American History - Cahokia

The three sisters crops; corn, squash, and beans; first arrived in the lower Mississippi River basin around 700 CE. For the first time in the Eastern Woodlands, agriculture could be used as the primary source of food. Thanks to this innovation, providing secure and abundant food supplies, the scattered tribes and clans of the area rapidly began to coalesce into larger permanent settlements, creating opportunities for greater artisanal and building endeavors. One such endeavor was the building of massive dirt mounds, atop of which were built temples, and the houses and burial sites of important people. While most hunter-gatherer societies tend to be fairly egalitarian in nature, thanks to their small size, the rising complexities of managing large groups of people led to the development of social hierarchies led by chiefs who of course in no way took advantage of their power to gain any benefits. Just kidding, they of course focused both political and religious power onto themselves, thus institutionalizing social inequality, including several different forms of slavery, because after all, if some people are going to be on the top, others are going to be on the bottom. Now this might sound like a pretty shitty deal, bringing up the question of why the hell people would give up the sweet independent life of a hunter-gatherer for such an alternative. Well, maybe you should look at it this way. Option one involves living in a hide tent, constantly moving around and hoping to god you don’t starve to death or get killed by some other asshat trying not to starve to death. Option two involves having to put up with some jerkwad who claims he has the divine right to be an asshole, but you can stay in one place, there’s almost always enough food, plenty of people around to keep you safe, and you even get some leisure time. Now imagine you also have kids. Yeah, makes a bit more sense now doesn’t it.

Anyways, over time a new religion began to form in the coalescing settlements. While it still involved the traditional spirits of nature and a focus on astronomy, new legendary creatures such as the thunder bird and great serpent took center stage, the focal point of a mythology focused on warfare and defense, where chiefs and warriors were seen as elites deserving of great honors and intricate burials. Human sacrifices, usually of young women, were also not uncommon early on. Not surprisingly, it was the adherents of this new religion which came out on top. Their settlements grew into city-states, home to thousands of people and surrounded by satellite villages whose primary purpose was to supply the urban center with food. These city states became religious focal points and drew in craftsmen and artisans which in turn made them important trading centers. The large number of available people also allowed for larger construction projects. Great mounds of dirt, some over ten stories tall were built to enhance the power of the chiefs, and earthen palisades, at times miles long, were built for protection. Intricate art pieces made from beaten copper adorned buildings and their occupants. Entertainment such as music and sports also became more complex, growing from ceremonial religious rites and the practicing of warriors.

What became known as the Mississippi culture spread rapidly throughout the Mississippi basin. By 900 CE, it had spread nearly everywhere a tributary touched. North to the Great Lakes, east across the Midwest to the Appalachian Mountains, and west to the edges of the Great Plains. By 1000 CE, it had further expanded into what is now the southeastern United States. The only area of the Eastern Woodlands it did not touch was the northeast and the northern Atlantic seaboard, where the Algonquin peoples continued living as their ancestors had before them. The amazing thing about the Mississippi culture was how rapidly it spread across not only regions, but also ethnic groups. The Chaddo peoples in the lower Mississippi basin, the Siouan in the Midwest, and the Muskogean in the southeast retained their distinct languages, but otherwise became very similar in culture, building and artisanal techniques, and religious practices. These similarities allowed for people to easily move between city-states, allowing for the creation of extensive trade networks across the Eastern Woodlands.

The largest and most powerful of the Mississippi culture city-states, was by far Cahokia. Built at the site of modern day St. Louis near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio rivers, Cahokia’s central location made it the largest trading center in the region. Beginning with a population of only 1,000 in 1050 CE, it grew to 15,000 by 1100 CE and 40,000 by 1200 CE. Cahokia grew rich from its extensive trade networks which stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Though not common, trade goods even made their way to Cahokia from as far away as the Pacific Coast, the Southwest, and the advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica. It’s mounds towered higher than those of any other city-state and its religious centers were the destination of pilgrimages. Cahokia was larger than London during the same period, and no city in what became the United States would grow as large until Philadelphia in the 1780’s. Cahokia represented the height of Native American civilization in the United States, which is all the more impressive given they were still using stone tools and never developed a system of writing. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

The larger a city-state grows, the more difficult it becomes to sustain it. Large numbers of people need large amounts of food, but there are also other issues to contend with, such as what to do with all the shit. The combination of large numbers of people crammed together with their literal crap creates the perfect situation for the rampant development and spread of disease. Pandemics were not uncommon, and in truth, despite all the benefits of living in a place like Cahokia, people in the larger Mississippi city states died at a rate where maintaining or growing their populations required a constant influx of new migrants looking for the security and opportunities offered by them. As well, overhunting, deforestation, and loss of soil fertility were also growing problems. As such, the survival of the city-states was much more precarious than it likely appeared to those living in them at the time. Something made abundantly clear when the climate began to shift in 13th century.

For the entirety of the Mississippi culture’s formation, the world had been enjoying a centuries long relatively mild climatic period known as the Medieval Warm Period, a combination of warmer temperatures and mild winters and summers. Unfortunately, starting in the mid-thirteenth century, the world’s climate began to shift into what became known as the Little Ice Age, a centuries long cluster fuck of dry summers, freezing winters, and erratic weather that would last into the 19th century. Such mass climatic cycles are not uncommon in world history, and various climatic shifts have heralded the rise and fall of major civilizations for as long as they have existed. The Mississippi culture was no different. Droughts, flooding, and lower crop yields caused by the climatic shift magnified and accelerated already growing issues. As the largest city-state, Cahokia was the first to be majorly affected, beginning a decline which culminated with its abandonment by 1350 CE. The smaller city-states, most with only a few thousand people, were less affected at first, but would not remain immune for long. By 1400 CE, most were in a state of decline, with warfare between city-states and mass migration by people looking for food not uncommon. As a result of this, trade networks broke down and regional cultures, religions, and artistic traditions began to form. The hardest hit areas were the lower Mississippi Basin and the Midwest, where all of the former city-states were abandoned by 1500 CE, replaced by small tribal societies and clans better able to sustain themselves and move on to greener pastures as needed.

In comparison, the Mississippi culture remained much more intact amongst the Chaddo peoples west of the Mississippi and Muskogeean peoples in the southeast, where city-states were not as large. However, this did not mean they were unaffected, with the city-states of both groups beginning to show significant signs of decline by 1500 CE. With conflict amongst the various Chaddo and Muskogeean groups, as well as outside tribes, becoming much more pronounced and tribalism increasingly beginning to take hold. This left the remains of the Mississippi culture little able to contend with the momentous changes coming in the sixteenth century.

American History - Woodlands

Here’s a little fun fact for you, when the various Native American groups crossed Beringia, bows and arrows weren’t really a widely known thing. Sure they were somewhat around, but not in the areas of Siberia the majority of the Amarinds and Na-Dene were coming from. As a result, though such technology swiftly spread across the Old World over the preceding centuries, it remained unknown in the New World for a much longer time than most people would guess if you asked them out on the street. Instead, the hunter gatherers of the New World largely relied on spears and altatls, which are pretty much just a stick carved into a type of lever so you can throw a spear extra far and hard. Bows and arrows didn’t appear in the New World until the arrival of the Aleut-Inuit people around 3,000 BCE, and after that they just kind of remained an Arctic thing for awhile. Nobody really has any idea why, but it did not spread south into what is today the western United States until around 200 CE and the eastern U.S. in 500 CE. As with most technological innovations, it of course royally screwed things up.

With the exception of the coastal regions, most of the western area of what became the United States is not all that choice of a place to live, being mostly mountains and deserts with a few fairly hospitable places scattered here and there. Food was scarce, meaning that groups had to be smaller and more scattered, you know, what with the constant danger of starving to death and all. Even when groups in such areas wanted to interact with each other, to trade for example, it was a real pain in the ass given that easily navigable rivers were few and far between, meaning people had to walk their asses to get anywhere. The Great Plains were little better. Yes, they did have giant roaming herds of buffalo, but if you think killing a buffalo with a spear while on foot is easy, then you probably have never actually seen a buffalo in person and/or are an idiot.

In comparison, the area of the eastern U.S. is a veritable paradise of woodlands filled to the brim with things to hunt and forage, meaning the region could support larger populations in closer proximity to each other. In addition, the entire region is crisscrossed by easily navigable river systems, the largest being the Mississippi River basin, making it relatively easy to get around via canoe. This ease of travel and people living in relatively close proximity resulted in the rapid spread of ideas and a dynamic patchwork of cultures intertwining and absorbing each other. This pattern was accelerated starting in 1,000 BCE as many of the groups began to develop the cultivation of crops, first by changing the environment to encourage the growth of forgeable plants, eventually leading to the planting of pumpkins, squash, sunflower, and goosefoot. Though not productive enough to act as a primary food source, these crops did allow for more permanent settlements to be built, which in turn led to the development of larger regional cultures, with groups of tribes sharing common religious beliefs, artisanal and building techniques, tribal hierarchies, language, and other such things. These groups in turn began to trade with each other, creating networks that linked the entire area from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.

The introduction of the bow and arrow in 500 CE changed everything. The primary game in the woodlands were deer, for which the bow and arrow proved much more adept at killing compared to the more traditional spears and altatls. As a result, meat became a larger part of most groups’ diet, but it also became harder to secure game as over hunting in many areas became an issue. Larger settlements broke apart into more scattered smaller settlements, who not only competed for hunting grounds, but also conducted raids on each other when local supplies of food proved insufficient. Wooden palisades were built around many settlements to protect them. Less trustful of their neighbors, many tribes began to trade less with each other, collapsing the flow of goods and ideas, further isolating each group, leading them to develop much more unique cultures.

For the next several hundred years, the entirety of the woodlands was basically a chaotic mess, with hundreds of tribes competing with their neighbors, forming and breaking alliances, laying claim to hunting grounds, and at times migrating en masse to find areas with less hostile competition. However, while the introduction of the bow and arrow proved to be the catalyst of mass social disruption, the introduction of a new innovation would not only re-stabilize the region, but lead to the development of the largest and most significant Native American culture north of the massive cities of Mesoamerica.

American History - The Desert Blooms

The cultivation of corn first began appearing in the American southwest around 2000 BCE, some seven thousand years after the crop was first cultivated in southern Mexico. Being a tropical plant, it took some time to selectively breed varieties better able to survive in the deserts of northern Mexico and the American southwest. Native Americans in the area planted corn along river and creek bottoms, but retained a hunter gatherer lifestyle. This was due to the fact that eating mainly corn resulted in a disease called pellagra, a niacin nutritional deficiency which could cause death. This was not as much of an issue in Mesoamerica, where the nutrients found in squash and beans could make up the difference, but both of these crops required more water than was available. This hybrid lifestyle largely remained unchanged until around 0 CE, when the nixtamalization process was introduced from southern Mexico, which is just a fancy word for soaking corn in water with ash in it to free up otherwise undigestible nutrients. How in the hell anyone figured such a thing out is unknown, but it most definitely worked. Corn became a much more viable part of people’s diets and societies based around agriculture began to take shape.

The three largest of these new southwestern societies were the Hohokan in the west, the Mogollon in the east and south, and the Pueblo in the north. These societies quickly began to dominate and assimilate the tribes around them, over time growing in size to cover significant portions of the southwest. Though differing in language and culture, when coming into contact with each other they remained largely peaceful, exchanging and spreading ideas such as architecture, pottery, and ceramics. By 500 CE, these societies began developing widespread irrigation projects, allowing for the cultivation of squash and beans. Along with corn, these two crops became known as the three sisters. When planted in the same field, the bean vines could climb the corn stalks and the leaves of the squash would shade the soil, retaining water and preventing weeds from growing. The three sisters allowed the three societies to shift almost entirely to agriculture, which in turn led to them building permanent settlements using mud bricks.

Over the next several hundred years, irrigation projects were expanded and made more intricate, including the construction of dams and reservoirs, and settlements turned into cities, some populated by several thousand people living in multistory communal dwellings. Regular trade with tribes in northern Mexico created a conduit to the major civilizations of Mesoamerica, allowing for the importation of such luxuries as domesticated turkeys, copper bells, mosaics, stone mirrors, and macaws. Other ideas moved north as well, such as religious ideas based upon the worship of the natural forces which could bless or curse crops, but luckily not the Mesoamerican penchant for human sacrifice to appease such forces. Another idea that came north was the focus on astronomical observation, with temples built to track the movements of the heavens. An upper class of appointed chiefs and religious leaders formed. Populations expanded rapidly, thanks both to larger families becoming more common and the migration and assimilation of outsiders looking for a better way of life.

Unfortunately, it was not to last. A relatively warm climate with adequate consistent rainfall began to shift around 1150 CE, entering into a three hundred year period known as the Great Drought. Weather became less predictable. Summers became hotter and drier, making it more difficult to grow crops, and winters became colder and wetter, resulting in floods which damaged the intricate irrigation networks. Soils became depleted of nutrients, forcing many settlements to be abandoned or moved, which sparked conflict as people were faced with the need to defend their still fertile lands or face starvation. The three societies were not the only ones affected. Many of the tribes in northern Mexico began migrating towards more fertile lands to the south, effectively cutting off trade with Mesoamerica. In the north, the hunter gatherer Numic peoples, who inhabited the Great Basin, unable to forage enough food, began raiding the Pueblo, many of whom began moving south into the territories of the Mogollon, sparking further conflict. As a result, many settlements began being built into the sides of cliffs and protective adobe walls were built. Peaceful co-existence was no longer an option.

By 1300 CE, the three societies were in a state of collapse. Infrastructure was in disrepair and what viable fertile land was still available was quickly being over farmed, with many communities being forced to move every thirty years. This was only made worse by the need for defense leading to the abandonment of smaller settlements in favor of larger ones. In the midst of this chaos, a religious movement began to sweep the region, one claiming the cause of the drought was their ancestors hubris in becoming too spiritually powerful. To return the world to balance, the temples with their precise astronomical measurements were sealed up or destroyed, and some evidence exists of even human sacrifices or cannibalism occurring. As conflict over limited resources intensified, many of the cliff dwellings were abandoned in favor of more easily defended new settlements on top of mesas. The final nail in the coffin came around 1400 AD, when the Na-Dene migrated into the area from the Pacific Coast, laying claim to wide swaths of land formerly controlled by the three societies.

The end of the Great Drought around 1450 CE finally allowed the situation to stabilize. The most negatively affected group was the Hohokan, their people scattered into small tribes which coalesced into the Hopi and the Zuni. In comparison, the Pueblo society and culture remained more intact. Pushed south deeper into New Mexico, they largely assimilated the Mogollon over the course of the Great Drought, becoming the last major remnant of the original three societies. As for the Na-Dene that entered the area, they split into two different groups. The Navajo adopted a more agricultural society similar to the original inhabitants, setting up shop in northern Arizona and New Mexico. Over time they became closely tied to the Pueblo, becoming quite similar to them culturally. In comparison, the Apache retained their migratory hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Belligerent to outsiders, and without anyone to stop them, they laid claim to wide swaths of territory across New Mexico and Arizona. Though willing to trade when it suited them, they were not opposed to raiding their neighbors as well.