Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The people living during the tail end of the Woodland period have been classified into
two additional groups: the
Mississippian
and the
Oneota.
The former's impressive sites
can be found from New Orleans all the way north into Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.
Mississippian culture showed high levels of civic planning and complex social hierarchies,
and it lasted at least until the Spanish arrived (Spanish records reported contact).
Spanish, Portuguese, and English were all blazing a trail westward. The main directive was
to circumvent the Arabs, reach the courts of the Great Khan, and establish channels to ap-
propriate the riches of new lands. Along the way, the natives, if any, were to be “pacified”
under papal hegemony. After England came to naval power under the Tudor monarchies
and began taking swipes at the French, the New World became the proving ground for the
European powers.
New France: Black Robes and the Fur Trade
The French, relative latecomers to maritime and thus expansionist endeavors, were, thanks
totheReformation,convenientlyfreedofpapaldictafordivvyingupthenewcontinentand
its inherent wealth. With the Spanish in the Caribbean and Gulf Coast and the up-and-com-
ingEnglishhavingafootholdinthemid-Atlanticcolonies,Francewaseffectivelyforcedto
attempt to penetrate the new land via the northern frontier.
Jacques Cartier first opened the door to the Great Lakes region with his “discovery” of
the Gulf of the St. Lawrence River in 1534. The insular French monarchy, though, left the
scattered outposts to simmer for another 40 years—except for several fur traders, who, it
turns out, were on to something.
The French did establish sparse settlements in the early 16th century, though they were
dismayed by the lack of ready riches, the roughness of the land, and the bitter weather.
However, the original traders possessed one superlative talent: forging relationships with
the Natives, who became enamored of French metal implements—firearms in particular.
Eventually, the French found their coveted mother lode: beavers.
Paris hatmakers discovered that beaver pelts—especially those softened for a year
around the waists of Indians—made a superior grade of felt for hats. These soon were the
rage in Paris and other parts of Europe and became the lifeblood of the colonies, sustain-
ing the region through the mismanagement and general vagaries of both British and French
rule.
