PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE NATIVE AMERICANS

Image:MichiganHistoricalMuseum

HOW DID THE GREAT LAKES FORM? 15,000 years ago, the Laurentide

Ice Sheet covered all of Michigan (maximum extent was 18,000 years ago)

Lake Michigan LobeHuron-Erie Lobe

Saginaw LobeGreen Bay Lobe

Superior LobeChippewa Lobe

About this same time, Indians were crossing the Bering Straits from Asia to North America

PLEISTOCENE ERA

The Great Lakes reached final size and shape2,500 years ago. They are the singlegreatest influence on Michigan’s historicaldevelopment. They facilitate water travelbut hinder land travel. They provide fish. They affect climate and soils and thus agriculture. They drive tourism.

(Wisconsin Period)

GLACIERS CREATED:• Great Lakes: largest source of freshwater

in the world (20% of world’s water, rest is in ice)

• Agriculture: wide variety of fertile soils mainly in southern Michigan, sandy soil up north

• Industry: Towns grow up next to rivers and lakes.

• Minerals: Sand and gravel, salt, limestone, gypsum, iron, copper

• Tourism: Lake and rivers used for recreation, transportation

THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF MICHIGAN = PALEO-INDIANS (12,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE)

• 18,000 years ago – Laurentide ice sheet covered all of Michigan, and erased all evidence of prior humans living there

• 11,000 years ago (9,000 BCE) – first evidence of Paleo-Indians around what is now Flint, MI

• Hunted mastodons and caribou• Occupied southern Michigan as

ice receded

http://seekers.wikia.com/wiki/Caribou

http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/mammut.html

THE OLD COPPER INDIANS (COPPER PEOPLE)

5,000 years ago (3000 BCE = Late Archaic) Mined copper by digging shallow pits still

visible today Heated copper to make tools and weapons

(first people in Western hemisphere to work with metals)

Traded copper with people in New York, Illinois, and Kentucky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_mining_in_Michigan

Native copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula

THE WOODLAND PERIOD (THE WOODLAND INDIANS)

• 1,000 BCE to European contact in 1650• Early (1,000 BCE – 1 BCE)• Middle (1 CE – 500 CE)• Late (500 – 1620)• Agriculture begins (squash, sunflowers)• Ceramic pots to store food• Corn introduced around 300 B.C.• Villages became larger

1000 BCE – 1 BCE The existence of pottery marks the

beginning Hunting and gathering still more

important than agriculture Maize (corn) becomes most important

crop as permanent settlements start Extensive burial mounds Adena culture was in the central

Ohio Valley. They developed an extensive trading network with Indians in the Great Lakes for copper.

EARLY WOODLAND PERIOD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adena_culture

The Miamisburg Mound is 70 feet high and was built 2,500 years ago.

http://www.jqjacobs.net/archaeo/miamisburg.html

1- 500 CE – Hopewell Indians (the “Mound Builders”) buried the dead in long, low mounds together with artifacts

Over 1,000 mounds have been identified in Southern Michigan (Mound Road), but only a few still exist today (Norton Mounds in Grand Rapids)

Norton Mounds near Grand Rapids. There were 30 mounds originally, but only a few now.

http://www.giftbasketsfrommichigan.com/blog/michigan-history/norton-mounds-indian-mounds-in-michigan/

MIDDLE WOODLAND PERIOD

LATE WOODLAND PERIOD 500 – 1000 Used bow and arrows, which may have

greatly decreased the large animals. Built defensive walls and ditches

suggesting warfare for scarcer resources.

Mound building largely ended Maize, beans and squash became

staple crops Great Lakes Indians built wigwams

(see next slide)http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Late_Woodland_Cultures?rec=1281

WIGWAMS Young green tree saplings 10-15 feet

long were cut down, and then bent by stretching the wood. The saplings formed a frame about 10-16 feet in diameter. Bark stripped from trees was used to cover the frame, creating walls and a roof.

http://www.suttonmass.org/nipmuc/wigwam.htmlhttp://www.iaismuseum.org/village.shtml

COLUMBUS “DISCOVERS” THE NEW WORLD

1492 – Columbus met the Arawak Indians on the island of “San Salvador” in the Bahamas

“They are affectionate people and without covetousness and apt for anything, which I certify. I believe there is no better people or land in the world. They love their neighbors as themselves, and have the sweetest speech in the world, and gentle, and are always smiling.”

“The Indians would make fine servants. With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2012/12/when-native-americans-created-utopia.html

1500S• Hernando Cortes brought guns and

horses, conquered the Aztecs in Mexico • Francisco Pizzaro conquered the Incans

in Peru• Spanish and Dutch were dominant in the

South and Southwest U.S.• Sought riches, slaves, and “conversions”• Diseases from Europe (smallpox,

tuberculosis, measles, etc.) reduced Indian population 50-90%, because they had no natural immunity.

http://mrsdexplorersproject.wikispaces.com/Hernando+Cortes

http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/Francisco_Pizarro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

THE FRENCH MEET THE INDIANS Estimated 100,000 Indians in upper

Great Lakes region in 1600 when French first made contact (1 million in all of North America)

3 Linguistic Groups: Iroquoian (Eastern Indians) , Algonquian (Woodland Indians), and Siouan (Plains Indians) Algonquian

Siouan Iroquoian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_schemes_for_indigenous_languages_of_the_Americas

HURONS (AKA WYANDOTS)

Wyandots comes from their tribal name, Wendat, which means "peninsula people." Some Wyandot people in Oklahoma used the spelling Wyandotte instead.

Huron was the French name for the Wyandot tribe. It means "wild boar" in French. The French thought that the Mohawk haircuts looked like the bristles on a wild boar's neck.

Population was 45-60,000 Iroquoian Language, but mostly enemies of the Iroquois Lived in Georgian Bay area, but were driven westward by

the Iroquois after the 1649 war Sedentary farmers (actually gardeners, with no work

animals or farm equipment), so Europeans believed them to be the most advanced Indians

Fished for food and hunted primarily for hides for clothing Matrilineal society, so women owned the houses

http://ewesfn.weebly.com/huroniroquois.html

THE THREE FIRES • Call themselves the Anishinaabe (“original

people”)• Chippewas, Ottawas, and Potawatomis (COPs)• Algonquian language, but culturally different• May have lived together in St. Lawrence region

1,000 years ago, but moved to Great Lakes area before European contact

• Lived in small, mobile villages (5-25 families) relying on hunting and fishing. Gathered wild rice and grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers.

• Clan system brought order.

CHIPPEWAS (OJIBWA)

Algonquian language Population about 30,000 Lived around Lake Superior Highly nomadic, relied on hunting,

fishing, and gathering “Elder brother” of the Three Fires

Confederacy Patrilineal society

http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/chippewa.html

OTTAWAS (OTA’WA’ = “TO TRADE”)

Algonquian language Lived in Northern Lake Huron region Only 3,000 people Hunted and fished more than farmed Got along well with the Hurons Traveled in birch bark canoes acting

as middlemen between Chippewas and Hurons

Pontiac was the most famous Ottawa chief

http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Ottawa.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_(person)

POTAWATOMIS (“PEOPLE OF THE PLACE OF THE FIRE”)

• Algonquian language• 4,000 Indians• Practiced polygamy. Marriage brought

together clans.• Lived in western part of Lower Peninsula• Attacked by Iroquois and “Neutrals” in the

east during early 1600s, so left Michigan for Wisconsin.

• In the late 1600s, Potawatomis and Miamis moved from Wisconsin to northern Indiana and Ohio, and southern Michigan.

http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Potawatomi.html

HURONS (WYANDOTS)

Wyandots comes from their tribal name, Wendat, which means "peninsula people." Some Wyandot people in Oklahoma used the spelling Wyandotte instead.

Huron was the French name for the Wyandot tribe. It means "wild boar" in French. The French thought that the Mohawk haircuts looked like the bristles on a wild boar's neck.

Population was 45-60,000 Iroquoian Language, but mostly enemies of the Iroquois Lived in Georgian Bay area, but were driven westward by

the Iroquois after the 1649 war Sedentary farmers (actually gardeners, with no work

animals or farm equipment), so Europeans believed them to be the most advanced Indians

Fished for food and hunted primarily for hides for clothing Matrilineal society, so women owned the houses

http://ewesfn.weebly.com/huroniroquois.html

MIAMIS

• Algonquian language• 4,500 Indians• Lived in southern Wisconsin• Culturally close to the Sac and Fox Indians• It comes from the Miami-Illinois word Myaamia,

which means "allies." Miami, Florida got its name from a Tequesta placename, Maymi, which may have meant "wide lake.“

• The Miami Indians had their original home land in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, but many moved west to Oklahoma in the mid 1800s.

Little Turtle was the most famous chief

http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/MJC/places/littleTurtle.asp

GENDER ROLES

Men Women

Hunted

Fished

Traded

Made war

Planted crops

Gathered nuts, fruits

Made meals

Built the wigwam

Cared for childrenhttp://www.findfast.org/tribes-native-americans/facts-about-chippewa-native-americans.htm

http://www.firstpeople.us/photographs/Chippewa-Woman-and-Infant-1900.html

THE FRENCH “DISCOVER” CANADA 1535 - Jacques Cartier sails up St. Lawrence

River, certain it was the “Northwest Passage” to India. He called it the “Country of Canadas”, an Iroquois name for the two big settlements of Stadacona and Hochelaga. Found only fool’s gold and quartz (“Canadian diamonds”), but discovered the Ottawa River.

Stadacona became Quebec CityHochelaga became Montreal http://www.emersonkent.com/history_notes/jacques_cartier.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cartier

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAINTHE “FATHER OF NEW FRANCE”

- Founded Quebec City in 1608 - Explored Georgian Bay - Wanted to create permanent

settlements, not just fur trading posts. 1609 – Battle of Ticonderoga – French

fight the Mohawks, part of the Iroquois Confederacy, who blocked French exploration of southern Michigan

Lake Champlain

http://www.biography.com/people/samuel-de-champlain-9243971

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/chf/elemchamplain/champlainelemclass.html

ETIENNE BRULE A young friend of Champlain’s, he lived with

Algonquian Indians for many years, earning the distrust of the French

Sailed on all the Great Lakes except Lake Michigan

First European in Michigan when he reached the St. Mary’s River in 1622, two years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth

Both images: http://northshore-thereandback.blogspot.com/2010/12/etienne-brule-superiors-wild-man.html

JEAN NICOLET First European to sail through the

Straits of Mackinac (past Mackinac Island) and into Lake Michigan

Followed northern Lake Michigan until he reached Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1634 where encountered Winnebago IndiansCalled the “Father of

Wisconsin,” Nicolet met the Indians in Green Bay dressed in a colorful silk robe thinking he landed in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Nicolet

North American Beaver (Castor canadensis)

10 million beavers in America at time of European contact, but werehunted to near extinction

Not migratory, so once supply was used up in an area, trappers had to move on

Easy to kill with gun, spear, or arrow, or trapped

THE ANIMAL THAT BUILT MICHIGAN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1566-683024

http://www.discovering-nature.net/2012/12/24/plain-brown-packages/beaver-tree/

http://washingtonhistoryonline.org/leschi/closeties/fur-trading.htm

COUREUR DE BOIS (“WOODLANDS RUNNER”)

French-Canadian woodsman who was skilled at hunting,fishing, canoeing and snowshoeing

Convinced Indians to kill fur-bearing animals so as to trade with them

Some explored ratherthan traded, so adoptedIndian dress and languageto ensure safe passage

Unlicensed fur trader (bootlegger)

Voyageurs were similar,but were licensed furtraders. Could travel 100 miles in a single day.

Provided many types of furs to Europe: bear, elk, deer, martin, fox, wolf, lynx, raccoon, but mostimportant: BEAVER

http://www.pathfindertom.com/2010/09/26/les-coureurs-de-bois/

WHITES AND NATIVE AMERICANS

• French felt superior to the “sauvages”• Indians liked the guns, blankets, iron kettles, but did not

feel their culture was inferior• Animism = belief that inanimate objects were sacred• Missionaries did not separate the concept of Christianity

and civilization, so their efforts were largely futile.• Private property vs. communal property• Indian language and Indians names are common for

place names in Michigan, but are sometimes changed considerably (Michigan, Saginaw, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo, Mackinac, Muskegon, Ottawa, Chippewa, Gogebic, Topinabee, Pokagon, etc.)

• Names of famous Indians (Pontiac, Tecumseh, Osceola)

THE ENGLISH DURING THE 1600S

• English dominated the eastern seaboard, while the French dominated Canada and the land west of the Appalachians

• 1607 – Jamestown (Capt. John Smith saved by Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan)

• 1610 – Henry Hudson discovered Hudson Bay in Canada, the second largest bay in the world other than the Bay of Bengal.

• 1620 – Pilgrims land in Plymouth - First Thanksgiving in 1621 with Wampanoag Indians

• 1664 – Seize New Netherlands from the Dutch, and rename it “New York”

• 1675 – “King Philip’s War”- Wampanoags and other Eastern tribes fight British

“Why will you take by force what you may obtain by love? Why will you destroy us who supply you with food? What can you get by war? We are unarmed, and willing to give you what you ask, if you come in a friendly manner.”

- Chief Powhatan (to John Smith), 1609

John Rolfe married Chief Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas. John Rolfe planted tobacco from the West Indies, and started Virginia’s tobacco industry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rolfehttp://jamestowngpcproject.blogspot.com/2011/02/important-historical-people-of-james.html

THE DUTCH DURING THE 1600S

1609 – Englishman Henry Hudson “discovers” Manhattan while working for the Dutch East India Company.

1624 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from the Lenape Indians for 60 Dutch guilders ($24).

1625 – Build Fort Amsterdam, and call it their territory New Netherlands.

1652-54 – First Anglo-Dutch war – English won 1665-67 – Second Anglo-Dutch war – Dutch

won 1672-74 – Third Anglo-Dutch war – English

lost, but with French support

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hudson

http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-58635/In-1624-Peter-Minuit-pays-24-dollars-in-trade-goods

FATHER JACQUES MARQUETTE(AKA PERE MARQUETTE)“THE FATHER OF MICHIGAN”

• Jesuit missionary who founded the first permanent Michigan settlement in Sault Ste. Marie in 1668, and St. Ignace in 1671. Third oldest settlement west of the Appalachians.

• Helped Louis Jolliet explore the Mississippi River in 1673.

• Louis’ older brother, Adrien Jolliet, became the first white man to visit the Lower Peninsula when he paddled down the Detroit River in 1669.

• Died in 1675 at age 37 near Ludington.• Grave is now in St. Ignace.

http://www.michigan.org/property/father-marquette-national-memorial/

http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/canada/history/marquette.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/louis-joliet-20973103

Louis Jolliet

MARQUETTE AND JOLLIET

Discovered the Mississippi River in 1673 and sailed down it hoping to find the Pacific Ocean. Came within 435 miles of the Gulf of Mexico.

1681 map of their voyage showed Lake Michigan called Lac de Michigami rather than Lac des Illinois

http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/canada/history/marquette.htmhttp://www.biography.com/people/louis-joliet-20973103

THE ENGLISH VS. THE FRENCH

• Competed for fur trade in North America during the 1600 and 1700s. Charles II charted the Hudson’s Bay Company, which eventually dominated the fur trade.

• English settled in East, farmed, and brought many settlers over from England

• British traders were less generous in trade with Indians, and wanted their land.

• French sparsely settled interior, and tried to control fur trade by establishing forts and trading posts

• French allied with Algonquin Indians, British allied with Iroquois Indians (Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Mohawks, Onandagas = Iroquois Confederacy)

Charles II (r. 1660-1685) Louis XIV (r. 1638-1715)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_II_of_England_by_Kneller.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France

THE INDIANS VS. THE WHITE MEN Hunters and gatherers, not farmers Moved from place to place with food

supply Cannot sell land, which is a public good Liked the white man’s goods, but not

their greed for land and natural resources.

Referred to English king as the “Great White Father”

WAR BETWEEN THE HURONS AND IROQUOIS

French relied on the Huron Indians as middlemen to moves furs from the Great Lakes area to the St. Lawrence area. War with the Iroquois disrupted trade in the 1640s.

The Chippewas aided the Hurons to defeat Iroquois, so peace was made in 1653, and the French fur trade was restored.

REASONS FOR FRENCH EXPLORATION –“GOD, GOLD, AND GLORY”

• Control the fur trade to provide wealth to fight wars and build great cities.

• Search for gold and silver as the Spanish were doing in the southwest. Found some copper in Upper Peninsula, but focused on fur trade

• Race for a colonial empire and national glory relative to Spanish in the West, and British in the East.

• Convert Indians to Christians via Jesuit missionaries like Father Marquette and Father Claude Allouez, the most active missionary, who discovered copper in the U.P.

LOUIS XIV

• Made New France in St. Lawrence River area a royal colony in 1663

• Defeated the Iroquois in 1667, who were attacking Montreal and Quebec City

• Minister of Finance Colbert opposed settlements in the interior; preferred Indians to bring furs to New France.

• Governor of New France, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, ignored his orders and built settlements in the West, including Michigan

No picture of Frontenac exists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Colbert

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7365813

ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE

Commissioned by Governor Frontenac, La Salle built the Griffin (Le Griffon), the first sailing vessel on the Great Lakes, in 1679

Frontenac’s coat of arms had a griffin on it (half eagle, half lion)

Griffin sailed from Niagara Falls to Green Bay, past Detroit in search of water route to China. He was lost on return trip. May have been lost in a storm, or boarded by Indians, who burned it. La Salle believed the crew sank it, and made off with the furs. There is no conclusive evidence, but it was the first shipwreck on the Great Lakes.

Chateau Frontenac in Quebec Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Griffon http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chateau_Frontenac_Quebec_City.jpg

http://nobility.org/2013/01/21/la-salle-claims-mississippi/

https://myth-wiki-ology.wikispaces.com/Griffins

- In 1679, La Salle founded Fort Miami near modern day St. Joseph in SW Michigan, the first French outpost in the Lower Peninsula. Destroyed a year later.

LA SALLE AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

- La Salle was the first white man to explore the interior of the Lower Peninsula. In 1680, he travelled on foot from Fort Miami in SW Michigan to the Detroit River in about 30 days. In total, he hiked 1,000 miles from Fort Miami to Fort Frontenac in eastern Lake Ontario in 60 days.

- Reached the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1682, named it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. La Salle, and his benefactor, Frontenac, sought to reduce monopoly of Montreal merchants by shipping to France via New Orleans.

- Assassinated by his own men in 1687http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM36FD_Fort_Miami_Historical_Marker_St_Joseph_MI

• First of four English-French conflicts in Europe that spilled over to the New World

• English incited and armed the Iroquois to attack French forts. 200 French killed by Iroquois outside of Montreal in 1689.

• War with England caused French to reverse policy and build many forts in New France. King Louis XIV reappointed Frontenac in 1689 as Governor of New France, after he was removed from power in 1682 for using brandy in the fur trade.

• In 1690, French built Fort de Buade (Frontenac’s family name) in St. Ignace, which the traders called Michilimackinac. It was abandoned in 1701.

• In 1691, French built Fort St. Joseph near Niles• Treaty of Ryswick ended war in 1697.

KING WILLIAM’S WAR 1688-1697

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._Joseph_(Niles,_Michigan)

Frontenac sent Cadillac to command at Michilimackinac for three years (1694-1697), the most important fur trading, military, and missionary center in the West

Cadillac favored giving alcohol to the Indians, but missionaries did not. Frontenac backed Cadillac, but the courts in France backed the Jesuits. In 1696, they ordered all forts abandoned except one.

Frontenac ignored orders but died in 1698. Cadillac went to France in 1698, and got the financial backing ($300) of Count Pontchartrain, Louis XIV’s chief minister, to build a fort and settlement in Le Detroit, the waterway (“the strait”) between Lake Huron and Lake Erie

ANTOINE DE LA MOTHE CADILLAC

http://historydetroit.com/people/antoine_cadillac.php