Today, how do we know about the movements of people and animals so long ago? Scientists called ​ (a)   study the past. They have methods for learning about early humans. They collect ​ (b)   , or objects made or used by humans. These include tools, pottery, bones, and shells.

The earliest Texans were ​ (a)   . They lived in small groups and, as nomads, did not stay in one place for long. They followed and hunted herds of large animals, such as ​ (b)   and giant bison. After a few thousand years, the mammoth and giant bison died out. Then people hunted smaller animals, such as deer and the small bison.

Individual Caddo groups joined together to form larger unions called ​ (a)   . They were loosely structured and linked. They were connected by ties of kinship, or shared ancestry. The Caddo traced their kinship through a person's mother. This is known as a ​ (b)   society.

​ (a)   is a name for several Native American groups who lived along the ​ (b)   and spoke the same language. The Karankawa were nomads. They were ​​​ (c)   , and they moved every few weeks when the food ran out in an area.

Like the Karankawa, the ​ (a)   were nomads. Their environment was harsher than that of coastal groups, however. Their struggle for ​ (b)   was constant. By the early 1800s, many Coahuiltecan had died from ​ (c)   brought by Europeans. Others had joined other groups or moved to Mexico. Few remained in ​ (d)   .

The Atakapa were ​ (a)   who lived in the swampy regions, or bayous, of southeastern ​ (b)   . Alligators lived in the bayous and were an important resource for the ​ (c)   . The Atakapa hunted ​ (d)   for meat and used alligator oil as an insect repellent.

The expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado ​ (a)   a Pawnee native whom they called the Turk. He ​ (b)   them of a place on the Great Plains called Quivira that was said to be filled with treasure. In the spring of 1541, Coronado headed east with the Turk to find Quivira.

Among the Spanish settlers were Catholic priests and nuns. Spain was a Roman Catholic nation. Its rulers wanted to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. Priests and nuns built ​ (a)   , or religious settlements. Often the mission was the first Spanish settlement in an ​ (b)  

Although Christopher Columbus was Italian, it was Spain that ​ (a)   , or paid for, his voyage. Columbus left Spain with three small ships in August 1492. He and his sailors finally​ (b)   land on October 12, 1492. Columbus came ashore on an island in the Caribbean Sea. He claimed it for Spain.