From Chicaza to Chickasaw: The European Invasion and the Transformation of the Mississippian World, 1540-1715

5 Eastern Shock Waves on Western Shores, ca. 1650–1680

C hapter 5 EasternShockWavesonWesternShores, ca.1650–1680 As the Atlantic seaboard became a shatter zone, shock waves from these disruptions began emanating out of the east and reverberating throughout the lower South to the Mississippi River valley and beyond. At the time of the Hernando de Soto expeditions, the central and lower Mississippi River valley was home to some of the most powerful, populous, and impressive polities through which the Spaniards had passed.1 French explorers paddling down the Mississippi 130 years later did not encounter any of these. What happened to the Indians of the central and lower Mississippi Valley between the mid-­sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries, however, is poorly known. Only one thing is certain: whatever changes that were wrought occurred before the sustained presence of Europeans. After Soto, no Europeans ventured into this region until Joliet and Marquette made their voyage down the Mississippi in 1673. Several scholars have proposed that high losses from introduced disease precipitated the collapse and abandonment of the polities in the central and lower Mississippi Valley. One of the major impacts of European contact certainly was the introduction of Old World diseases. And there is some small evidence for the presence of disease in the Mississippi River valley before sustained European contact. Scholars document possible and probable disease episodes in the southern plains as early as 1535 and into the mid-­seventeenth century, as well as early seventeenth-­century disease episodes in the upper Mississippi River valley. As we will see, people in the central and lower Mississippi Valley had much contact with Indian populations to the north, west, and east, and disease could have entered this region through these connec- 117  Eastern Shock Waves on Western Shores tions sometime prior to the mid-­seventeenth century. Even so, scholars now agree that any loss of life from disease was not a sudden collapse but rather a continuous drain of population over 100 or more years through serial episodes of disease.2 Scholars also acknowledge that changes in Native life that took place after European contact were not solely due to disease but also to contributing factors such as slaving, increased violence, and entry into commercial trade. Disease episodes certainly tore continually at Mississippian life, but we can no longer single out disease as the sole factor for collapse. Indeed, as I argue here, the shock waves from the disruptions occurring with Native participation in the European trade system penetrated far beyond the beachheads of empire. Shock waves reached the Mississippi River valley well before Europeans arrived, and they set in motion a sequence of events, movements, opportunities, and failures that had changed Indian life before Joliet, Marquette , La Salle, and all the other Frenchmen and their Indian allies canoed down the Mississippi River in the late seventeenth century.3 Indeed, disease was probably an important factor, but it was not the only factor. Rather, we have also to consider events happening on the Atlantic seaboard, especially those concerned with the colonial trade system. At the time of European contact and as witnessed by Soto’s men, the central and lower Mississippi River valley was home to several large and impressive polities. After leaving Chicaza in April 1541, Soto’s army traveled for seven to nine days through an uninhabited territory or buffer zone before reaching the first town of Quizquiz (see Map 1). The people of Quizquiz were quite surprised when Soto arrived, indicating, among other things, that they had virtually no intercourse with the people of northeast Mississippi . The chiefdom of Quizquiz comprised several towns situated on fertile ridges overlooking oxbow lakes just south of present-­day Memphis.4 While Soto was preparing to cross the Mississippi River not far from the towns of Quizquiz, the mico from the chiefdom across the river, Chief Aquijo, arrived to meet the conquistador. Chief Aquijo was seated beneath a canopy in the lead canoe of a fleet of 200 large canoes. The canoes carried his principal men, also seated under canopies, and as many as 7,000 warriors, all of whom were armed with bows and arrows, painted red, wearing colorful feathers, and carrying woven-­cane shields. The fleet reminded the Spaniards of Spanish galleys, and the canoes moved in unison and in good military order. Despite the grandeur of their first meeting, relations soon deteriorated between the Indians and the Spaniards, and over the next twenty-­seven days, while Soto’s [13.59.136.170] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 11:20...