In Mississippi...

Mississippi wasn't always the place we know today. In fact, Mississippi is a place with such rich history. The first people to live here were the 3 main tribes of Native Americans. These groups were the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and the Natchez. The Indians were minding their business when the greedy people from other lands came in and started this big mess! Today I will tell a story about the great old Mississippi...before it became a state!

The Choctaw was the largest tribe of the three. It was said to have around than 20,000 members! The Choctaw was a peaceful tribe that took up all of central Mississippi from the Western border to the Eastern border. They were divided into 3 geographic regions because their territory was so large. Cool right?

Choctaw!

Going away from their size, the Choctaw was a group that did something that we aren't used to seeing today. Their families were based off the mother, so they were matrilineal!

That's a real Choctaw

Wedding! ------------------>

Choctaw...continued

Aside from that, they were an agrarian tribe, meaning they didn't have to travel much. They were dependent upon agriculture so they had all they needed at home with the women handling the agriculture and the men out hunting.

Choctaw...continued

The next Tribe is the Chickasaw. The Chickasaw tribe was located in the Northern part of Mississippi. This tribe traveled pretty often because their area wasn't good for growing crops. They had to move around and trade!

Chickasaw

Now let's take a look at how they lived! The Chickasaw Tribe was very aggressive. From a young age they trained males up as warriors. They even had a chief of wisdom and a chief of war! To add to the horror, they even had a bone-picked to torture people!

Chickasaw...continued

Ever heard or drove along the famous Natchez Trace? Guess who was responsible for building that, and I'll tell you now it wasn't the Natchez! Yup, you guess it, the Chickasaw built it to use as a route to better trade with the Natchez tribe.

Chickasaw...Continued

Lastly, we have the Natchez. The Natchez is the smallest tribe of the 3 and it was located and Southwest Mississippi. Like the Choctaw, they were matrilineal, and they allowed women to hold leadership positions.

Natchez

The Natchez also liked the outdoors. They worshipped the sun, they were agrarian so they had all they needed with their agriculture, and they became famous for mound building.

Natchez...continued

Even though they were the smallest, they were the harshest. For example, when a tribal leader died, they sacrificed all the females in his family by cutting off their heads! That's terrible right!

Natchez...continued

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish man who came and explored the southern territory in the 1540s in search of new riches. They came and surveyed the land, but they didn't settle. The Spanish treated the Native Americans wrong so they experienced many attacks and he died from a battle wound. The Native Americans buried him in the Mississippi River (believing he was a god) and the remaining few of his men went to settle in Mexico.

The 1st Spanish Expedition

The next group that came to explore was the French. The began with our Northern neighbor Canada, and made their way down to the Mississippi River to try and find new routes for Asian trade.

French Explorers