The Avoyel Tribe was a small Southeast Indian Tribe that lived near present-day Louisiana and was known for their active trading of flint for tools.
The first Europeans to make contact with them were the French when famous explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville mentioned them in his writings.
However, due to the tribe's small population and lack of immunity to European disease, they faded from existence and merged with other Native American tribes.
History
When the French made contact with the Avoyel tribe, it was recorded that the tribe numbered 280 people, which would make them one of the smallest tribes to make contact with the Europeans.
Like every other tribe, they would suffer from new infectious diseases that were being brought over by the Europeans. Due to not having the population density of other tribes when disease ran through the tribe, it decimated them.
By 1805, the Avoyel were said to number only two or three women. The Avoyel survivors were believed to have been absorbed by marriage into the neighboring Tunica, Ofo, and Biloxi peoples who had moved to the area sometime in the late 1780s or 1790s due to American expansion.
Conclusion
The Ayoyel Tribe is another example of how disease decimated American Indian populations and allowed for American expansion.
Unfortunately, due to their low population, they merged and intermarried with other tribes, and the culture of the Avoyel tribe disappeared.