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112-541: The Natchez are noted for being the only Mississippian culture with complex chiefdom characteristics to have survived long into the period of European colonization . Other Mississippian societies in the southeast had generally experienced important transformations shortly after contact with the Spanish Empire or other newcomers from across the ocean. The Natchez are also noted for having had an unusual social system of nobility classes and exogamous marriage practices. It

224-415: A base there in 1567 called Fort San Juan . Expedition documentation and archaeological evidence of the fort and Native American culture both exist. The soldiers were at the fort about 18 months (1567–1568) before the natives killed them and destroyed the fort. (They killed soldiers stationed at five other forts as well; only one man of 120 survived.) Sixteenth-century Spanish artifacts have been recovered from

336-515: A force of about 500 Choctaw attacked and captured the fort, killing at least 100 Natchez, and recovered about 50 French captives and 50–100 African slaves. French leaders were delighted, but surprised when the Choctaw demanded ransoms for the captives. The French and Natchez continued to attack each other until 1731. On January 21, 1731, Perier with the troops of the colony and two battalions of marines commanded by his brother, Perier de Salvert , attacked

448-457: A hostile force of about 1,500 Natchez warriors and hurried away. At the time of the next French visit in the 1690s, the Natchez were welcoming and friendly. When Iberville visited the Natchez in 1700, he was given a three-day-long peace ceremony, which involved the smoking of a ceremonial pipe and a feast. French Catholic missionaries from Canada began to settle among the Natchez in 1698. On

560-525: A military post at Fort Rosalie. French colonists often intermarried with Natchez women. At first the Natchez welcomed the French settlers and assigned them land grants, although historians have noted it was unlikely they had the same concept of land ownership as the French. In the 1710s and 1720s, war broke out four times between the French and the Natchez. The French called these the First Natchez War (1716),

672-625: A new requirement of noble exogamy. Third, the social classes described by Swanton were not classes or castes, as the terms are generally used in English, but exogamous ranked clans or moieties , with patterns of descent common to most Native peoples of the American southeast. Tribes such as the Chickasaw, Creek, Timucua, Caddo , and Apalachee were organized into ranked clans, with the requirement that one cannot marry within one's clan. Related to this theory

784-573: A population estimated at 4,000–6,000 people, and with the ability to muster 1,500 warriors. There were three village districts in the lower St. Catherine's Creek area, called Tioux, Flour, and the Grand Village of the Natchez. Three other village districts were located to the northeast, along upper St. Catherine's Creek and Fairchild's Creek, called White Apple (or White Earth), Grigra , and Jenzenaque (or Hickories). Historian James Barnett, Jr. described this dispersed leadership structure as developing in

896-471: A regional ceramic style in the southeast involving surface decorations applied with a carved wooden paddle. By the late 1960s, archaeological investigations had shown the similarity of the culture that produced the pottery and the midwestern Mississippian pattern defined in 1937 by the Midwestern Taxonomic System. In 1967, James B. Griffin coined South Appalachian Mississippian to describe

1008-523: A small native group near the coast, the expedition finally made it to the Gulf on July 16, 1543, a few weeks after they had left Guachoya. Various scholars have proposed and debated the identities of Quigualtam and the unnamed chiefdom and the exact locations of their polities. Historian Charles M. Hudson has suggested that Quigualtam was centered on the area surrounding the Holly Bluff or Winterville sites in

1120-437: A standing warrior armed with bow and arrows stationed between each one. Some of the larger canoes were also color coded, with the canoes, oars, and the clothing and weaponry of the crew all painted the same color. Although many of the canoes were not this large, their crews still moved with precision, speed, and skill. Seated in several of the great canoes were the fleet commanders, chiefs with awnings to shade and protect them from

1232-572: A tool or ally in long-standing native feuds. In one example, de Soto negotiated a truce between the Pacaha and the Casqui . De Soto's later encounters left about half of the Spaniards and perhaps many hundreds of Native Americans dead. The chronicles of de Soto are among the first documents written about Mississippian peoples and are an invaluable source of information on their cultural practices. The chronicles of

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1344-457: A variety of functions. Villages with single platform mounds were more typical of the river valley settlements throughout the mountainous area of southwest North and South Carolina and southeastern Tennessee that were known as the historic Cherokee homelands. In Western North Carolina for example, some 50 such mound sites in the eleven westernmost counties have been identified since the late 20th century, following increased research in this area of

1456-701: Is based on a relatively small number of French colonists who recorded information about Natchez social life between about 1700 and 1730. Fragmentary and ambiguous, the French accounts are the only historic accounts of Natchez society before 1730. Natchez oral traditions have also been studied. The first modern ethnographic study was done by John R. Swanton in 1911. Swanton's interpretations and conclusions are still generally accepted and widely cited. Later researchers have addressed various problems with Swanton's interpretation. Some researchers have proposed modifications of Swanton's model, while others have rejected most of it. In Swanton's interpretation, social status among

1568-482: Is believed that the peoples of this area adopted Mississippian traits from their northwestern neighbors. Typical settlements were located on riverine floodplains and included villages with defensive palisades enclosing platform mounds and residential areas. Etowah and Ocmulgee in Georgia are both prominent examples of major South Appalachian Mississippian settlements. Both include multiple large earthwork mounds serving

1680-554: Is generally considered a language isolate . As originally proposed by John Swanton in the early 20th century, some scholars believe that it may be related to the Muskogean languages . Its two last fluent speakers, Watt Sam and Nancy Raven , died in 1944 and 1957 respectively. In the 21st century, the Natchez nation is working to revive it as a spoken language among its people. The Natchez are noted for having an unusual social system of noble classes and exogamous marriage. Members of

1792-480: Is now the Midwestern , Eastern , and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds , and often other shaped mounds as well. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia , believed to be a major religious center, located in what

1904-545: Is present-day southern Illinois . The Mississippian way of life began to develop in the Mississippi River Valley (for which it is named). Cultures in the tributary Tennessee River Valley may have also begun to develop Mississippian characteristics at this point. Almost all dated Mississippian sites predate 1539–1540 (when Hernando de Soto explored the area), with notable exceptions being Natchez communities. These maintained Mississippian cultural practices into

2016-705: Is the chronological stage, while Mississippian culture refers to the cultural similarities that characterize this society. The term Middle Mississippian is also used to describe the core of the classic Mississippian culture area. This area covers the central Mississippi River Valley, the lower Ohio River Valley, and most of the Mid-South area, including western and central Kentucky, western Tennessee, and northern Alabama and Mississippi. Sites in this area often contain large ceremonial platform mounds, residential complexes and are often encircled by earthen ditches and ramparts or palisades . Middle Mississippian cultures, especially

2128-476: Is the idea that Honored status was not a class or a clan, but a title. Sun status, likewise, may not have been a class but rather a term for the royal family. If true, Natchez society would have been a moiety of just two groups, commoners and nobles. The requirement of exogamy may have applied to Suns only, rather than the entire nobility. Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture were collections of Native American societies that flourished in what

2240-400: Is usually divided into three or more chronological periods. Each period is an arbitrary historical distinction varying regionally. At a particular site, each period may be considered to begin earlier or later, depending on the speed of adoption or development of given Mississippian traits. The "Mississippian period" should not be confused with the "Mississippian culture". The Mississippian period

2352-761: The Hasinai , Kadohadacho , and Natchitoches , which were all linked by their similar languages. The Plaquemine culture was an archaeological culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana . Good examples of this culture are the Medora site (the type site for the culture and period) in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana , and the Anna , Emerald Mound , Winterville and Holly Bluff sites located in Mississippi. Plaquemine culture

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2464-727: The Narváez expedition were written before the de Soto expedition; the Narváez expedition informed the Court of de Soto about the New World. After the destruction and flight of the de Soto expedition, the Mississippian peoples continued their way of life with little direct European influence. Indirectly, however, European introductions dramatically changed these native societies. Because the natives lacked immunity to infectious diseases unknowingly carried by

2576-708: The Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma and Sac & Fox Nation . Small Natchez communities and settlements may be found in and throughout the Southeast and as far north as North Carolina. There are three state-recognized Natchez communities in South Carolina , each of which have independent governments: the Eastern Band Natchez, formerly Natchez-PeeDee; the Edisto Natchez-Kusso (Four Holes Indian Organization); and

2688-439: The societies living downstream , hoping to find a rich "province" to conquer, where he could set up the colony he had delayed founding in his search for more portable valuables. By this time de Soto had begun employing a ruse with the native populations; seeking to convince them that he was an immortal deity, "son of the sun". After learning of Quigualtum, de Soto sent a message demanding his obeisance and to bring him examples of

2800-442: The 1710s, the Natchez had become solidly integrated with the French, trading furs for firearms, blankets, alcohol and other supplies. Despite this, the Natchez kept their markets open for all European merchants. The increasing pace of European colonization caused internal tensions to worsen within Natchez society. Several villages, led by the Grand Village of the Natchez and including the villages of Flour and Tioux , openly supported

2912-657: The 18th century. A number of cultural traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississippians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, they were distinct from their ancestors in the adoption of some or all of these traits. The Mississippians had no writing system or stone architecture. They worked naturally occurring metal deposits, such as hammering and annealing copper for ritual objects such as Mississippian copper plates and other decorations, but did not smelt iron or practice bronze metallurgy . The Mississippian stage

3024-547: The Cahokia polity located near East St. Louis, Illinois , were very influential on neighboring societies. High-status artifacts, including stone statuary and elite pottery associated with Cahokia, have been found far outside of the Middle Mississippian area. These items, especially the pottery, were also copied by local artists. The term South Appalachian Province was originally used by W. H. Holmes in 1903 to describe

3136-579: The Chaouachas was killed; his wife and ten others were carried off to Carolina where they were sold into slavery. Although Carolinian merchants had been operating in the American Southeast for decades, French merchants rapidly established economic networks throughout the region with a few years of their arrival. Most Indian tribes in the region sought to maintain trade links with as many Europeans as possible, encouraging competition and price reductions. By

3248-589: The Cherokee homeland. The Caddoan Mississippian area, a regional variant of the Mississippian culture, covered a large territory, including what is now eastern Oklahoma , western Arkansas , northeastern Texas , and northwestern Louisiana . Archaeological evidence has led to a scholarly consensus that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present, and that the Caddo and related Caddo language speakers in prehistoric times and at first European contact are

3360-529: The Chickasaw conducted slave raids over a wide region in the American Southeast, often being joined by allied Natchez and Yazoo warriors. These raiding parties moved over great distances to capture slaves from hostile tribes. In one instance, a 1713 raiding party of Chickasaw, Natchez, and Yazoo raiders attacked the Chaouachas , an Indian tribe living near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The grand chief of

3472-479: The Choctaw nation reached the point of violence and civil war. Louisiana's Africans, both slave and free blacks, were also affected by the Indian wars. The Natchez had encouraged African slaves to join them in rebellion. Most did not, but some did. In January 1730 a group of African slaves fought off a Choctaw attack, giving the Natchez time to regroup in their forts. In June 1731, a group of enslaved Bambara , inspired by

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3584-760: The Creek Confederacy and established their town near the Coosa River in Talladega County, Alabama . Today the primary settlements of the Natchez Nation ( Nvce or Nahchee ), a treaty tribe, are within the southern halves of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations in Oklahoma. The nation developed a constitution in 2003, which confirms its long-held traditions of self-government. Approximately 197,000 Natchez are members of

3696-529: The Europeans, such as measles and smallpox , epidemics caused so many fatalities that they undermined the social order of many chiefdoms. Some groups adopted European horses and changed to nomadism . Political structures collapsed in many places. At Joara , near Morganton, North Carolina , Native Americans of the Mississippian culture interacted with Spanish colonizers of the Juan Pardo expedition, who built

3808-422: The French and other Natchez villages, White Apple turned the chief over to the French. In August 1726, Étienne Perier arrived as the new governor of Louisiana with orders to further develop the Natchez settlement. Perier broke with Bienville's policy of diplomatic engagement with the Natchez and other tribes, and refused to recognize Native American ownership of their traditional lands. To oversee Fort Rosalie and

3920-527: The French at Fort St. Jean Baptiste in October 1731. With reinforcements from Spain and Native American allies, the French under the fort's commander Louis Juchereau de St. Denis mounted a counter attack and defeated the Natchez. The Natchez revolt expanded into a larger regional conflict with many repercussions. The Yazoo and Koroa Indians allied with the Natchez and suffered the same fate in defeat. The Tunica were initially reluctant to fight on either side. In

4032-413: The French colony. He secured the neutrality of the Choctaw and engaged in the prosecution of the war of extermination against the Natchez. The Natchez seized and occupied Fort Rosalie. Retaliation by the French and allied Choctaw forced the Natchez to evacuate, leaving the fort in ruins. In January 1730, the French attempted to besiege the main fort of the Natchez, but they were driven off. Two days later

4144-568: The French. By 1731 the Chickasaw had accepted many refugees. When in 1731 the French demanded the surrender of Natchez living among them, the Chickasaw refused. French-Chickasaw relations rapidly deteriorated, resulting in the Chickasaw Wars . Some of the Natchez warriors who had found refuge among the Chickasaw joined them in fighting the French. The Natchez Wars and the Chickasaw Wars were also related to French attempts to gain free passage along

4256-409: The French. Others, including White Apple , Jenzenaque , and Grigra , maintained their distance from the French and entertained the possibility of seeking alliances elsewhere. The Great Sun and Tattooed Serpent leaders lived in the Grand Village of the Natchez and were generally friendly toward the French. When violence broke out between the Natchez and the French, the village of White Apple was usually

4368-561: The Grand Village of the Natchez. The present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi developed from the 1716 establishment of Fort Rosalie. War broke out again in 1722 and 1723. Called the Second and Third Natchez Wars by the French, they were essentially two phases of a single conflict. It began in White Apple, where an argument over a debt resulted in a French trader's killing one of the Natchez villagers. The French commander of Fort Rosalie reprimanded

4480-587: The Great Sun. The French continued to hold the Great Sun responsible for the conduct of all Natchez villages. They insisted on dealing with the Natchez as if the people were a unified nation ruled from its capital, the Grand Village of the Natchez. During the 1710s and 1720s, French presence and settlement in Natchez territory increased from a handful of traders and missionaries to hundreds of settlers (some 400 French colonists and 200 enslaved Africans ). They cultivated several large tobacco plantations , and maintained

4592-471: The Gulf coast. The Spaniards' technique of using local rivalries to their advantage had upset the delicate political balance between native groups, who had existed in a state of low-level endemic warfare between polities for generations. In addition, a series of disastrous multi-year droughts spanned the latter half of the 16th century. Many societies in the region began to collapse. Remnant populations of Mississippian peoples began migrating across and down

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4704-722: The Kusso, Eastern Band Natchez and the PeeDee. (The state of South Carolina recognized the Natchez-Kusso tribe, Eastern Band Natchez and the PeeDee Tribe.) Most of the balance of Natchez citizens are within the Cherokee Nation (est. 185,000), the Mvskoke Nation, Seminole Nation, Chickasaw Nation, with a few in the modern Choctaw Nation on their respective reservations in Oklahoma; nearly half of

4816-515: The Mississippi River, where they found the maize -rich polities of Guachoya and Anilco (thought by some archaeologists and historians to be the Menard–Hodges site in modern-day Arkansas County, Arkansas ). After encountering resistance from Anilco and entreaties of alliance from their traditional enemies, the Guachoya; de Soto made his headquarters at Guachoya. De Soto interrogated the chief about

4928-496: The Mississippi River. During the 1736 campaign against the Chickasaw, the French demanded again that the Natchez among them be turned over. The Chickasaw, compromising, turned over several Natchez, along with some French prisoners of war. During the 1730s and 1740s, as the French–Natchez conflict developed into a French–Chickasaw war, the Choctaw fell into internal discord. The rift between pro-French and pro-English factions within

5040-624: The Mississippi, sometimes settling in areas recently deserted by Plaquemine peoples, and at other times displacing or merging with the Plaquemine populations on the lower river. The Plaquemine culture contracted southward and abandoned the northern Natchez Bluffs altogether. The Lower Yazoo basin region, once occupied by the Winterville and Holly Bluff polity, became the territory of the historic period Yazoo , Tunica and Koroa tribes. They had migrated from further upriver, thought by archaeologists to be

5152-658: The Natchez Bluffs region since at least as long ago as 700 CE . The Natchez Bluffs are located along the east side of the Mississippi River in present-day Mississippi . During the late prehistoric era, around 1500, Plaquemine-culture people occupied territory from the Big Black River in the north to about the Homochitto River in the south. The Plaquemine people built many platform mounds, including Emerald Mound ,

5264-476: The Natchez Bluffs, approximately 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) south of modern Vicksburg . It was on the northern edge of the Emerald Phase (1500–1680) of the protohistoric Natchez chiefdom . During this period, its capital was located at the massive Emerald Mound near modern-day Stanton, Mississippi . These two sites were the only major ceremonial centers on this stretch of the Mississippi River occupied during

5376-501: The Natchez Paradox's effects. Researchers who argue for this idea often couple it with the proposal that the Natchez system of noble exogamy in the early 18th century was a relatively recent development in their society. According to this argument, during the relatively chaotic 16th and 17th centuries, the Natchez maintained their traditional social system by adapting it to new conditions. They assimilated foreigners as commoners and made

5488-464: The Natchez War. All four conflicts involved the two opposing factions within the Natchez nation. The Great Sun's faction was generally friendly toward the French. Violence usually began in or was triggered by events among the Natchez of White Apple. In all but the last war, peace was regained largely due to the efforts of Tattooed Serpent of the Grand Village of the Natchez. The First Natchez War of 1716

5600-426: The Natchez in rising up to drive out the French. On November 28, 1729, the Natchez led by Indian chief the Great Sun, attacked and destroyed the entire French settlement at Fort Rosalie, killing between 229 and 285 colonists and taking about 450 women and children captive. After the attack on Fort Rosalie, Perier decided that the complete destruction of the Natchez was required to ensure the prosperity and safety of

5712-523: The Natchez revolt, attempted to organize a slave uprising , but French authorities disputed the Samba rebellion before they could act. More slaves fought for the French, however, as did some free people of color ( gens de couleur libres ). Because of the contributions of the free men of color during the Natchez War, the French allowed them to join Louisiana's militias. This gave them important connections into

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5824-486: The Natchez settlement, Perier appointed the Sieur de Chépart (also known as Etcheparre and Chopart), who was described by as "rapacious, haughty, and tyrannical", abusing soldiers, settlers, and the Natchez alike. Perier and Chépart entered a partnership to develop a large plantation on Natchez land. In November 1729, Chépart announced the complete removal of the Natchez from their land in the near future and ordered them to vacate

5936-423: The Natchez was divided into two major categories, commoners and nobility. The nobility was further divided into three classes (or castes ) called Suns, Nobles, and Honored People. Noble exogamy was practiced, meaning that members of the noble classes could marry only commoners. A person's social status and class were determined matrilineally . That is, the children of female Suns, Nobles, or Honoreds were born into

6048-553: The PeeDee Indian Tribe of South Carolina. The current leadership of the Natchez Nation consists of a Peace Chief (called the "Great Sun"), a War Chief, and four primary Clan Mothers. Other Natchez Sun leaders have included K.T. "Hutke" Fields (Principal Peace Chief/Great Sun, 1996–), Eliza Jane Sumpka (Primary Clan Mother), William Harjo LoneFight, Robert M. Riviera (Principal War Chief, 1997), Watt Sam , Archie Sam, White Tobacco Sam, Creek Sam and others. The Natchez language

6160-579: The Second Natchez War (1722), the Third Natchez War (1723), and the Natchez Rebellion of 1729. The last of these wars was the largest, in which the Natchez destroyed the French settlements in their territory. In retaliation, the French eventually killed or deported most of the Natchez people. Overshadowing the first three in scale and importance, the 1729 rebellion is sometimes simply called

6272-441: The Spaniards as cowards and thieves who would soon perish; that on land their corpses had been food for dogs and birds and that on the river they would feed the fish. The songs frequently mentioned the name of their great chief Quigualtam and, at the end of each song, the singers would give a great shout of triumph. The Spaniards no longer had long-range offensive weapons. The gunpowder for their arquebuses had run out long before and

6384-499: The Spaniards. On the third day, the Spanish reached the edge of their attackers' territory. The war fleet turned around and headed back upriver, continuing to chant and shout the name of their leader. Within a day the expedition encountered another fleet of canoes belonging to a powerful but unnamed chiefdom. These warriors also gave chase downriver for several days until the foreigners had left their territory. After one more encounter with

6496-516: The Tattooed Serpent oversaw political issues of war and peace, and diplomacy with other nations. Both lived at the Grand Village of the Natchez. Lesser chiefs, mostly from the Sun royal family, presided at other Natchez villages. The Natchez performed ritual human sacrifice upon the death of a Sun. When a male Sun died, his wives were expected to accompany him by performing ritual suicide . Great honor

6608-433: The White Apple faction functioned at least semi-independently. Whatever power the family of the Great Sun and Tattooed Serpent did have over outlying villages was reduced in the late 1720s after both died. They were succeeded by relatively young, inexperienced leaders. While the new Great Sun was technically the paramount chief of the Natchez, the chief of White Apple became the eldest Sun chief and had more political clout than

6720-583: The capital of Casqui at the Parkin site and equated the polity of Pacaha with the Nodena phase . Not finding the precious metals and gems the Europeans desired, the expedition left eastern Arkansas and headed west across central Arkansas and into the Ozark Mountains in their search for riches. Finding nothing they considered of value and contending with considerable native resistance ; de Soto and his men returned to

6832-454: The chief's arrogant response but by then too weak to get up from his bed, de Soto could not mount an armed response. Afterward followed a period with Anilco and other local towns conspiring with Quigualtum to mount a combined attack against the Spaniards. In order to strike fear into Quigualtum and the others, and to punish Anilco, from his deathbed he ordered his men to massacre all of the men of Anilco. His men obeyed and did not stop with killing

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6944-533: The coast of the Gulf of Mexico , French colonists established Biloxi in 1699 and Mobile in 1702. Early French Louisiana was governed by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville , among others. Both brothers played a major role in French-Natchez relations. During the early 18th century, according to French sources, the Natchez lived in six to nine village districts with

7056-607: The colonial society, contributing to their achieving an independent social status between the French colonists and slaves. In the 19th century, the free people of color established a relatively large class, especially in New Orleans. Many worked as highly skilled artisans; others became educated; they established businesses and acquired property. Of French and African ancestry, the base of most Louisiana Creoles of color , they chiefly spoke French and practiced Catholicism, while sometimes retaining ties to voodou and African practices. After

7168-528: The colony of Carolina . Traders from Carolina had established a large trading network among the indigenous peoples of the American Southeast, and by 1700 it stretched west as far as the Mississippi River . The Chickasaw tribe, who lived north of the Natchez, were frequently visited by Carolinian traders, thus giving them access to a source of firearms and alcohol. One of the most lucrative trades with Carolinian merchants involved trading in Indian slaves . For decades,

7280-542: The direct ancestors of the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma . The climate in this area was drier than areas in the eastern woodlands, hindering maize production, and the lower population on the plains to the west may have meant fewer neighboring competing chiefdoms to contend with. Major sites such as Spiro and the Battle Mound Site are in the Arkansas River and Red River Valleys, the largest and most fertile of

7392-560: The eastern bank of the Mississippi River several days journey below the polity of Guachoya (in present-day Chicot County, Arkansas ). By this point the expedition had been traversing the southeast for several years and had spent the majority of the previous year in the area of the modern state of Arkansas among the Late Mississippian culture paramount chiefdoms of Quizquiz , Casqui , and Pacaha , as well as their many vassal states . Modern archaeological research has placed

7504-420: The evolving understanding of the peoples of the Southeast. South Appalachian Mississippian area sites are distributed across a contiguous area including Alabama, Georgia, northern Florida, South Carolina, central and western North Carolina, and Tennessee. Chronologically this area became influenced by Mississippian culture later than the Middle Mississippian area (about 1000 as compared to 800) to its northwest. It

7616-423: The federally recognized Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) nations in Oklahoma. Two Natchez communities are recognized by the state of South Carolina . The historic Natchez were preceded in this area by what archaeologists call the indigenous Plaquemine culture , part of the larger, prehistoric Mississippian culture , which extended throughout the lower Mississippi Valley and its tributaries. Its largest center

7728-422: The guns melted down to make nails for the boats; the limited number of crossbows had mostly stopped working as well. The Spaniards placed their armor and cane matting around the boats gunwales to protect from the arrows. The Native Americans began arcing their arrows into the air so they came straight down and injured more of the Spaniards. The fleet chased them for several days, rarely letting up on their attack on

7840-420: The highest ranking class, called Suns, are thought to have been required to marry only members of the lowest commoner class, called Stinkards or commoners. The Natchez descent system has received a great deal of academic study. Scholars debate how the system functioned before the 1730 diaspora and the topic has generated controversy. Primary source documentation on the pre-1730 Natchez kinship and descent system

7952-553: The historic period, power had shifted within the Natchez polity from Emerald Mound to the Grand Village of the Natchez , and the Glass site had also been abandoned. In the meantime native peoples of the region suffered from epidemics of infectious disease . They contracted these from members of the de Soto expedition, among whom the diseases were endemic, and indirectly from other Native Americans who had contact with European traders on

8064-456: The lower Yazoo Basin . Archeologists believe that these two large Plaquemine culture sites had been abandoned by this time; the capital of the polity had probably shifted to another of the numerous sites within its territory. Other scholars have proposed the Glass site and Emerald Mound as possibilities for the two polities. The Glass site is on the flood plain between the Mississippi River and

8176-407: The main source of tensions, as in the Natchez revolt. The French colonial authorities regularly described the Natchez as being ruled with absolute, despotic authority by the Great Sun and Tattooed Serpent. The existence of two opposing factions was well known and documented. The Great Sun and Tattooed Serpent repeatedly pointed out their difficulty in controlling the hostile Natchez. It is likely that

8288-738: The majority of the American Indian nations living in this region when European trade began. The historic and modern day American Indian nations believed to have descended from the overarching Mississippian culture include: the Alabama , Apalachee , Arikara , Caddo , Chickasaw , Catawba , Choctaw , Muscogee Creek , Guale , Hitchiti , Ho-Chunk , Houma , Iowa , Kansa , Koroas , Missouria , Mobilian , Natchez , Omaha , Osage (possibly), Otoe , Pawnee , Ponca , Quapaw (possibly), Seminole (broad origins), Taensas , Tunicas , Yamasee , Yazoos , and Yuchi . Scholars have studied

8400-503: The many Caddoan languages . These languages once had a broad geographic distribution, but many are now extinct. The modern languages in the Caddoan family include Caddo and Pawnee . Hernando de Soto led an expedition into the area in the early 1540s, he encountered several native groups now thought to have been Caddoan. Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies,

8512-493: The men; they were said to have massacred women and children as well. DeSoto died of his illness a few days later in May 1542, in what is believed to be the vicinity of modern-day McArthur, Arkansas . His body was weighted down with sand and under cover of darkness consigned to a watery grave in the Mississippi River. In order to keep the ruse up and forestall possible attacks, his men informed the local peoples that de Soto had ascended into

8624-779: The most valuable thing in his land; presumably the gold or other riches valued by Europeans. Before a reply could return, de Soto fell seriously ill and took to his bed. Quigualtum sent back a message that astonished and infuriated de Soto: "As to what you say of your being the son of the Sun, if you will cause him to dry up the great river, I will believe you: as to the rest, it is not my custom to visit any one, but rather all, of whom I have ever heard, have come to visit me, to serve and obey me, and pay me tribute, either voluntarily or by force: if you desire to see me, come where I am; if for peace, I will receive you with special good will; if for war, I will await you in my town; but neither for you, nor for any man, will I set back one foot" Angered by

8736-462: The mother. Relatives of adults who chose ritual suicide were likewise honored and rose in status. The practice of ritual suicide and infanticide upon the death of a chief existed among other Native Americans living along the lower Mississippi River, such as the Taensa . During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, French colonists in the American Southeast initiated a power struggle with those living in

8848-530: The mounds dotting the landscape. This contributed to the myth of the Mound Builders as a people distinct from Native Americans, which was rigorously debunked by Cyrus Thomas in 1894. Quigualtam Quigualtam or Quilgualtanqui was a powerful Native American Plaquemine culture polity encountered in 1542–1543 by the Hernando de Soto expedition. The capital of the polity and its chieftain also bore

8960-431: The murderer. Unsatisfied with that response, Natchez warriors of White Apple retaliated by attacking nearby French settlements. Tattooed Serpent's diplomatic efforts helped restore peace. But within a year, Bienville led a French army into Natchez territory, intent on punishing the warriors of White Apple. Bienville demanded the surrender of a White Apple chief as recompense for the earlier Natchez attacks. Under pressure from

9072-536: The nation. Membership is based on matrilineal descent from people listed on the Dawes Rolls or the updated records of 1973. The nation allows citizens to have more than one tribal affiliation, asking only for volunteer work or donations to support the nation and its programs. Natchez families are also found as members among the balance of the Five Civilized Tribes . They are represented as corporations within

9184-419: The native populations. By the historic period local power had shifted to the Grand Village of the Natchez . The French explored the lower Mississippi River in the late 17th century. Initial French-Natchez encounters were mixed. In 1682 René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led an expedition down the Mississippi River. The Natchez received the party well, but when the French returned upriver, they were met by

9296-519: The night. The next morning, only two sick men and one woman were found in the fort. Perier burned the fort and on the 28th, the French began their withdrawal. Perier sold the chiefs Great Sun, the Little Sun, the 45 other male prisoners and the 450 women and children into slavery in Saint-Domingue . Although significantly weakened by the defeat, the Natchez managed to regroup and make one last attack on

9408-434: The north to St. Catherine's Creek in the south. This area is approximately that of the northern half of present-day Adams County, Mississippi . The earliest European account of the Natchez may be from the journals of the Spanish expedition of Hernando de Soto . In 1542 de Soto's expedition encountered a powerful chiefdom located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River. Native sources called it " Quigualtam ," after

9520-548: The paramount chief's name. Various scholars have debated if this chiefdom was the Emerald Phase (1500–1680) of the Natchez chiefdom which was in its ascendancy at the time. The encounter was brief and violent; the natives attacked and chased the Spanish with their canoes. No further European contact with the indigenous people in this area occurred for more than 140 years, but they suffered from epidemics of infectious disease carried indirectly by other Native Americans from European traders. These and other intrusions had severely reduced

9632-477: The polity, but their identity will probably never be known with any degree of certainty. The chroniclers of the DeSoto expedition said the chiefdoms near the Mississippi River , especially Guigualtam, were the best they encountered during their three-year journey through the southeastern United States. The journals of the Spanish expedition of Hernando de Soto record their encounter with a powerful chiefdom located on

9744-511: The post-epidemic years. It enabled the Natchez to maintain friendly diplomatic relations with European settlers of all nations, but eventually resulted in deeper internal divisions in Natchez society. The Natchez chiefs were called Suns, and the paramount chief was called the Great Sun (Natchez: uwahšiL li∙kip ). When the French arrived, the Natchez were ruled by the Great Sun and his brother, Tattooed Serpent , both hereditary positions. The Great Sun had supreme authority over civil affairs, and

9856-405: The protohistoric period from 1500 to 1650 CE. Since the Spaniards never made it ashore to leave archaeological evidence of contact with these two groups, their exact identity will probably never be determined with certainty. No further recorded European contact with the indigenous people in this area occurred for almost 140 years, until the first French explorers reached the area in the 1680s. By

9968-504: The records of Hernando de Soto 's expedition of 1539–1543 to learn of his contacts with Mississippians, as he traveled through their villages of the Southeast. He visited many villages, in some cases staying for a month or longer. The list of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition chronicles those villages. Some encounters were violent, while others were relatively peaceful. In some cases, de Soto seems to have been used as

10080-418: The same name; although neither the chief nor his settlements were ever visited in person by the expedition. Their encounters consisted of messages sent by runners and a three-day long canoe battle on the Mississippi River . Multiple archaeological cultures , archaeological sites , and protohistoric and early historic period Native American groups have been proposed by historians and archaeologists to identify

10192-541: The second-largest pre-Columbian structure in North America north of Mexico . Emerald Mound was an important ceremonial center. The Natchez used Emerald Mound in their time, but they abandoned the site before 1700. Their center of power shifted to the Grand Village of the Natchez . The Grand Village had between three and five platform mounds. By 1700, the Natchez occupied a territory that covered only an area roughly between Fairchilds Creek and South Fork Coles Creek in

10304-533: The site, marking the first European colonization in the interior of what became the United States. By the time more documentary accounts were being written, the Mississippian way of life had changed irrevocably. Some groups maintained an oral tradition link to their mound-building past, such as the late 19th-century Cherokee . Other Native American groups, having migrated many hundreds of miles and lost their elders to diseases, did not know their ancestors had built

10416-466: The sky but would return. His remaining men, now commanded by his aide de camp Moscoso , decided to attempt an overland journey to Mexico in order to avoid sailing downriver. They made it as far as Texas , meeting Late Caddoan Mississippian peoples along the way, before running into territory too dry for maize farming and too thinly populated to sustain themselves by stealing food from the locals. The expedition had to backtrack to Guachoya. They spent

10528-464: The so-called "Natchez Paradox" that Swanton's model is said to engender. The paradox is that if the rules described were followed strictly, over time the commoner class would become depleted, while the lower nobility classes would grow larger. Three general changes to Swanton's interpretation have been proposed to address the Natchez Paradox. First, a type of asymmetrical descent may have been practiced in which only male children of male nobility inherited

10640-458: The social class one step below their fathers, while female children of male nobles inherited their mothers' commoner status in matrilineal descent. Related to this is the idea that the Honored category was not a social class but rather an honorific title given to commoner men and was not hereditary . Second, the assimilation of foreign people, such as groups of Timucua , could have at least delayed

10752-465: The state. There are significant numbers of Natchez citizens within the federally recognized tribe of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; approximately 12,000. The Natchez were constituent members of the historic Creek Confederacy and signatories on the 1790 Treaty of New York , 1796 Treaty of Colerain , and 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson . During this time, the Natchez enjoyed signatory status and membership within

10864-408: The status of their mothers. However, the children of male Suns and Nobles did not take on commoner status from their mothers, as noble exogamy and matrilineal descent would appear to dictate, but rather were ranked one class below their fathers. In other words, children of male Suns became Nobles, while children of male Nobles became Honored, according to Swanton. Many later researchers have focused on

10976-410: The stronghold of the Natchez at White Apple. On the 24th, the Natchez made propositions of peace and some chiefs met Perier who proposed they enter a cabin that seemed to be deserted, but as soon as they crossed its threshold, they were made prisoners by Perier. On January 25, 45 men, and 450 women and children surrendered and were taken as prisoners, but the rest of the Natchez and their chiefs escaped in

11088-467: The summer of 1730, a large group of Natchez asked for refuge with the Tunica, which was given. During the night, the Natchez turned on their hosts, killing 20 and plundering the town. In return, the Tunica attacked Natchez refugees throughout the 1730s and into the 1740s. The Chickasaw tried to remain neutral, but when groups of Natchez began seeking refuge in 1730, the Chickasaw allied with the refugees against

11200-450: The sun, one of them possibly Quigualtam himself. Under the pretense of negotiating, the canoes attacked the Spanish. Over the course of the running battle, eleven Spaniards were killed and many more wounded as the expedition fled downstream. The war canoe crews chanted war songs, whose rhythm and speed set the speed of the paddling of their craft. The songs glorified their prowess in battle and extolled their courage. The songs also lambasted

11312-649: The topic is somewhat controversial. In 1731, after several wars with the French , the Natchez were defeated. Most of the captured survivors were shipped to Saint-Domingue and sold by into slavery ; others took refuge with other tribes, such as the Muskogean Chickasaw and Creek , and the Iroquoian -speaking Cherokee . Today, most Natchez families and communities are found in Oklahoma , where Natchez members are enrolled in

11424-530: The village of White Apple so that he could use its land for a new tobacco plantation . This turned out to be the final affront to the Natchez, and they were unwilling to yield to the French demands. The chiefs of White Apple sent emissaries to potential allies, including the Yazoo, Koroa , Illinois , Chickasaw, and Choctaw. They also sent messages to the African slaves of nearby French plantations, inviting them to join

11536-675: The war of 1729–1731, Natchez society was in flux and the people scattered. Most survivors eventually settled among the Creek (Muscogee), Chickasaw , or with British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies . Most of the latter two Natchez groups ended up integrating with the Cherokee . The Natchez settled mostly along the Hiwassee River in North Carolina. The main Natchez town, dating to about 1755,

11648-520: The waterways in the Caddoan region, where maize agriculture would have been the most productive. The sites generally lacked wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoans may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a somewhat lower level of social stratification . The Caddoan people were speakers of one of

11760-513: The winter of 1542-1543 building a small fleet of seven "bergantines", or pinnaces , to attempt the river route to the Gulf of Mexico and on to Mexico. Once the spring floods had abated, they headed down the Mississippi River on July 2, 1543. After sailing for several days, the expedition came upon a great fleet of over one hundred war canoes. Made from enormous hollowed-out cypress logs, the larger canoes were big enough to seat 60 to 70 passengers. They had ranks of seated paddlers, 20–30 per side, with

11872-669: Was Natchez and kidnapped as a young girl. In later years Dragging Canoe's Cherokee father, Attacullaculla , lived in Natchey Town. Most of the Natchez living with the Cherokee accompanied them in the 1830s on the forced removal , the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). A few remained in North Carolina. Their descendants are part of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians . Some Cherokee-Natchez were permitted to remain in South Carolina as settlers along with

11984-463: Was a strongly matrilineal kinship society, with descent reckoned along female lines. The paramount chief named the Great Sun was always the son of the Female Sun, whose daughter would be the mother of the next Great Sun. This ensured that the chiefdom stayed under the control of the single Sun lineage. Ethnologists have not reached consensus on how the Natchez social system originally functioned, and

12096-538: Was associated with such sacrifice, and sometimes many Natchez chose to follow a Sun into death. For example, at the death of the Tattooed Serpent in 1725, two of his wives, one of his sisters (nicknamed La Glorieuse by the French), his first warrior , his doctor, his head servant and the servant's wife, his nurse, and a craftsman of war clubs, all chose to die with him. Mothers sometimes sacrificed infants in such ceremonies, an act which conferred honor and special status to

12208-509: Was at Cahokia in present-day Illinois near the confluence of the Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Its peoples are noted for their hierarchical communities, building complex earthworks and platform mound architecture, and intensively cultivating maize . Archaeological evidence indicates that people of the Plaquemine culture, an elaboration of the Coles Creek culture , had lived in

12320-547: Was contemporaneous with the Middle Mississippian culture at the Cahokia site near St. Louis , Missouri. It is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa Peoples. Although the Mississippian culture was heavily disrupted before a complete understanding of the political landscape was written down, many Mississippian political bodies were documented and others have been discovered by research. Mississippian peoples were ancestral to

12432-537: Was located near present-day Murphy, North Carolina . Around 1740 a small group of Natchez refugees settled along a creek near the confluence of the Tellico River and the Little Tennessee River . The creek became known as Notchy Creek after the Natchez. The settlement was called Natchey Town or Natsi-yi (Cherokee for "Natchez Place"). It was the birthplace of the Cherokee leader Dragging Canoe , whose mother

12544-416: Was precipitated by Natchez raiders from White Apple killing four French traders. Bienville, seeking to resolve the conflict, called a meeting of chiefs at the Grand Village of the Natchez. The assembled chiefs proclaimed their innocence and implicated the war chiefs of White Apple. The Choctaw assisted the French in fighting the 1716 Natchez War. After the 1716 Natchez War, the French built Fort Rosalie near

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