Identifier
etd-05062009-220100
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Culture contact in colonial North America sometimes led to violent interactions. The continent during colonization contained two very different populations. Native Americans and Europeans occupied the same space and necessarily developed unique relationships. Each had to maneuver around the other to forge careful and productive bonds. When they could not, conflict arose; sometimes as war, sometimes as stealing or raiding. During their brief relationship, the Natchez Indians and French colonists in Louisiana engaged in several wars. Those wars revealed various elements of each culture. In 1716 Natchez warriors responded to a French diplomatic insult by killing French fur traders travelling upriver thus sparking the first war. In 1722-23, the French and Natchez fought again; this time over unpaid debts. Finally, in 1729, the Natchez executed a viciously well-planned attack on the French Fort Rosalie, which stood in their territory. Each war, while complicating their relationship, became a form of expression and exchange for the Natchez and the French. The Indians and Europeans clarified their outlooks and ideas with violence. The three wars escalated, growing increasingly more violent for both parties as their contact became considerably more intense and crowded. By the end of the third war the Natchez no longer existed as a cohesive nation. The French had brutally expressed their anger toward and fear of the Natchez; the Europeans all but decimated the Indians. Their chiefdom beaten, the remaining Natchez scattered throughout the southeast, some making it as north as the Carolinas. The French continued to maintain their presence in Louisiana for several more decades.
Date
2009
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Seyfried, Kathrine, "These savages are called the Natchez: violence as exchange and expression in Natchez-French relations" (2009). LSU Master's Theses. 851.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/851
Committee Chair
Paul Hoffman
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.851