes established permanent villages and well-managed farms and developed political and religious systems. Forming a loose federation in order to preserve peace and to provide for mutual protection, they came to be known as the Caddo confederacies. By 1528, when the first Europeans entered the interior of Texas, the area was sparsely settled, but the ...(100 of 7369 words)