Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 27, 2026

Capinan

The Capinan were a small tribe of Native American people from Alabama and Mississippi.

Last revised
Jun 27, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
224 w
Citations
11
Source
Capinan
Total population
extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
United States (Alabama, Mississippi)
Languages
unattested, possibly a Siouan language1
Religion
Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
possibly Pascagoula and Biloxi1

The Capinan (also called Capina2) were a small tribe of Native American people from Alabama and Mississippi.1

The Capinan lived along the Gulf Coast region along the Pascagoula River13 almost north to its headwaters. They appear along the Pascagoula River, directly south of the Chickasaws in maps drawn by French cartographer Guillaume Delisle in 1703 and 1707.4

The Capinan may have been the same tribe as the Moctobi4 and may have been a sub-tribe of the Pascagoula and Biloxi, both historically from Mississippi. The Capinan's language is unattested, but they might have spoken a Siouan language1 like the Biloxi.

French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville visited the tribe in 1699, and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1725.31

References

References

  1. Donald B. Ricky (2000). Encyclopedia of Mississippi Indians: Tribes, Natives, Treaties of the Southeastern Woodlands Area. North American Book Dist LLC. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-403-09778-4. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  2. Patricia Roberts Clark (31 July 2009). Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced. McFarland. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-7864-3833-4. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. "Indian Tribes of Mississippi". Mississippi Archeology Trails. Mississippi Department of Archives & History. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  4. Hodge, p. 203