Indigenous American Empires

Question 1

Ceremonies of Possession

Answer 1

• different ways European countries used to claim land; made their claims legitimate
• ex: Requiremento used by Spanish - used crown and God to legitimize claims

Question 2

Chaco Canyon

Answer 2

• where the Pueblo Culture Indians lived (700-present)
• site of Pueblo Bonito
• dense population and urbanization
• first sedentary Native American city
• three sisters agriculture (beans, squash, corn)
• vast system of canals

Question 3

Feast of the Dead

Answer 3

• practiced by the Iroquois Five Nations
• part of how Iroquois were semi-sedentary
• moved every 15 years because meat supplies/soil were depleted and their enemies knew where they lived
• would move dead with them - “even though we’re moving land, this land still belongs to us”
• territory, sovereignty, bringing past to life

Question 4

Noble Savage

Answer 4

• European perception of native Americans as naive creatures with a type of innocence of sin
• viewed native bodies as similar to European people
• vs bloodthirsty savage
• projects European fantasies and nightmares of native Americans

Question 5

Chiefly Warfare

Answer 5

• warfare was hegemonic - conquered people without devastating the land (like Mongols) to secure them as tributary group
• small scale warfare and siege warfare (would threaten people into being tributary groups)
• defeated chiefdom a would become military buffers

Question 6

Mississippian Chiefdoms

Answer 6

• 9th-15th centuries
• varying sizes
• larger Chiefdoms control smaller ones
• smaller ones must send extra supplies to core (food, salves, etc)
• had extensive trade networks, social infrastructure, inequality, specialized labor and artisans
• individuals would identify with their chiefdom (people forced to have same hair cut as chief, symbolic scalping)
• chiefs were considered gods; Chiefs lived in high hills to be closer to the gods, can travel between upper and lower lives, slaves were buried with them

Question 7

Iroquois Five Nations

Answer 7

• 1400-present
• a confederacy made up of five different Native American peoples
• inter-clan reciprocity as legal code; could not marry within clan
• very centers on kinship and kinship alliances; more alliances you can make will benefit and protect you
• clan matrons called for war, headmen would fight the wars
• would have diplomatic meetings to reach a consensus: “one voice, one mind, one heart”
• Feast of the Dead