Quinipissa

The Quinipissa (sometimes spelled Kinipissa in French sources) were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands who were living on the lower Mississippi River, in present-day Louisiana, as reported by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682.

Quinipissa

Total population
extinct as a tribe, merged into the Mugulasha
Regions with significant populations
Louisiana
Languages
Southern Muskogean language
Religion
Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
Acolapissa, Okelousa, Quinapissa, Tangipahoa[1]

In 1682, La Salle encountered a group of Quinipissa living with the Koroa in a village on the western bank of the Mississippi River.^[2]

The Quinipissa joined the Mougoulacha. The combined group shared a village with the Bayagoula. In 1700, the Bayagoula massacred both the Quinipissa and Mougoulacha, and they were not mentioned again by chroniclers of the time.^[3]

Language

Quinipissa
Region	Louisiana
Extinct	1700
Language family	unclassified (Bayagoula?)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	093
Glottolog	None

The Quinipissa may have spoken the same language as the Mougoulacha and Bayagoula. The Bayagoula language is only attested with a single word.

Albert Gatschet considered Quinipissa a Muskogean language Coast Choctaw ("Coast Chaʼhta") based on evidence that many peoples of this area spoke the lingua franca Mobilian Jargon and have names that appear to be exonyms of Mobilian Jargon or Muskogean origin. This is repeated by John W. Powell and John Swanton. However, a map by Nicolas de Fer states that all nations of this region spoke different languages and barely understood each other. Thus, there is no real linguistic evidence to conclude that the Quinipissa are Muskogean.