CHAPTER 2
NATIVE AMERICAN ECOLOGY AND EUROPEAN CONTACT
Chapter Outline
I. Pueblos and Spanish in the Southwest
A. Ecology of the Southwest deserts: 5000-7000 feet; terrain consists of mesas and canyons; 15 inches of rainfall per year. Mountains nearby with antelope, deer, bear, fox. Intermittent rain and drought with small streams, springs, and flashfloods on alluvial fans, allowing cultivation of corn, beans, melons in many small plots surrounding settled pueblos. Drought forces farmers to relocate to lower altitudes at end of fourteenth centry.
B. Exogenous factors disrupting Pueblo ecology
1. Population: Pueblo villages of 100-1000 persons, growing to 2000-3000 in some areas, over ten centuries (Mogollons in present Southern Arizona and New Mexico; Hohokams in Southern Arizona; Patayans in Western Arizona; Anasazis in four corners area). Introduced diseases undercut Indian reproduction and decimate populations. Smallpox epidemic strikes in 1520-24; measles in 1531-33; bubonic plague in 1545-1548.
2. Market: Spanish search for gold and silver is unsuccessful, delaying rise of markets. Colonies and missions introduce livestock (horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats) and crops (wheat, peas, green vegetables), fruit trees, grapes, and melons.
3. Technology: Iron hoes, plows, and plow animals.
4. Social Relations: Power of Pueblo mothers is undercut by transfer of care of children to priest and by giving of Christian names. Power of men in hunting is undercut by introduction of domesticated herds. Women's household power is transferred to cleaning church and altar and preparing communion bread and food for religious celebrations.
5. Attitudes: Pueblo emergence story: Thought Woman cares for Corn Mother and Sun Mother until they emerge from the earth with seeds of plants and animals. Create spirits (katsina) who give food and bring clouds and rain. Corn mother mythology is replaced by Virgin Mary in celebrations using corn ears, flowers, and butterflies. Overall effect is to undercut women's power in pueblo society. (Ramón Guitiérrez's thesis)
II. Micmacs and French in the Northeast
A. Ecology of Gaspé Peninsula: Mixed deciduous-coniferous forest. Animals: caribou, moose, bear, beaver, marten, otter. Fish: herring, sturgeon, salmon, eels. Birds: Canada geese, ducks. Plants: berries, acorns, tubers. Micmacs gather, hunt, and fish through seasonal migrations.
B. Exogenous factors disrupting Micmac ecology
1. Population: Indian populations are decimated by introduced European diseases: smallpox (1639, 1649-50, 1669-70, 1677-79, 1687-91); measles (1633-34, 1658-59). Trading posts and missions are established by French in seventeenth century.
2. Rise of the Market: European fishing fleets visit Newfoundland and St. Lawrence in sixteenth century in search of cod, walrus, whales, and furs. Furs are exchanged for commodities (foods: peas, beans, biscuits, flour; iron knives, kettles, spears, fish hooks; blankets, pottery, tobacco, liquor). Indians participate in mercantile trading economy of Europeans in exchange for items that they cannot produce themselves, fostering dependency.
3. Technology: Traps and guns introduced by Europeans (steel traps introduced in early 18th century).
4. Social Relations: Indian males gain power over females and fur-bearing animals. Middleman Indian tribes gain power over trapping tribes. European traders make large profits by exploitation of both Indians and nature.
5. Attitudes: Micmac believed animals formed separate societies and had once spoken. Manitous (spirits in natural beings) allowed "ordained killing" for human use in exchange for respectful disposal of remains. Rules, rituals, and taboos governed hunting, gathering, and fishing. Animistic cosmology breaks down and is replaced by Judeo-Christian dualism. (I-thou relationship to nature is undermined by I-it relationship; subject-subject relationship between humans and nature changes to subject-object relationship.) Calvin Martin's thesis: Introduced diseases undermine power of shaman, leading to spiritual breakdown. Micmac apostatize, or betray the animal spirits and break the traditional taboos, thus allowing the animals to be harvested for the fur trade. (Martin's thesis is challenged by S. Krech III, et al. in Indians, Animals, and the Fur Trade)
Discussion Questions
1. What differences between Indian and European approaches to gift giving and trade do the documents and essays reveal? What are some of the environmental consequences of the two approaches?
2. What ecological roles did animal spirits, rain chiefs, and shamans play in the Pueblo and Micmac societies? Were they the same or different in the two cases? How were the roles of these spirits changed by Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries?
3. How might Donald Worster describe a Pueblo "hydraulic" mode of production? What critique might William Cronon make of this mode of production?
4. What components of Alfred Crosby's "portmanteau biota" did the Spanish introduce into Pueblo lands? How might these have altered the ecology of the region? By what other methods did the Spanish alter Pueblo life? What were the positive and negative consequences of these changes?
5. What specific differences in gender roles and power existed in Pueblo and Micmac society before the arrival of Europeans. In what ways did the advent of Europeans alter roles and power relations between the sexes?
6. Compare and contrast Ramón Gutiérrez's explanation of the transformation of Pueblo society under colonization with Calvin Martin's explanation of the transformation of Micmac society? To what extent do ecological and cultural differences in the two cases account for the different explanations? To what extent do the underlying assumptions made by the two historians account for the different explanations?