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108-527: Lakeport Plantation is a historic antebellum plantation house located near Lake Village, Arkansas . It was built around 1859 by Lycurgus Johnson with the profits of slave labor . The house was restored between 2003 and 2008 and is now a part of Arkansas State University as a Heritage site museum. The plantation was established in 1831 by Joel Johnson, from a prominent planter family in Scott County, Kentucky . He arrived with 23 enslaved people and set up

216-688: A 'New South' based on Free Trade, Globalization, and cultural diversity has emerged. Meanwhile, the South has influenced the rest of the United States in a process called Southernization . The legacy of Slavery and Jim Crow continue to impact the region- which by the 21st century was the most populous area of the United States. Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited

324-531: A booming trade town for the southern colonies. The abundance of pine trees in the area provided raw materials for shipyards to develop, and the harbor provided a safe port for English ships bringing in imported goods. The colonists exported tobacco, indigo and rice and imported tea, sugar, and slaves. After the late 17th century, the economies of the North and the South began to diverge, especially in coastal areas. The Southern emphasis on export production contrasted with

432-552: A dangerous coastline, a lack of ports, and few inland rivers by which to navigate. In the 1650s and 1660s, settlers (mostly English) moved south from Virginia , in addition to runaway servants and fur trappers. They settled chiefly in the Albemarle borderlands region . In 1665, the Crown issued a second charter to resolve territorial questions. As early as 1689, the Carolina proprietors named

540-672: A higher life expectancy and was maintained through natural reproduction. This natural reproduction was important for the continuation of slavery after the prohibition on slave importation in 1808. Slavery in the Colonial period was not without resistance, the most notable rebellion in the Southern Colonies was the Stono Rebellion . Portuguese speaking Angolans in the lowcountry of South Carolina, with prior military training attempted to escape to Catholic Spanish Florida. The rebellion however

648-462: A long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point. The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed with the ice age ending around 17–13 Ka BP on short, and around 25–27 Ka BP on the long, many animals migrated overland to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained

756-537: A much wider geographical distribution, but mostly in the central and southern part of the continent. The haplogroup most commonly associated with Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q-M3 . Y-DNA , like ( mtDNA ), differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis . This allows the historical pattern of mutations to be easily studied. The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes: first with

864-548: A multi-racial coalition vigorously campaigned to end institutionalized racism in the American South as well as the rest of the United States. From a political and legal standpoint, many of these aims were realized by the Supreme Court's ruling on Brown v. Board and President Lyndon Johnson's (also a Southerner) reforms . Civil Rights coupled with the collapse of Black Belt agriculture has led some historians to postulate that

972-405: A separate deputy-governor for the region of the colony that lay to the north and east of Cape Fear . The division of the province into North and South became official in 1712. A key figure in the region's political and cultural development was William Berkeley , who served, with some interruptions, as governor of Virginia from 1645 until 1675. His desire for an elite immigration to Virginia led to

1080-946: A single animal species: the bison (an early cousin of the American bison ). The earliest known of these bison-oriented hunting traditions is the Folsom tradition . Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground. There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or processing some meat, then moving on. Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low. Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations. Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called projectile points . The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have

1188-452: A slave labor camp to produce cotton, an endeavor that made him one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the state. Joel Johnson died in 1846, leaving the plantation's ownership in legal dispute. In 1857, his son Lycurgus Johnson , a successful operator of his own slave labor camp, acquired the title to Lakeport. He also took over the enslavement of 88 people. By 1850, he had 2,850 acres of land and 95 slaves. The plantation's mansion

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1296-478: A slaveowner himself. Other delegates insisted on removal of any mention of slavery from the document. South Carolina's delegation ensured the continuance of the institution of slavery. Delegate Thomas Lynch threatened to break away from the country if congress entertained any discussion on slavery, indicating that for South Carolina preserving slavery was more important than American nationhood. Meanwhile Edward Rutledge tried unsuccessfully to expel black soldiers from

1404-508: A strong voice in Congress, which reorganized the cotton and tobacco markets to the advantage of Southern farmers. The government-operated Tennessee Valley Authority brought electricity and modernization to that state. Yet in exchange for economic reforms the progressive New Deal coalition carried an uneasy compromise with segregationist Democrats that the Jim Crow system would be left unaltered and

1512-489: A variety of flora. Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted-style spear points, as well as microblades used for butchering and hide processing. Projectile points and hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations. Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from North Dakota and Northwest Territories , to Montana and Wyoming . Trade routes also have been found from

1620-509: A week with only one day off, typically Sunday. The plantation was highly profitable as cotton prices increased with European demand, though the Civil War took a toll on Johnson's fortunes. Confederate forces burned 158 bales of the plantation's cotton in 1862 to prevent its capture by Union forces. Tax records show that by 1864 the number of people enslaved at Lakeport had declined to 24, as many former slaves fled after Abraham Lincoln signed

1728-644: Is surrounded by cotton fields that are harvested every year. Blake Wintory is a historian and author who served as the on-site director at the Lakeport Plantation from 2008-2018. He wrote a book on Chicot County ( Chicot County (2015), Arcadia Publishing, part of the Images of America series) and has written about African American legislators in Arkansas during and after the Reconstruction era . History of

1836-619: The Battle of Great Bridge , and most of them died of disease. The Royal Navy took Dunmore and other officials home in August 1776, and also carried to freedom 300 surviving former slaves. Southern politicians were at the forefront in the early Continental Congresses and the writing of The Declaration of Independence . Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft; Jefferson's draft condemned the United Kingdom for bringing slaves to North America despite being

1944-517: The Bering Strait from North Asia into the Americas over a land bridge ( Beringia ). This bridge existed from 45,000 to 12,000 BCE (47,000–14,000 BP ). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska . From c.  16,500  – c.  13,500 BCE ( c.  18,500  – c.  15,500 BP), ice-free corridors developed along

2052-469: The British Columbia Interior to the coast of California . The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation around 17,500–14,500 years ago. At the same time as this was occurring, worldwide extinctions among the large mammals began. In North America, camelids and equids eventually died off, the latter not to reappear on

2160-733: The Continental Army After their defeat at Saratoga in 1777 and the entry of the French into the American Revolutionary War , the British turned their attention to the South. With fewer regular troops at their disposal, the British commanders developed a "southern strategy" that relied heavily on volunteer soldiers and militia from the Loyalist element. Paleo-Indians Traditional theories suggest that big-animal hunters crossed

2268-598: The Emancipation Proclamation . The end of the Civil War resulted in the emancipation of the remaining enslaved people. While they obtained their freedom, they still held limited rights and faced continued discrimination and oppression in Arkansas. The Freedmen's Bureau was created to help freedmen, transitioning many into sharecropping and tenant farming . Lycurgus worked closely with the Bureau and negotiated wages for

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2376-501: The Gulf of Venezuela to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory. El Jobo points were probably the earliest, going back to c.  14,200  – c.  12,980 BP and they were used for hunting large mammals. In contrast, the fish-tail points, dating to c. 11,000 B.P. in Patagonia , had

2484-567: The Last Glacial Maximum and its aftermath the first humans likely arrived in the Southern United States. The entire region had a climate and geography that differed remarkably from current conditions. Overall the region was not only colder but much drier. On average the coastline extended at least 50 miles out into the ocean, most of which would have had a patchy maritime Boreal forest adapted to colder conditions. Meanwhile much of

2592-799: The Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets . An alternative proposed scenario involves migration, either on foot or using boats , down the Pacific coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would have been submerged by a sea-level rise of more than a hundred meters following the end of the Last Glacial Period . The time range of the peopling of the Americas remains a source of substantial debate. Conventional estimates have it that humans reached North America at some point between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, some groups of humans may have reached South America as early as 25,000 years ago. One of

2700-566: The New World after its discovery in 1492. Rumors of natives being decorated with gold and stories of a Fountain of Youth helped hold the interest of many Spanish explorers. Juan Ponce de León was the first European to come to the South when he landed in Florida in 1513. Alonso Álvarez de Pineda was the first European to see the Mississippi river, in 1519 when he sailed twenty miles up the river from

2808-629: The Pacific coast and valleys of North America . This allowed land animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior of the continent. The people went on foot or used boats along the coastline. The dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas remain subjects of ongoing debate. It is likely there were three waves of ancient settlers from the Bering Sea to the America continent. Stone tools , particularly projectile points and scrapers , are

2916-641: The Patriot cause in solidarity with Massachusetts. Georgia, the newest, smallest, most exposed and militarily most vulnerable colony, hesitated briefly before joining the other 12 colonies in Congress. South Carolina meanwhile had the largest loyalist support of any state, usually from the backcountry or 'upland'. As soon as news arrived of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Patriot forces took control of every colony, using secret committees that had been organized in

3024-572: The Spanish Armada , the English began exploring the New World. In 1585, an expedition organized by Walter Raleigh established the first English settlement in the New World, on Roanoke Island , North Carolina . The colony failed to prosper, however, and the colonists were retrieved the following year by English supply ships. In 1587, Raleigh again sent out a group of colonists to Roanoke. From this colony,

3132-760: The Whitney cotton gin of 1794, greatly increased the profitability of cotton cultivation. Until that point, most cotton was farmed in large plantations in the Province of Carolina , and tobacco, which could be grown profitably in farms of smaller scale, was the dominant cash crop export of the South and the Middle Colonies . In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of lifetime slavery when it sentenced John Punch to lifetime servitude under his master Hugh Gwyn for running away. Much of

3240-579: The cotton gin made slavery even more profitable, Southern states refused to ban slavery- perpetuating the division of the United States between free and slave states . Tensions escalated as the United States expanded west ward (also retroactively causing the Southeast region to also expand to the west. However, tepid agreements including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 did not resolve

3348-556: The giant beaver , steppe wisent , giant muskox , mastodon , woolly mammoth and ancient reindeer . The Clovis culture , appearing around 11,500 BCE ( c.  13,500 BP) in North America, is one of the most notable Paleo-Indian archaeological cultures. It has been disputed whether the Clovis culture were specialist big-game hunters or employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and

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3456-631: The "Anchor of the South", the region includes the Delmarva Peninsula and much of coastal Virginia , Maryland , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia . Early in the history of the colony, it became clear that the claims of gold deposits were vastly exaggerated. Referred to as the "Starving Time" of the Jamestown colony, the years from the time of landing in 1607 until 1609 were rife with famine and instability. However, Native American support, in addition to reinforcements from Britain, sustained

3564-450: The "Second Sons" policy, in which younger sons of English aristocrats were recruited to emigrate to Virginia. Berkeley also emphasized the headright system, the offering of large tracts of land to those arriving in the colony. This early immigration by an elite contributed to the development of an aristocratic political and social structure in the South. English colonists, especially young indentured servants , continued to arrive along

3672-687: The 10th century in the Mississippi River Valley (for which it is named).The Mississippian culture was a complex, Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Southeastern United States from approximately 800 AD to 1500 AD. Among these cities Cahokia by St. Louis , was significant and the trading network was extensive; Etowah was a large walled city built close to the location of modern-day Atlanta . Natives had elaborate and lengthy trading routes connecting their main residential and ceremonial centers extending through

3780-516: The Americas becoming extinct towards the end of the Paleoindian period as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions . The potential role of human hunting in the extinctions has been the subject of much controversy. From 8000 to 7000 BCE (10,000–9,000 BP) the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in a more sedentary lifestyle during

3888-928: The Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites such as Cooper's Ferry in Idaho, Cactus Hill in Virginia , Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania , Bear Spirit Mountain in West Virginia , Catamarca and Salta in Argentina , Pilauco and Monte Verde in Chile , Topper in South Carolina , and Quintana Roo in Mexico have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate

3996-430: The Americas. Due to the evidence that Paleoindians hunted now extinct megafauna (large animals), and that following a period of overlap, most large animals across the Americas became extinct as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions , it has been argued by many authors that hunting by Paleoindians was an important factor in the extinctions, though this suggestion is controversial, with other authors placing

4104-455: The Americas. The first well-dated evidence of human occupation in the south United States occurs around 9500 BC with the appearance of the earliest documented Americans, who are now referred to as Paleo-Indians . Paleoindians were hunter-gatherers that roamed in bands and frequently hunted megafauna including Wooly Mammoth and Giant short-faced bears. Several cultural stages, such as Archaic ( c.  8000 –1000 BC), Poverty Point , and

4212-561: The Confederate States of America was unable to carry on a protracted struggle with the national government. The 13th and 14th amendments gave freedom, citizenship and civil rights to Black Americans all across the United States. The 15th Amendment and Radical reconstruction laws gave Black men the vote, and for a few years they shared power in the South, despite violent attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. Reconstruction attempted to uplift

4320-677: The Early Archaic period in some regions. Sites in Alaska (eastern Beringia) exhibit some of the earliest evidence of Paleo-Indians, followed by archaeological sites in northern British Columbia , western Alberta and the Old Crow Flats region of the Yukon territory. The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas. These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all

4428-585: The English established their first permanent colony in America in Jamestown, Virginia , in 1607, at the mouth of the James River , which in turn empties into Chesapeake Bay . Settlement of Chesapeake Bay was driven by a desire to obtain precious metal resources, specifically gold. The colony was technically still within Spanish territorial claims, yet far enough from most Spanish settlements to avoid colonial clashes. As

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4536-457: The Gulf of Mexico. Hernando de Soto , a Spanish explorer and conquistador led the first European expedition deep into the territory, searching for gold, and a passage to China. A vast undertaking, de Soto's North American expedition ranged across parts of the modern states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Among

4644-499: The Northern emphasis on food production. Further south British General James Oglethorpe envisioned Georgia as a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had been imprisoned for debt and "the worthy poor". General Oglethorpe imposed very strict laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcoholic beverages. He disagreed with slavery and thought a system of smallholdings more appropriate than

4752-667: The Southern United States#Antebellum Era (1789–1860) The history of the Southern United States spans back thousands of years to the first evidence of human occupation. The Paleo-Indians were the first peoples to inhabit the Americas and what would become the Southern United States . By the time Europeans arrived in the 15th century, the region was inhabited by the Mississippian people , well known for their mound-building cultures, building some of

4860-468: The U.S. or were exported to islands in the Caribbean Sea . The city of Charleston, South Carolina was the most important slave market. The Indian population in the southeast decreased from an estimated 500,000 in 1540 to 90,000 in 1730. The chiefdoms were replaced by simpler coalescent tribes and confederacies made up of survivors and refugees from the fragmenting nations. Native American descendants of

4968-836: The Woodland ( c.  1000 BC – AD 1000), preceded what the Europeans found at the end of the 15th century – the Mississippian culture . Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed "Mound Builders", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. Mound builders were originally thought to be exclusively agricultural however early mounds found in Louisiana preceded such cultures and were products of hunter-gatherers. The first mound building

5076-582: The Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené , Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations, however, exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations that are distinct from other Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations. Evidence from full genomic studies suggests that

5184-517: The area now part of the Southeastern United States and the northeastern border of Mexico, that share common cultural traits. This classification is a part of the Eastern Woodlands . The concept of a southeastern cultural region was developed by anthropologists, beginning with Otis Mason and Franz Boas in 1887. The boundaries of the region are defined more by shared cultural traits than by geographic distinctions. Around 20,000 years ago during

5292-613: The blame on climatic change. In a 2012 survey of archaeologists in The SAA Archaeological Record, 63% of respondents said that megafauna extinctions were likely the result of a "combination of factors". The Archaic period in the Americas saw a changing environment featuring a warmer, more arid climate and the disappearance of the last megafauna. The majority of population groups at this time were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, but now individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with

5400-450: The building of mounds and other earthworks. These burial and ceremonial structures were typically flat-topped pyramids or platform mounds , flat-topped or rounded cones, elongated ridges, and sometimes a variety of other forms. They were generally built as part of complex villages. These cultures generally had developed hierarchical societies that had an elite. These commanded hundreds or even thousands of workers to dig up tons of earth with

5508-713: The codes are not an exact copy, such as Virginia and Maryland , the influence of the Barbados Slave Code can be traced throughout various provisions. Slavery in the early colonial period differed in the North American colonies from that in the Caribbean , such as the British West Indies . Caribbean slaves were often worked literally to death on large sugar and rice plantations, while the American slave population had

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5616-551: The colony's charter prohibited slavery . The ban on slavery was lifted by 1751 and the colony became a royal colony by 1752. By the mid-18th century, the colonies of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had been established. In the upper colonies, that is, Maryland, Virginia, and portions of North Carolina, the tobacco culture prevailed. However, in the lower colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, cultivation focused more on cotton and rice. Some southern colonies, led by Virginia, gave support for

5724-410: The continent until the Spanish reintroduced the horse near the end of the 15th century CE. As the Quaternary extinction event was happening, the late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence. From c.  10,500  – c.  9,500 BCE ( c.  12,500  – c.  11,500 BP), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the Great Plains began to focus on

5832-421: The continental United States. Spain also colonized parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1519 until 1821 but the first Spanish settlers arrived in 1716 They operated several missions and a presidio to maintain a buffer between Spanish territory and the Louisiana district of New France . San Antonio

5940-503: The culture, by then in decline, included Pánfilo de Narváez (1528), Hernando de Soto (1540), and Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (1699). The chiefdoms all disappeared by 1730. The most important factor in their gradual disappearance was the chaos induced by slave raids and the enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians. Other factors included epidemics of diseases of European origin and wars among themselves and with European colonists. Indian slaves usually ended up working on plantations in

6048-480: The denial of basic civil rights to Black Americans would continue. Years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt died his Supreme Court appointees started dismantling segregation in the 1950s. Black Americans and their allies resisted Jim Crow and Segregation, initially with the Great Migration and later the civil rights movement . In the face of intense opposition by racist Segregationists, Black Southerners including Martin Luther King Jr , Rosa Parks and others in

6156-448: The few areas of agreement is the origin from Siberia , with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the Last Glacial Period, and more specifically after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 16,000 to 13,000 years before present. The Palaeoindian culture lasts 4000 years, from 12,000 to 8000 BP. It is divided into Early Palaeoindian (12,000-10,000 BP) and Late Palaeoindian (10,000-8000 BP), ending with early events of

6264-470: The few predominantly Catholic regions among the English colonies in North America. Maryland was also one of the key destinations where the government sent tens of thousands of English convicts punished by sentences of transportation. Such punishment persisted until the Revolutionary War . The Province of North Carolina developed differently from South Carolina almost from the beginning. The Spanish experienced trouble colonizing North Carolina because it had

6372-418: The first European settlements in North America were Spanish settlements in Florida; the earliest was Tristán de Luna y Arellano 's failed colony in what is now Pensacola in 1559. More successful was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés 's St. Augustine , founded in 1565. Most of the Spanish left when Florida was turned over to Britain in 1763. St. Augustine remains the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in

6480-446: The first people in the Americas diverged from Ancient East Asians about 36,000 years ago and expanded northwards into Siberia, where they encountered and interacted with a different Paleolithic Siberian population (known as Ancient North Eurasians ), giving rise to both Paleosiberian peoples and Ancient Native Americans , which later migrated towards the Beringian region, became isolated from other populations, and subsequently populated

6588-400: The first recorded European birth in North America, a child named Virginia Dare , was reported. That group of colonists disappeared and is known as the "Lost Colony". Many people theorize that they were either killed or taken in by local tribes. Like New England , the South was originally settled by English Protestants . While the earlier attempt at colonization had failed on Roanoke Island,

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6696-550: The following Archaic Period . Researchers continue to study and discuss the specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas , including the dates and routes traveled. The traditional theory holds that these early migrants moved into Beringia between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska 17,000 years ago, at a time when the Quaternary glaciation significantly lowered sea levels. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between

6804-456: The forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs. Late ice-age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change. Groups moved and sought new supplies as preferred resources were depleted. Small bands utilized hunting and gathering during

6912-509: The former enslaved but this crusade was abandoned in the Compromise of 1877 and Conservative white Southerners calling themselves Redeemers took control. Even though the Ku Klux Klan was suppressed new White Supremacist organizations including the Red Shirts and the White League continued to terrorize Black Americans . After the dissolving of a Populist movement in the 1890s that attempted to unite working-class blacks and whites Segregation and Jim Crow laws were implemented all across

7020-442: The growing divisions the South had with the North due to slavery and the planter class 's political aspirations to control the entire country. Abraham Lincoln 's election in 1860 caused South Carolina to secede which was soon followed by all other states in the region with the exception of the 'border states'. The breakaway states formed the Confederate States of America – the most significant country in modern history worldwide that

7128-425: The hand tools available, move the soil long distances, and finally, workers to create the shape with layers of soil as directed by the builders. By the 15th century, much of the area had been home to several regional variants of the Mississippian culture for centuries, an agrarian culture that flourished in the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States. The Mississippian way of life began to develop around

7236-534: The individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles and progress identifiable. This early Paleo-Indian period's lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family. Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in

7344-462: The initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas . The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations. Human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line , with an initial layover on Beringia for the founding population . The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of

7452-411: The interior South had a taiga forest comparable to the Canadian Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The Floridian peninsula was much larger and was mostly a temperate savanna. Further west almost the whole of Texas consisted of a tropical desert. However there were also times in prehistory where the South did not adhere to global conditions; for instance during the Younger Dryas Ice Age 11,000 years ago

7560-423: The large plantations common in the colonies just to the north. However, land grants were not as large as most colonists would have preferred. Another reason for the founding of the colony was as a buffer state and a " garrison province" which would defend the southern British colonies from Spanish Florida . Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy farmers" who could guard the border; because of this,

7668-402: The largest cities of the Pre-Columbian United States. European history in the region would begin with the earliest days of the exploration. Spain, France, and especially England explored and claimed parts of the region. Starting in the 17th century, the history of the Southern United States developed unique characteristics that came from its economy based primarily on plantation agriculture and

7776-632: The leading cotton producers in Chicot County in 1870. The plantation went through several changes after Lycurgus Johnson died on August 1, 1876, as a result of complications from a gastrointestinal disorder. His wife Lydia owned it until she died in December 1898, when it passed to the youngest son, Victor Johnson. It remained in the Johnson family until 1927 when Victor sold it to the Sam Epstein family. In 1974

7884-482: The loyalists. Government forces arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control. Edmund S. Morgan 's 1975 classic, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia , connected the threat of Bacon's Rebellion, namely the potential for lower-class revolt, with the colony's transition over to slavery, saying, "But for those with eyes to see, there

7992-452: The migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats. Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago. In South America, the site of Monte Verde indicates that its population was probably territorial and resided in their river basin for most of

8100-633: The mound-builders include Alabama , Apalachee , Caddo , Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , Guale , Hitchiti , Houma , and Seminole peoples, all of whom still reside in the South. Other peoples whose ancestral links to the Mississippian culture are less clear but were clearly in the region before the European incursion include the Catawba and the Powhatan . Spain made frequent exploratory trips to

8208-493: The name big-game hunters . Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance. Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000-plus years ago). Evidence indicates that people were living as far east as Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 BP). Until recently, it

8316-402: The new country. Tobacco and cotton were the main cash crops of the areas and were readily accepted by English buyers. Rice and indigo were also grown in the area and exported to Europe. The plantation owners built a vast aristocratic life and accumulated a great deal of wealth from their land. They relied on slavery as a means of working their land. On the other side of the agricultural coin were

8424-404: The no-longer-enslaved people to labor on his plantation and continue to grow cotton. Within a few years, many of the freedmen worked for Johnson either as paid laborers or as sharecroppers , as other jobs were few in the agricultural delta. He became well known in the county because he managed to continue to profit despite the war and subsequent flooding and economic depression. Lakeport was among

8532-501: The one in Red River County , built in 1718. In 1817 the French pirate Jean Lafitte settled on Galveston Island ; his colony there grew to more than 1,000 persons by 1818 but was abandoned in 1820. The most important French settlements were established at New Orleans and Mobile (originally called Bienville ). Only a few settlers came from France directly, with others arriving from Haiti and Acadia . Just before they defeated

8640-495: The oppression of slavery. For details on each specific colony, see Province of Georgia , Province of Maryland , Province of North Carolina , Province of South Carolina , and Colony of Virginia . By the end of the 17th century, the number of colonists was growing. The economies of the Southern colonies were tied to agriculture. During this time the great plantations were formed by wealthy colonists who saw great opportunity in

8748-721: The passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization like the Southwest , Arctic , Poverty , Dalton , and Plano traditions. These regional adaptations would become the norm, with reliance less on hunting and gathering, and a more mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonally wild vegetables, and harvested plant foods. Many groups continued to hunt big game but their hunting traditions became more varied and meat procurement methods more sophisticated. The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status in some groups. [REDACTED] Indigenous peoples of

8856-611: The period from 1540 to 1730 in the southeastern part of the present United States. During that time, the interaction between European explorers and colonists transformed the Native American (Indian) cultures of that region. In 1540 dozens of chiefdoms and several paramount chiefdoms were scattered throughout the southeast. Chiefdoms featured a noble class ruling a large number of commoners and were characterized by villages and towns with large earthen mounds and complex religious practices. Some noted explorers who encountered and described

8964-551: The plantation was placed on the National Register of Historic Places . It was donated by the Sam Epstein Angel family to Arkansas State University in 2001. Restoration of the plantation began in 2003 and finished in 2007. Some of the restored parts were the doors, floorcloth , mantel , rose window in the attic, and the smokehouse in the back of the property. In 2007, it opened as a public museum. The plantation house

9072-601: The point when tobacco labor needs began to increase, the mortality rate fell and all groups lived longer. By the late 17th century and early 18th century, slaves became economically viable sources of labor for the growing tobacco culture. Also, further south than the Mid-Atlantic, Southern settlers grew wealthy by raising and selling rice, indigo , and cotton. The plantations of South Carolina often were modeled on Caribbean plantations, albeit smaller in size. Throughout British North America , slavery evolved in practice before it

9180-516: The previous two years. After the combat began, Governor Dunmore of Virginia was forced to flee to a British warship off the coast. In late 1775 he issued a proclamation offering freedom to slaves who escaped from Patriot owners and volunteer to fight for the British Army. Over 1,000 volunteered and served in British uniforms, chiefly in the Ethiopian Regiment . However, they were defeated in

9288-543: The primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Archeologists and anthropologists use surviving crafted lithic flaked tools to classify cultural periods. Scientific evidence links Indigenous Americans to eastern Siberian populations by the distribution of blood types, and genetic composition as indicated by molecular data, such as DNA . There is evidence for at least two separate migrations. Paleoindians lived alongside and hunted many now extinct megafauna (large animals), with most large animals across

9396-578: The region became more warm and wet whereas the rest of North America became colder. There is debate among archeologists and historians over the exact when the Peopling of the Americas and by extension the American Southeast took place. Cactus Hill near Richmond, Virginia may be one of the oldest archaeological sites in the Americas. If proven to have been inhabited 16,000 to 20,000 years ago, it would provide supporting evidence for pre-Clovis occupation of

9504-477: The region by 1900. Compared to the North, the Southern United States lost its previous political and economic power and fell behind the rest of the United States for decades. Its agricultural economy was often based on Sharecropping practices. The New Deal and World War II brought about a generation of Liberal Southerners within the Democratic Party that looked to accelerate development. The white South had

9612-676: The river valleys and from the East Coast to the Great Lakes, however the vast majority of mounds were concentrated in what would later become known as the Deep South . Prior to European contact, some Mississippian cultures were experiencing severe social stress as warfare increased and mound construction slowed or in other cases stopped completely, the societal decline was possibly caused by the Little Ice Age. The Mississippian shatter zone describes

9720-509: The slave trade was conducted as part of the " triangular trade ", a three-way exchange of slaves, rum, and sugar. Northern shippers purchased slaves using rum , made in New England from cane sugar, which was in turn grown in the Caribbean. This slave trade was generally able to fulfill labor needs in the South for the cultivation of tobacco after the decline of indentured servants. At approximately

9828-428: The small yeoman farmers. They did not have the capability or wealth to operate large plantations. Instead, they worked small tracts of land to feed themselves and trade locally, and grow some tobacco. They developed a political activism in response to the growing oligarchy of the plantation owners. Many politicians from this era were yeoman farmers speaking out to protect their rights as free men. Charleston became

9936-509: The small colony. Due to continued political and economic instability, however, the charter of the Colony of Virginia was revoked in 1624. The primary cause of this revocation was the revelation that hundreds of settlers were dead or missing following an attack in 1622 by Native American tribes led by Opechancanough . A royal charter was established for Virginia, yet the House of Burgesses , formed in 1619,

10044-629: The south. While the great majority of Whites did not own slaves, slavery was nevertheless the foundation of the region's economy and social order. Southern slavery denied basic human rights to Black Americans and permeated all parts of daily life of all residents. Questions of Southern slavery directly impacted the struggle for American independence throughout the South gave the region additional power in Congress. Almost all Southern founding fathers owned slaves including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington , though Washington did free all enslaved persons in his will. As industrial technologies including

10152-467: The southern Atlantic coast. Virginia became a prosperous English colony. During this period, life expectancy was often low, and indentured servants came from overpopulated European areas. With the lower price of servants compared to slaves, and the high mortality of the servants, planters often found it much more economical to use servants. Bacon's Rebellion was an unsuccessful armed rebellion by some Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It

10260-531: The spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Family groups moved every 3–6 days, possibly traveling up to 360 km (220 mi) per year. Diets were often sustaining and rich in protein; clothing was made from a variety of animal hides that were also used for shelter construction. During much of the early and middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna . Large Pleistocene mammals included

10368-490: The ubiquitous and prevalent institution of slavery . While West Africans were brought to the region as soon as English colonization began, the system was strictly formalized after Bacon's Rebellion . Afterwards, Millions of enslaved Africans, approximately 10% of all slaves taken from Africa during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade were imported to the United States primarily but not exclusively for forced labor in

10476-796: The year. Some other South American groups, on the other hand, were highly mobile and hunted big-game animals such as gomphotheres and giant sloths . They used classic bifacial projectile point technology, such as Fishtail points . The primary examples are populations associated with El Jobo points ( Venezuela ), fish-tail or Magallanes points (various parts of the continent, but mainly the southern half), and Paijan points ( Peru and Ecuador ) at sites in grasslands, savanna plains, and patchy forests. The dating for these sites ranges from c.  14,000 BP (for Taima-Taima in Venezuela) to c.  10,000 BP. The bi-pointed El Jobo projectile points were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from

10584-742: Was Fort Caroline , located in what is now Jacksonville, Florida , in 1562. It was established as a haven for the Huguenots and was destroyed by the Spanish in 1565. Later French arrived from the north. Having established agricultural colonies in Canada and built a fur trading network with Indians in the Great Lakes area, they began to explore the Mississippi River. The French called their territory Louisiana , in honor of their King Louis . France claimed Texas and set up several short-lived forts there, such as

10692-671: Was allowed to continue as political leadership for the colony in conjunction with a royal governor. George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore , applied to Charles I for a royal charter for what was to become the Province of Maryland . After Calvert died in April 1632, the charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin Terra Mariae ) was granted to his son, Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore , on June 20, 1632. Some historians viewed this as compensation for his father having been stripped of his title of Secretary of State in 1625 after announcing his Roman Catholicism . Maryland soon became one of

10800-646: Was an early marker of political and social complexity among the cultures in the Eastern United States. Watson Brake in Louisiana, constructed about 3500 BCE during the Middle Archaic period , is the oldest known and dated mound complex in North America. It is one of 11 mound complexes from this period found in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The namesake cultural trait of the Mound Builders was

10908-413: Was an obvious lesson in the rebellion. Resentment of an alien race might be more powerful than resentment of an upper class. Virginians did not immediately grasp it. It would sink in as time went on." From the introduction of tobacco in 1613, its cultivation began to form the basis of the early Southern economy. Cotton did not become a mainstay until much later, after technological developments, especially

11016-457: Was built around 1859 in the Greek Revival architectural style. By 1860, owned more than 155 slaves, and forced them to work some 4,000 acres of land at Lakeport and his other Arkansas properties. Records show that most of the enslaved people were field hands, but some were masons, house-hold servants, and carpenters. Plantation life was exhausting for those forced to work it; many worked six days

11124-485: Was codified into law. The Barbados slave code of 1661 marked the beginning of the legal codification of slavery. According to historian Russell Menard , "Since Barbados was the first English colony to write a comprehensive slave code, its code was especially influential." The Barbados Slave Code served as the basis for the slave codes adopted in several other British American colonies, including Jamaica , Carolina (1696), Georgia , and Antigua . In other colonies where

11232-535: Was founded for the purpose of promoting slavery. Lincoln's original goal was only to preserve the United States but to do that he had to destroy the Confederacy's economic base: slavery. Therefore his Emancipation Proclamation brought freedom to Black slaves living in rebellious areas as soon as the US Army arrived. With a smaller economy, smaller population and (in some cases) widespread dissent among its white population

11340-412: Was founded in 1719 and became the capital and largest settlement of Spanish Tejas . The Lipan Apache menaced the newly founded colony until 1749 when the Spanish and Lipan concluded a peace treaty. Both the Spanish and Lipan were then threatened by Comanche raids until 1785 when the Spanish and Comanche negotiated a peace agreement. The first French settlement in what is now the Southern United States

11448-421: Was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico , where in 1936 unique Clovis points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw , where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals. Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout

11556-672: Was intercepted by the South Carolina militia and almost all were executed, others were sold and sent to the West Indies. The rebellion profoundly changed slavery in South Carolina, the Negro Act of 1740 placed harsh regulations on slaves, including a provision that allowed any White colonist to inspect any slave for any reason. Some attempts were made to improve working conditions but these were mostly fruitless as no slave could testify against any whites. There were later revolts as well, provoked by

11664-449: Was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley, after he refused Bacon's demand to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all races and classes (including those in indentured servitude) rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and

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