What is "acolapissa"

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.