Adsactly Education: The Mississippi River European Contact and Beyond
The first part of this series (available here) dealt with the geologic history and flow of the Mississippi River. The second part (available here) chronicled briefly the history of man in the Valley and the entire watershed.
The peoples of North America lived for over 10,000 years prior to contact with Europeans. To say that contact did not end well for the natives would be a gross understatement.
European Contact and Beyond
The Spanish Lead
The first European to document his travels into the Mississippian Culture was Hernando De Soto in 1539. He brought with him 3 things that would prove absolutely pivotal to the culture and the natives of the entire continent. Smallpox, Measles and horses.
Some estimates place the number of deaths to smallpox and measles as high as six million in the greater Mississippi region alone. The people there were well established, densely populated and very social with one another. Those three items contributed to an enormous epidemic and inevitable decline.
The decline had started before first contact. The ‘single leader’ (often hereditary) social culture that had risen to such prominence was breaking down rapidly probably because of a climate caused reduction in crops and thereby in food and money for the residents. The natives were adapting to a much smaller and more democratic social unit. The social stability of the previous thousand years was crumbling.
De Soto was a Spanish Conquistador who mounted a major expedition out of what is now Florida in 1539 searching for gold and the northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. He made his first mark in the conquest of Nicaragua under Cordoba. He then went to Peru to assist Pizzaro in the conquest of the Aztecs. He was noted for his treachery in negotiating with the natives and his willingness to slaughter them as seen fit.
There is no particular reason to believe that De Soto changed his ways when he set out from Florida, but his writings do include some peaceful contacts. The entire expedition started with more than 600 men and 220 horses. When he demanded porters from the Chickasaw tribe in 1541 they attacked his camp, killed 40 men and destroyed most of his equipment. Strangely, they allowed him to leave and he encountered the Mississippi River later that same year.
De Soto died of fever on the banks of the Mississippi in 1542. His force was battered and it would take them another full year for less than half their starting numbers to reach Mexico City with no horses.
His mission was thought a failure by the Spanish authority but he left a lasting legacy in North America.
The French Leave Their Mark
After De Soto it was a fairly long period until the next European contact, most likely French fur traders who cooperated with the tribes and traded items for their furs. It would be over 100 years between De Soto and the next written account by Frenchmen LaSalle and Joliette who went down the river into what is now Arkansas. By 1699 the French had traveled all the way to the mouth of the river and claimed the whole thing for France.
In 1705 the first known boatload of cargo came down the Mississippi. 15,000 Bear and Deer hides that were floated to somewhere near present day Baton Rouge to be loaded on a ship and sent to France.
The French founded the first permanent European settlement on the Mississippi, a fort at present day Natchez and founded New Orleans in 1718.
The British Arrive and Depart
Following their victory in the seven years war England and the US gained full right to navigate the Mississippi from source to mouth. The river also became the border between English Territory and Spanish with the French squeezed out. France secretly acquired the area in a treaty with Spain. Meanwhile the Americans beat the British in the Revolutionary War to take over all of the former British territory. The border of the new nation became the Mississippi River and English speakers started settling and exploiting the river.
In 1803 Napoleon, Emperor of France needed cash money to pursue his war in Europe so he sold the entire parcel to the US giving the US claim to the whole river and most of it’s tributaries. The English defeat in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 gave the Americans full and uncontested control of the Mississippi.
The American Way
In 1803 the United States had been an independent country for 23 years. When President Jefferson bought the ‘Louisiana Purchase’ it very nearly doubled the size of the US over night. The young country wasted no time proving up on their claim with the Lewis and Clark Expedition starting up the Mississippi within months of the purchase. They were chartered to explore and document the territory once and for all, and to find the elusive Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark didn’t have much to do with the Mississippi but the Purchase certainly did. America’s border now extended to the Pacific Ocean and to Canada. The entire Mississippi River was now under the control of the US.
The American settlement of the Mississippi River Valley really happened quite quickly. By the time the Americans took control there was already commerce up and down the river. Most came down the river on rafts and crude boats that were only made to go downstream for one trip. About this time Keelboats started to appear. These were sturdy well built boats that were made to go both ways. Downstream was easy, upstream was a brutal struggle and took a dedicated and able crew to pole and pull the boats against the flow.
Farmers swarmed across the river in search of good land to grow their crops and the valley certainly had that. Really rich farm ground was discovered to extend for miles on the west side of the river and the farmers swarmed in. Which aggravated the natives. Most places were taken by force and the Native Americans left no choice but to fight. It would be a long, slow, losing battle for them.
In the next installment of this series we will detail the Westward Expansion of the US and the part the Mississippi River played in it.
Unsourced Photos are used courtesy of the author.
While the words and ideas in this post are strictly those of the author these sources were referred to by me to insure numerical and historical accuracy.
Wikepedia: Mississippi River
Legends of America: Mississippi River
Wikipedia: Hernando De Soto
Authored by: @bigtom13
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Mississippi has a particularly rich history. First, it houses many museums dedicated to its history and the Civil War that has marked it. The state provides an insight into the old deep South of the United States, including the cotton fields, the history of black slavery, and the image of the countryside and small communities revived by festivals in Nashville. or Natchez.
@bigtom13 and @adsactly, In my opinion in many aspects History is evident that whenever people visited to the new land then in many cases they brought something, and in most cases we saw it's either war or plague.
And History is evident for one more thing and that is, in my opinion it's the aspect of Domination, and people tried to dominate or dominated for the land or for the Treasure.
In past people were more analytical and more explorative and they were finding those lands which can produce precious things and if they found then they tried to win that land either way.
Good to read this piece and great to see that you are doing effective Continuation of this Subject of history. Waiting for more pieces so keep this in depth and informative work.
Wishing you an great day and stay blessed. 🙂
I've been quite careful with my words. In a great many cases the profit motive vastly overtook human rights in this story of the Mississippi. The horrible plagues of smallpox and measles would have happened sooner or later, but much of the rest of the story from the perspective of the Natives is simply a narrative about greed and lust ruling the collective mind.
Good to hear these words with more deeper perspective. Stay blessed. 🙂
Hello friends @bigtom13, I hope you and all the writers of @adsactly are well, in my comment I'll leave the whole story aside, except for the approximately 6 million deaths in Mississippi, where I'll just say that if that hadn't happened maybe the whole USA or that part of the USA would have been overpopulated.
Now, yes, I will talk about the footprint of the famous but not so famous De Soto, although he considered his entire mission to be a fraud, and with sufficient reasons, some of them not refutable, today we realize that De Soto's footprint was not a failure, on the contrary, De Soto remained in the history of Mississippi, therefore, in the history of the United States of America, either for better or for worse.....
I have a question for you friend @bigtom13, how true is it that De Soto comes out as a ghost on the banks of the Mississippi River? I've heard that, I don't know anything because I haven't had the chance to travel there yet, but I'd like to know if it's real or just a myth...
Without further ado I wish blessings to the entire @adsactly group, especially to you friend @bigtom13 for your good content! Greetings to all from Venezuela.
I think it to be just a myth. But I do know that De Soto died on the banks of the Mississippi (of fever) with his troop in disarray. No one knows exactly where he died or was buried. In fact, it's thought that his loyal followers may have put his body in weighted blankets and sunk it in the river. Which would be fitting, somehow. He was the first European to record the Mississippi.
As far as the population density of the valley, it was really quite dense. They had a well structured agricultural basis and lots of craftsmen and tradesmen living in cities and villages. They had a city larger than London (the largest city in Europe) for a couple of hundred years. 6 million would have been roughly 70% of the population.
Thank you for the wonderful comment.
I know you mentioned it in your previous part. It’s still hard to imagine even with today’s population. Overall very interesting history about Mississippi River. About De Soto’s mission. How French took over the first permanent European settlement on the Mississippi. Than British pushing out the French and eventually Americans taking over. It’s amazing how Americans didn’t waste their time after taking over.
Great and educational article @bigtom13!
Thank you. The Americans did not waste an instant. By the time they beat the Brits in the Battle of New Orleans they were already very established. From that time forward their settlement of the River was on hyperdrive.
The whole Mississippi Valley was more densely populated than any comparable sized piece of Europe. It was an intricate and layered society from the mouth of the River to the Canadian border and spread quite a ways east and west in a number of places.
I had heard of Joliet and Lasalle before, but it now makes it much clearer how Louisiana was French in the first place. I’m Canadian so I know that thousands of settlers from eastern Canada went to Louisiana. They were the acadians. That’s where Cajun comes from.
Yes. The whole river was very much French for quite a few years. The British helped with the settlement of Louisiana by chasing French Settlers out of Canada. I'll certainly touch on that community in the very near future when I talk about the Music of the River. Cajun and Zydego both have their roots there.
It's a great comment, thank you for it!
Be that as it may, to have the capacity to use the advantages ADSactly channel brings to the table to society's individuals, you should first comprehend its essentials. The underlying advances were at that point clarified. If it's not too much trouble read the past piece of this arrangement, in the event that despite everything you haven't. In actuality, read them all from the earliest starting point. Every one of the connections.
Thanks for reminding the history to everyone .
You are most welcome. Glad you are here.
Although my official expertise is in another field, I love this topic! I often visit the DeSoto National Memorial in the Tampa Bay Area.
I was frankly surprised as I did research for this series of articles. I really thought that De Soto was a minor player with my education (not history either). That expedition that Spain considered a failure because he didn't find gold or the Northwest Passage was possibly the single biggest event on the entire continent. The measles and smallpox just decimated the whole center of the country, and the horses he (and Coronado in the SW) left behind changed the entire face of the US and Canada.
I really need to go to TB to see that monument.
https://www.nps.gov/deso/index.htm
we love Mississippi river and we love @adsactly all day long
love this song - Frank Sinatra - Old Man River (1946)
Oh, man. I had forgotten that Frank sang the title piece on this musical. He's terrific.
That's the best video comment ever. Old Man River. Thank you for a wonderful memory!
There is little content focused on history here on steemit. It's nice to see something so well written. Does anybody know about any history curating projects?
Thank you for the kind words, I really do appreciate them.
You know? I don't know of any history specific curations, which surprises me. I'm going to ask around a little and see what I come up with. If I find anything I'll reply here.
Thanks again. For both :)
I intend to write more about history and want to make it as worth while as possible. Thank you for the help ;)
You know what I've found so far? Nada. I've floated the question in a couple of groups (of writers) and not a one has heard of a history curation. Interesting. Maybe that should happen. Maybe I should start using the 'history' tag. Hmmmmm.
I've been a bit more lucky and saw that @sndbox has a section on their weekly report about history and did a sort of a history writing challenge 7 months ago.
Here is the link https://steemit.com/news/@sndbox/state-of-the-sndbox-week-56-exhibition-recap-and-video-fundition-winners-antipost-challenge.
You should definitely use that tag. I'm currently reading a lot of history and preparing some interesting historical articles for my "comeback" - been away for 2 months.
Nice blog you have shared with us. Thanks to sharing.
Nice picture
nice post,thanks.
amazing :) thankyou for sharing this adsactly
nice post
Educate me senpai
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good articl just go on
GREAT POST and enlightening.
Contact with the Europeans certainly cannot be separated from the background of competition between Spain and Portugal. The competition also encourages each kingdom to give support to the ship team that will sail. to keep Portuguese and Spanish from following each other, the direction of shipping is divided into two. An agreement that we know with the Tordesilas agreement. In the agreement Portuguese was sailed to the east along the coast of Africa to Tanung Harapan and then the next group traveled to Kalikut, India and then to Malacca and finally Maluku, Indonesia as the center of spices.
While Spain sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean to the Bahamas under the leadership of Chistoporus Columbus. And of course this heavy journey across the vast ocean made a form of achievement for the Europeans who later when they met with the people of the skin they thought they were in India. on the next development of the voyage Amerigo Vespuci
who then explained that it was not India but a new continent that was not yet known. Then to enjoy his services the new continent was given an American name.
then the next delegates learned that the American continent was rich in culture and gold, so there came a character like Francisco pizaro, Herman Cortez who conquered aztek and inca.
when De Soto then followed the Misisipi river from the Gulf of Mexico which later met with the locals.
Unfortunately, there is a habit of the Europeans who think that nations outside Europe are considered not yet civilized. so often their arrogance stems from hatred that often triggers war.
Thank you @bigtom13
thank you @adsactly
thank you steemit
warm regard from indonesia