The
Acolapissa were a small tribe of
Native Americans. Traditions have them living on the shores of the
Pearl River, between Louisiana and
Mississippi before 1702. This made them one of four tribes, along with the
Bayogoula,
Biloxi, and
Pascagoula who inhabited the
Gulf coast of what is now the
state of Mississippi at the time of the European arrival. After that time, they moved farther west, into the area around the future
New Orleans. Pressured by European settlement of the area and disease, the small tribe eventually merged into the
Houma, which now live in and around
Houma, Louisiana. Estimates put the population of the Houma tribe at around 11,000 persons. The U.S. government denied a petition for Federal status for the Houma in 1994.