In my first post on the Mississippi River (available here) we discovered the course and flow of the river and the Geologic history. Today we will add humans to the equation. Some of this history will necessarily spill out of the Mississippi River Valley, but hopefully will remain relevant to the subject.
First People
Anthropologists tell us that the first humans came to the Mississippi valley about 12,000 years ago. The current tribes and some anecdotal evidence argue for a much earlier time. Prior to the last ice age as opposed to after.
The Mississippi River valley is horrible at preserving evidence of occupation. It’s wet, and relatively firm so much of the archaeological evidence just doesn’t exist. There is anecdotal evidence of human habitation in California and Florida dating to around 40,000 years ago. The evidence is mostly cut marks on fossilized bones that some explain as naturally occuring. If there were people in North America in that time frame you can be very nearly assured that they would have settled in the lush Mississippi valley where game and plants were abundant.
We do have evidence of habitation dating from 12,000 years ago. Not much is known about these early inhabitants except they hunted and gathered plants and died here. Real good evidence of occupation starts at around 8,000 years ago. By that time people had settled the entire valley (and many of the tributaries, particularly to the east).
Those people, though little known today, were highly organized and social. What the shape and scope of the organization isn’t known, but it is obvious they had a trading network that was in use up and down the river It’s also obvious that living was relatively easy because they had time to decorate daily use items and have objects that were beautiful rather than useful
Somewhere around 4000 years ago the Adena culture began to emerge in the Upper Mississippi Region. These people were accomplished potters and worked with copper and semi=precious stones to make objects of beauty. They built mounds that were used by the tribes for burial, ceremonial and government functions. They probably (though not certainly) began the agricultural tradition that the Mississippi Valley would become famous for.
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Copper Plate Sculpture found at Union County, Illinois
Source
These may be the people that first grew what we now call corn. Then it was a smallish plant with the seed ears about the size of a thumb. Through careful crop management they increased the size of the ears and the amount of edible seeds available per plant. There are only three sites on earth where primitive people domesticated and hybridized plants. The Mississippi Valley is one of those three.
These upper valley people became familiar with and affiliated with the Great Lakes people and the tribes from the northeast US and southeast Canada areas. While the people that claimed the lower river became a truly great civilization in history.
The Mississippian Culture
The Lower Mississippi people in history are generally known as the Mississippian Culture. They flourished for around 3000 years across a broad stretch of the southeastern quarter of what became the United States. Primarily an agrarian society, they pushed the level of civilization in multiple ways.
They domesticated several crops that we use today and used a sophisticated breeding program to improve them dramatically. Notably corn, squash and beans.
They worked with metals, especially copper that they used artistically and for tool construction.
They built huge earthworks. Some were for governmental purposes, some for religious purposes and some as burial sites. Think American Pyramids, only they built a lot more across a much larger area.
They had an extensive trade network that spread across roughly two thirds of what would become the US.
They had the largest city on earth. For several hundred years Cahokia had a larger population than London.
They added ground sea shells to their pottery which improved strength and plasticity and made it possible to make objects larger and more varied in shape.
They spread a more or less universal belief system across an enormous area. They played ritualized games that were not only for the onlookers but also status of the leaders.
The system of governance changed dramatically over the course of a few hundred years. The inhabitants moved from a clan based government to increasingly fewer and fewer individuals that ruled the masses. Social inequality was rampant as the few lived well off the effort of the many.
What happened? Where did they go? How did the European contingent with such inferior numbers capture and subdue such a mighty civilization?
In the hundred years prior to European contact the earth went through a ‘mini ice age’. Volcanic ash obscured the sun to a relatively significant amount which caused crop production to go way down. As crop production dropped the civilizations could no longer support the huge population centers that had grown up. Social and political unrest led to much warfare and boundaries being changed.
The ‘strong man’ rule that had become the norm in the society broke down completely, comparable to the end of the monarchies in Europe. People migrated and changed alliances which left no consolidated largest player in the game.
Source
At roughly the same time that the climate stabilized, the first Europeans arrived. It is entirely probable that 6 million people died in the Mississippi Valley as a direct result of measles and smallpox. It would be like Europe being invaded during the plague years with the invaders immune to the plague. A very unlikely series of events that effectively ended the great civilizations of the Mississippian Culture.
The first Europeans that made contact with the Mississippian Culture were the Spanish. Henry DeSoto led an expedition into the area in 1539. Though DeSoto’s command was eventually wiped out the damage was done. The natives traded health and well being for horses.
In the next part of this series we will pick up the thread at first contact to develop more of the history of the Mississippi River Valley.
Unsourced Photos are used courtesy of the author.
While the words and ideas in this post are strictly those of the author this source was referred to by me to insure numerical and historical accuracy.
Wikepedia: Mississippi River
Authored by: @bigtom13
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