Native American societies before 1491

*** Image 002/ Map of pre-Columbian native civilizations ***

Studying indigenous societies before the arrival of Europeans is complicated by the fact that many pre-Columbian societies did not survive the first century after contact with Europeans and their descendants, and is further complicated by the fact that there is less research available than European-based records. Many indigenous societies also refer to themselves by different names than Europeans and their descendants. In later lessons you will encounter references to hybridized civilizations and tribes, such as the Seminoles in Florida, that formed when survivors of multiple indigenous nations and societies created a new civilization or tribe. With the expansion of European colonial settlements, indigenous societies confronted critical decisions and consequences that you will read more about in upcoming chapters.

In many instances, previous teaching about these pre-Columbian societies emphasized distorted and/or inaccurate portrayals of native peoples being primarily semi-nomadic warriors with little discernible impact on the natural environment. Some of these misconceptions derived from initial European contacts and exploration in areas that had recently been depopulated - Europeans, and later American artists and writers, including Henry David Thoreau, interpreted the regrowth of forests in parts of today’s eastern United States as evidence of a “pristine, untouched wilderness,” rather than as the natural response of the environment to the exodus of prior inhabitants, or even the wilful disregard of evidence to the contrary; William Denevan, who was referenced in the previous lesson, has written extensively about the propagation of this “pristine myth.”

Many native civilizations had long practiced permanent settled agriculture, including large-scale cultivation of the famous “3 sisters” (corn, beans, and squash), and maintained extensive trade networks spanning hundreds of miles. The cultivation of corn, or maize, by widely dispersed peoples is often cited as critical evidence supporting the existence of extensive pre-Columbian trading networks in North America. The use of similar elements and metals in arrowheads and various tools is also frequently noted as bolstering the case for the maintenance of long-distance trade routes in what is now the United States.

*** Image 003/ Map of native American trade routes ***

Within the context of the contemporary United States, you may encounter stimulus-based multiple-choice questions (MCQs) about interactions between these pre-Columbian societies and their early encounters with European explorers and colonists. For the written responses, you may be tasked with responding to prompts about the impacts on native civilizations of European colonization and how those indigenous societies reacted to European colonization. In recent years, several long essay questions (LEQs) have focused on different forms of indigenous adaptation to European colonization, including reasons for conflict, including armed resistance.

Iroquois confederacy

The Haudenosaunee, often referred to as the Iroquois, formed a confederation of 5, later 6, civilizations in what is now upstate New York. The Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes forged the original Haudenosaunee Confederation in the late 16th century, with the Tuscarora people joining in the early 18th century. The Haudenosaunee featured prominently in later periods of European-indigenous interactions and relations, particularly during periods of British-French rivalry in the northeastern United States as well as during the American Revolution in the late 18th century.

Ancestral Pueblo peoples

Ancestral Pueblo peoples settled in what is now the desert southwest of the United States, including in and around today’s Mesa Verde National Park near Durango, Colorado and the Four Corners where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. The early Hohokam, Mogollon, and Patayan peoples lived in surrounding areas, but the emergence of the later Navajo (Diné) and Hopi peoples is what you will need to know for the AP US History exam. In the next chapter, you will study the Pueblo revolts of the late 17th century.

Mound builders

The Mound builder societies were found primarily in what is now the midwestern United States, including the largest mound at Cahokia northeast of St. Louis. The name Cahokia refers to a later civilization, the Illinek people, that French explorers encountered in the early 17th century, several hundred years after the still only partially explained departure of the primary mound builders. In the 12th century, the city amongst the man made mounds and earthworks housed at least 15,000 people.

Southeastern societies

The various peoples of the contemporary southeastern United States were amongst the first indigenous societies to encounter European colonizers, particularly in Florida. Along the northeastern coast of Florida, the Spanish would encounter the Timucua people while along the southwestern coast of Florida the Caloosa were the first to interact with Spanish explorers. In the modern states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscogee, often called Creek by the British and Americans, would be the peoples, along with the later Seminoles, that the American government eventually expelled and forcibly relocated to what is now Oklahoma.

Mid-Atlantic and Appalachian societies

In the modern states of Maryland and Virginia, the Powhatan Confederation, consisting of at least 30 affiliated societies, were the first to cooperate with and also confront militarily the English colonizers and settlers at Jamestown. Further west, the Catawba people inhabited much of the piedmont areas of the Carolinas. To the north, the Lenape people, often referred to as the Delaware, were amongst the peoples that interacted with multiple European settlements, including New Netherlands, New Sweden, and eventually William Penn and the English colonists who settled Pennsylvania in the late 17th century.

Plains societies

The different peoples who populated the plains of much of the interior of today’s United States, including the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, are the societies most frequently depicted in popular movies and tv shows featuring indigenous groups, but many of these societies interacted with Europeans sporadically. The French engaged in significant trade with the peoples they called the Sioux, the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples, but the Cheyenne, Crow, Ojibwe and Soshone of the northern plains and the Apaches and Comanches of the southern plains often remained beyond the initial reach of the European colonizers.

Northwestern societies

The Chinook peoples of the Pacific Northwest, including the modern US states of Oregon and Washington, as well as societies that now inhabit British Columbia in Canada, were largely removed from most European colonizers, although there were periodic interactions with Russian explorers and traders. In the early 19th century, en route to the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon coast, the famous American explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clark interacted with various Chinook peoples.