Mississippian Natives By Rohit Ghotkar, Kaitlin Gill, Nathan Mulder, and Sam Medlin

Culture The Mississippian lifestyle revolved around the cultivation of corn. Though beans were quickly added to their crop rotation, corn still dominated as the cash crop, driving their economy. Technology for hunting and farming tools had not advanced much beyond stone and animal bone, but the Natives used more advanced dugout canoes to travel up and down the river. They were known best for clay pottery and masks, typically depicting their gods. Many languages were used in this area by various tribes, the main ones include: Atakapa, Chitimacha, Natchez, and Tunica.

Belief System The Mississippian Natives are very spiritual people. They believe all the animals have spirits so before killing an animal during the hunt the natives send a prayer of forgiveness. The cedar tree is also a sacred symbol to many native tribes. Ceremonies and festivals are held to mark the passing of many important events like season change, celestial events, and prosperous harvests. Celestial events are a very spiritual time, mainly events involving the Sun. They believe in the Sun spirit. The sun provides many necessary things for the Mississippian natives. The importance of the sun is so great they also believe that the ruler and past chiefs were all descendants from the Sun.

Political System Mississippian societies can be classified as chiefdoms, and their political system typically was lead by a small elitist group. These groups governed the tribe that they resided in.

Interaction with Europeans In the beginning of colonization, the Mississippian Indians had very minimal contact with settlers. Rather than having to fight the Europeans like their coastal neighbors, the Mississippian’s population dwindled due to exposure from foreign diseases.

Geography Before the Europeans arrived, it was estimated that there were around between 35 to 45 thousand Mississippian Indians living in the area. However, after the Europeans arrived, the population drastically dropped down to only a couple thousand across the few remaining tribes, the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws. Map of Mississippian tribes (Post-European) Map of Mississippian tribes (Pre-European)

Movement of the Tribes As the original Mississippian tribes lost more and more land to the American government they moved westward, away from their homeland and wound up in Oklahoma, where there were, and still are, many Native American reservations for the remnants of the Mississippian tribes.

Important Figures Hernando de Soto was a spanish conquistador and explorer. After conquests in Peru he went to North America to explore and conquer. During his expedition of North America he discovered the Mississippi River. Rene- Robert Cavelier was a French explorer who traveled the whole length of the Mississippi River. He was the first European to do so. He used the Mississippi to establish fur-trade routes. Chief Sun was a Natchez chief who tried to maintain good relations with the French settlers for many years. Until they were told to leave their land which contained a temple with the bones of their ancestors. Due to this demand the Natchez led a Rebellion killing around 250 french men. Sieur de Chepart was a commandant at Fort Rosalie. He demanded that the Natchez leave their land so the fort may build a plantation upon it. This was the demand that created the Natchez Rebellion. King Louis XIV was the ruler of France during this time period. King Louis XIV sent Rene-Robert Cavelier to travel the Mississippi River and he was supreme power over Sieur de Chepart.

Important Events 1500-1542: Hernando de Soto explored Mississippi. 1643-1687: Caveiler and Salle laid claim to Mississippi territory for France after navigating the Mississippi River 1729-1731: After multiple war came the Natchez Rebellion, where the Natchez Indians led a massacre at Fort Rosalie where around 250 people were killed. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Then came the American Revolution followed by the U.S. Declaration of Independence. In 1803 the U.S. bought the Louisiana Territory for 15 million dollars. This territory included Mississippi.

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Works Cited (continuted…) "Native Americans: Mississippian." Museum Link. Illinois State Museum, 2000. Web. 25 Aug. 2015. <http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/miss.html>. Smith, Chuck. "An Introduction to North America's Native People." Cabrillo College. Anthropology Department, 09 Mar. 2000. Web. 26 Aug. 2015. <http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/mississ.html>.