ALTO, Texas (KTRE) - International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is Aug. 9, and while celebrating history, there is a lot to learn right here in East Texas’ backyard.

John Zumwalt is a lecturer and interpreter at the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto.

The Caddo Mounds are a part of Deep East Texas history, as the people of the Caddo Nation were the first settlers in this part of East Texas.

“It’s important for us to honor the cultures that were here before and still exist here,” Zumwalt said.

Even the State of Texas was named after the Caddo language.

“For Caddo, they used the word tejas (“Táysha”), which the Spanish picked up, meaning friend. So, we live in the land of friends, and the Caddo are the ones who named it that,” Zumwalt said.

Zumwalt explained that the Cad

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