Speaker 1: The Great Plains stretched like a sea of grass from
Speaker 1: the valleys of Saskatchewan to the river basins of Texas,
Speaker 1: forming the opposite of the plateau that you could find
Speaker 1: in Eurasia. It's an endless horizon, broken only by the
Speaker 1: rise of the distant buttes, the curve of a river,
Speaker 1: occasional thunder of hooves across the prairie. For centuries before
Speaker 1: the arrival of Europeans, this region was the heartbeat of
Speaker 1: a dozen distinct people's, hunter gatherers, barbarous traders whose lives
Speaker 1: rose and fell in rhythm with the seasons, and, above all,
Speaker 1: as we'll see, the buffalo, and a long time before memory.
Speaker 1: The people of this region lived in woodlands and river
Speaker 1: valleys along the banks of the Missouri and the Platts rivers.
Speaker 1: The shelters were round earth and conical, typus of buffalo hides.
Speaker 1: They planted corn, beans, and squash along the river bottoms,
Speaker 1: and the women worked digging sticks with flint hose while
Speaker 1: the children sang in the tall grass. Archaeological records suggest
Speaker 1: that by one thousand of the Common Era, large semi
Speaker 1: sedentary farming communities such as the Mandan, Hidasta and the
Speaker 1: Arika were thriving along the Upper Missouri River. These villages
Speaker 1: were known for their massive, round earth lodges, some more
Speaker 1: than forty feet across, clustered like honey chromes across the prairie.
Speaker 1: These were not on the homes, but centers of trade
Speaker 1: and ritual. Corn, as elsewhere, were central and sacred here
Speaker 1: by sensing a theme at this point through these episodes,
Speaker 1: grown dried ground and stored in the large catch pits
Speaker 1: that dotted the village floor. Ceremonies honoring the corn mother
Speaker 1: were central to spiritual life. Considered the following quote. When
Speaker 1: I was a girl, an elder Akira woman might have said,
Speaker 1: her hands moving rignically over a basket of corn kennels,
Speaker 1: we're plant by the stars by the rising of the Pleiades.
Speaker 1: The corn was not just food, It was our sister.
Speaker 1: We sang to it. We buried the fresh ears and
Speaker 1: the ground with prayers for the dead, for from the
Speaker 1: earth we come, and to the earth we return. To
Speaker 1: the west and south. Other groups, the Commanche, the Apache,
Speaker 1: the Cheyenne, the Kiowa, began to push out into the
Speaker 1: Central Plains during the late prehistoric period. Some came from
Speaker 1: the Rockies, others from the far north. The landscape ones
Speaker 1: dominated by bison, antelope, and elk called them with its
Speaker 1: wide openness and its promise of mobility. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: in those early centuries there were no horses. Horses came
Speaker 1: with Europeans. The buffalo was hunted but on foot, using
Speaker 1: drives and ambushes, fire and above all skill. Hunters worked
Speaker 1: in teams to corral herds into natural traps, box canyons,
Speaker 1: river bands, where the animals could be brought down with
Speaker 1: spears and arrows. These hunts were more than survival, They
Speaker 1: were spiritual endeavors. Consider the following quotation here from the Cherokee.
Speaker 1: We ran with the buffalo. We sang too the buffalo.
Speaker 1: We died with the buffalo before the horse. We hunted,
Speaker 1: as our grandfathers did, on foot, with courage and cunning.
Speaker 1: Each animal we took was a gift. We used all
Speaker 1: of it. The hide for our lodges, the sinew for
Speaker 1: our bows, the bones for our needles, even the hooves
Speaker 1: we boiled for glue. End quote. The bison was not
Speaker 1: merely food, It was identity. It shaped religious cosmology, art, kinship,
Speaker 1: and myth. Among the Pawnee, buffalo dances were held in
Speaker 1: sacred lodges, blending celestial observations with seasonal cycles. Among the Blackfoot,
Speaker 1: vision quests and sun dances linked individual purification to tribal renewal,
Speaker 1: often involving sacrifice and endurance to prove one's devotion to
Speaker 1: the spirit world. The sky wasn't just something to look
Speaker 1: at overhead to all classical peoples. It was alive, and
Speaker 1: the Native Americans of North America and the Great Plains
Speaker 1: were no different. The Plains tribes lived within a world
Speaker 1: combined with spirit wa kan as the Lakota called it,
Speaker 1: the sacred power in all things. Hills and rivers, they
Speaker 1: had names and personalities. Dreams were portals. Every animal had
Speaker 1: lessons to teach. Children were taught not through punishment, but
Speaker 1: by story parables about trickster figures like the kiote, of course,
Speaker 1: who reflected both human foolishness and divine wisdom. An old
Speaker 1: Kioa saying goes as follows quote, My father took me
Speaker 1: to the hill when I was ten winters old. He said,
Speaker 1: you will sleep here alone, and the spirits will find you. Ay.
Speaker 1: The boy fasted for two days. On the third a
Speaker 1: great bird came to me in a dream that I
Speaker 1: with a song in my chest. The song has guided
Speaker 1: me ever since and quote. Each tribe had its sacred
Speaker 1: rights and bundles, collections of things feathers, bones, stones, and herbs,
Speaker 1: bound together with prayer. These were not mere artifacts, but
Speaker 1: vessels of cosmic power, kept by medicine men or women
Speaker 1: who served as the link between visible world and the
Speaker 1: world beyond the world that everybody wonders about whether you're European,
Speaker 1: whether you're an indigenous to America, or so on and
Speaker 1: so forth. These people were just connected to it. More then,
Speaker 1: sometime in the late sixteen hundreds, of the world began
Speaker 1: to change. Though Coronado had crossed parts of the Southern
Speaker 1: Plains in the fifteen forties, his passage left only a ripple,
Speaker 1: but the Spanish left something behind that would transform planes'
Speaker 1: lives entirely. The horse. First captured or traded from Spanish
Speaker 1: herds in New Mexico, horses spread northward like fire on
Speaker 1: the wind. By the late sixteen hundreds, the command she
Speaker 1: had not only acquired horses, they had mastered them, becoming
Speaker 1: one of the most formidable mounted groups the continent had
Speaker 1: ever seen. According to one old Cheyenne quote, when the
Speaker 1: horse came, We became lightning. We could hunt farther, fight harder,
Speaker 1: ride with the wind. The buffalo fell before us like grass.
Speaker 1: We were no longer earth bound. We had become part
Speaker 1: of the storm. End quote. The horse redefined everything, mobility, warfare, trade,
Speaker 1: even ceremony. It allowed for larger seasonal migrations, increased hunting efficiency,
Speaker 1: and transformed the military power balance across the plains. Yet
Speaker 1: it also introduced new conflicts over grazing, land, water, and
Speaker 1: access to trade networks, increasingly dominated by French and Spanish intermediaries.
Speaker 1: By seventeen hundred, the Great Plains were on the brink
Speaker 1: of a new era. Some tribes, like the Mandan and
Speaker 1: the Hidasta, still held to their old ways in the
Speaker 1: river villages, their corn fields swaying beside the Missouri River. Others,
Speaker 1: like the command Sheep and Kiowa, had embraced the nomadic
Speaker 1: horse culture that would define the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Speaker 1: For them. The bison, for the moment, still roamed in
Speaker 1: vast herds, and the sky remained the roof of the
Speaker 1: sacred lodge. Of course, as we know, distant forces were
Speaker 1: growing near guns, germs, and steel. To say the least, now,
Speaker 1: we've got a ways to go before we get there, however,
Speaker 1: and before we do, let's turn our attention to the northeast,
Speaker 1: to the lands along the Great Lakes. The land of
Speaker 1: the Great Lakes is complex, vast, and lind Seas stretch
Speaker 1: beyond the horizon the Superior Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario.
Speaker 1: They link forests, rivers and islands in a watery web
Speaker 1: that's far older than the nations of Europe. Here, the
Speaker 1: peoples of this region, the Nashanabi, Dominie, Sauk, Fox, and others,
Speaker 1: water was not merely a path or a resource, became
Speaker 1: a living presence before the first wampum belt was ever woven.
Speaker 1: Before the French fur traders paddled into these waters, there
Speaker 1: were stories that were still told in bark lodges all
Speaker 1: across the region. The stories bound the people to a
Speaker 1: land and to one another. Told how the earth was
Speaker 1: formed on the back of a great turtle, how the
Speaker 1: great Spirit breathed fire into the wind, and how the
Speaker 1: lakes were carved by the footsteps of a giant. By
Speaker 1: one thousand CEE, the Great Lakes region was a mosaic
Speaker 1: of linguistic cultural groups, largely Algonquins speaking to the north
Speaker 1: and east as the Ajibue, the Potawatamie, the Adatoa, Menominee,
Speaker 1: Sauk and Fox and an Iroquois speaking peoples to the
Speaker 1: south and east, the Huron and the powerful hodi Ashone Confederacy.
Speaker 1: Many of these communities lived in villages built near rivers
Speaker 1: and lakes. Their dwellings made of elm bark, stretched over
Speaker 1: bent saplings, long houses for the Iroquois people, dome shaped
Speaker 1: wigwams for the Algonquins. They practiced agriculture, particularly even this
Speaker 1: far north. The planting of the Three Sisters, corn, beans,
Speaker 1: and squash intercropped in mounds that nurtured both the soil
Speaker 1: and the themselves. Hunting and fishing balanced the rhythm of
Speaker 1: the seasons. Deer, moose, and beaver were common in the
Speaker 1: north Woods. Birch bark canoes, light enough to portage but
Speaker 1: sturdy enough for the lakes, were crafted with painstaking care
Speaker 1: and spiritual attention. Every part of the canoe, birch, cedar, spruce, gum,
Speaker 1: and root lashings was taken with respect. The political world
Speaker 1: of the Great Lakes was just as dynamic as its ecology.
Speaker 1: Warfare alliances and diplomacy shaped the landscape as surely as
Speaker 1: the retreat as the glaciers had centuries before, the Iroquoisan peoples,
Speaker 1: especially the Hodi Nashone also called the Iroquois Confederacy, formed
Speaker 1: one of the most sophisticated political systems in North America.
Speaker 1: Before the year seventeen hundred, Hodian Shonee, who called themselves
Speaker 1: the People of the Longhouse, bound together five nations Mohawk, Oneida, Onangada, Cayuga,
Speaker 1: and Seneca under the Great Law of Peace. If you
Speaker 1: go to upstate New York. By the way, right now,
Speaker 1: those are still the names of the Finger Lakes. This
Speaker 1: wasn't actually a military alliance, has been somewhat misunderstood as that,
Speaker 1: but it was a spiritual covenant told through the story
Speaker 1: of the Peacemaker and Hyawaka, who persuaded warring nations to
Speaker 1: bury their weapons beneath the tree of Peace. Each nation
Speaker 1: remained autonomous, but met in a grand council where clan
Speaker 1: mothers held the power to select and depose male leaders.
Speaker 1: Consider the following quotation quote, I saw the womp of
Speaker 1: belt with my own eyes. Each bead tells the story
Speaker 1: of peace when we speak in the council. We do
Speaker 1: not shout. We listen, we wait. We speak only when
Speaker 1: the words are true and the heart is still end quote. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the ojibwe, A, Dahwa, and Potawatami, known collectively as the
Speaker 1: Three Fires Confederacy, their own cultural and political alliance, rooted
Speaker 1: in shared languages, traditions, and migration stories. They traded wildly,
Speaker 1: beaver pelts for copper, wild rice for corn, tools for
Speaker 1: sacred stories, linking villages through complex webs of kinship and ceremony.
Speaker 1: Spirituality permeated every act of daily life. The world was animate, alive,
Speaker 1: with beings who walked in both this world and the next.
Speaker 1: The Midiwin or Grand Medicine society of the Anashabi taught
Speaker 1: sacred songs, symbols, and healing practices through generations of initiates.
Speaker 1: Dreams were never through these societies considered to be idle fantasies.
Speaker 1: They were considered to be spiritual guides. Ceremonies like the
Speaker 1: drum dance and fasting visions helped young people discover their
Speaker 1: own spiritual path. Animals were relatives. Stone could speak if
Speaker 1: you only knew how to listen. Tobacco was offered before hunts,
Speaker 1: at graves and during council meetings as a sign of respect.
Speaker 1: The first sustained European contact with this region of the
Speaker 1: United States didn't come with soldiers, but with canoes. In
Speaker 1: the early sixteen hundreds, it was the French this time,
Speaker 1: not the Spanish. French voyagers and Jesuit missionaries began to
Speaker 1: move into the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes regions, drawn
Speaker 1: by the riches of fur trade and of course, the
Speaker 1: promise of spreading Christianity. The Huron, when not residing near
Speaker 1: Georgian Bay, became key intermediaries in this trade, exchanging furs
Speaker 1: for European goods, iron tools, glass beads, and muskets. In return,
Speaker 1: they provided access to inland territories carried on their shoulders
Speaker 1: and canoes, and for a time the relationship was fruitful.
Speaker 1: But new goods brought new dangers. As we know European
Speaker 1: diseases like smallpox swept through native villages with devastating speed.
Speaker 1: Were fair intensified, particularly between the Hody and Shone and
Speaker 1: the Huron, as each group now vied for access to
Speaker 1: trade networks and European alliances. By the sixteen forties, the
Speaker 1: Huron Confederacy had collapsed under pressure from the Iroquois attacks,
Speaker 1: their villages burned, their survivors scattered. By the turn of
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, the Great Lakes world had been transformed.
Speaker 1: The fur trade reshaped economies and alliances. Guns became tools
Speaker 1: of both hunting and war. The Ojibwe, having moved westward
Speaker 1: into the forests of present day Minnesota and Wisconsin, were
Speaker 1: expanding their territory in part due to new military strength.
Speaker 1: The French were building forts Detroit, and the Jesuits continued
Speaker 1: to press Christianity into Native life, sometimes embraced, often blended
Speaker 1: with older beliefs, and occasionally resisted outright. Yet despite all
Speaker 1: of this, the spiritual heart of the Great Lakes peoples endured.
Speaker 1: The ceremonies continued, the stories still flowed across the water,
Speaker 1: passed down with elders. When we think about the Native
Speaker 1: American cultures of North America First Nations, if you prefer,
Speaker 1: I think we have to remember just the incredible transformation
Speaker 1: and change that had taken place in barely two hundred years,
Speaker 1: when this sort of change hadn't occurred over the previous thousands.
Speaker 1: When the ships of Columbus first touched Caribbean shores in
Speaker 1: fourteen ninety two. They set in motion a cascade of
Speaker 1: transformation that would ripple across the entire North American continent.
Speaker 1: For indigenous peoples, the arrival of Europeans was not a
Speaker 1: single moment, but a series of evolving encounters. Some were gradual,
Speaker 1: others were explosive. In the early decades, many Native American
Speaker 1: communities had little or no direct contact with Europeans, Yet
Speaker 1: diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza spread far in advance
Speaker 1: of European explorers, devastating populations. In some regions, up to
Speaker 1: ninety percent of inhabitants perished within a generation of first contact,
Speaker 1: shattering kinship networks, religious traditions, and oral histories before a
Speaker 1: single missionary or fur trader ever arrived. Consider how devastating
Speaker 1: we think about the Black Death and losses of European life,
Speaker 1: depending upon where you were, could have been as low
Speaker 1: as twenty five percent, maybe as high as sixty six percent.
Speaker 1: With Native American cultures, we're talking about ninety percent losses
Speaker 1: literally across the board. It's a magnitude of difference that
Speaker 1: I don't think we talk enough about. But even As
Speaker 1: depopulation and displacement took their toll, native nations adapted with
Speaker 1: resilience and ingenuity. Trade became one of the earliest and
Speaker 1: most consequential points of contact, as peoples quickly understood the
Speaker 1: value of European goods iron tools, cloth, beads, and especially firearms.
Speaker 1: In places like the Great Lakes, the Mississippi Valley, and
Speaker 1: the south West, tribes re aligned their economies and political
Speaker 1: alliances to gain access to these materials. The fur trade,
Speaker 1: in particular, reshaped native life from the northeast to the
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountains. Long established rivalries intensified as tribes such as
Speaker 1: the Hodi and Shone, Ottawa, Huron, and Dakota positioned themselves
Speaker 1: with emerging colonial markets, sometimes gaining significant power in the process.
Speaker 1: At the same time, patterns of movements and settlement began
Speaker 1: to shift dramatically. Some indigenous groups migrated to avoid conflict
Speaker 1: or seek new trade opportunities, such as the command Shee's
Speaker 1: rapid expansion into the southern Plains following their adoption of
Speaker 1: the horse. Others were forcibly removed from ancestral homelands through war, diplomacy,
Speaker 1: or missionary pressures. Spanish in the Southwest, French and the
Speaker 1: Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence, and English along the Atlantic
Speaker 1: coast sought to convert Native peoples and reshaped their social structures.
Speaker 1: While some individuals embraced these changes, others resisted through open conflict,
Speaker 1: cultural persistence, or strategic alliance. Making Native identity didn't vanish,
Speaker 1: it transformed, blending old practices with new tools, beliefs, and
Speaker 1: political realities. By seventeen hundred, North America had been profoundly changed,
Speaker 1: but it hadn't been conquered. Indigenous peoples remained the majority
Speaker 1: across most of the continent and continued to shape its
Speaker 1: history in ways colonial powers could not fully control. They negotiated, resisted,
Speaker 1: and endured. The world they had known in fourteen ninety
Speaker 1: two one, defined by deeply rooted traditions, expansive trade routes,
Speaker 1: and independent nations, had been altered by disease, warfare, migration,
Speaker 1: and colonialism. Yet even amid these upheavals, native communities reasserted
Speaker 1: their presence in new forms, preserving their language, rituals, and
Speaker 1: sovereignty in the centuries that came after them. Now next
Speaker 1: week we're going to shift back to the Eastern seaboard,
Speaker 1: and catch up with affairs in Virginia, which at this
Speaker 1: point still remains the most populous and most important of
Speaker 1: the English colonies, but not, as we'll discover next week,
Speaker 1: without its problems. Land distribution in the Americas has always
Speaker 1: been fraught with conflict, and Bacon's rebellion drives that message
Speaker 1: home