In this Book
- Natchez Country: Indians, Colonists, and the Landscapes of Race in French Louisiana
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Georgia Press
- Series: Early American Places
summary
At the dawn of the 1700s the Natchez viewed the first Francophones in the Lower Mississippi Valley as potential inductees to their chiefdom. This mistaken perception lulled them into permitting these outsiders to settle among them. Within two decades conditions in Natchez Country had taken a turn for the worse. The trickle of wayfarers had given way to a torrent of colonists (and their enslaved Africans) who refused to recognize the Natchez’s hierarchy. These newcomers threatened to seize key authority-generating features of Natchez Country: mounds, a plaza, and a temple. This threat inspired these Indians to turn to a recent import—racial categories—to reestablish social order. They began to call themselves “red men” to reunite their polity and to distance themselves from the “blacks” and “whites” into which their neighbors divided themselves. After refashioning their identity, they launched an attack that destroyed the nearby colonial settlements. Their 1729 assault began a two-year war that resulted in the death or enslavement of most of the Natchez people.
In Natchez Country, George Edward Milne provides the most comprehensive history of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Natchez to date. From La Salle’s first encounter with what would become Louisiana to the ultimate dispersal of the Natchez by the close of the 1730s, Milne also analyzes the ways in which French attitudes about race and slavery influenced native North American Indians in the vicinity of French colonial settlements on the Mississippi River and how Native Americans in turn adopted and resisted colonial ideology.
In Natchez Country, George Edward Milne provides the most comprehensive history of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Natchez to date. From La Salle’s first encounter with what would become Louisiana to the ultimate dispersal of the Natchez by the close of the 1730s, Milne also analyzes the ways in which French attitudes about race and slavery influenced native North American Indians in the vicinity of French colonial settlements on the Mississippi River and how Native Americans in turn adopted and resisted colonial ideology.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xiii-xv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-14
- 1. Rising Suns
- pp. 15-44
- 2. Thefts of the Suns
- pp. 45-78
- 3. Impudent Immigrants
- pp. 79-119
- 4. The Many Lands of Natchez Country
- pp. 120-148
- 6. Fallen Forts
- pp. 175-206
- Bibliography
- pp. 265-284
- Early American Places
- p. 294
Additional Information
ISBN
9780820347516
Related ISBN(s)
9780820347493
MARC Record
OCLC
904033585
Pages
312
Launched on MUSE
2015-02-25
Language
English
Open Access
No