About the great plains. As you know, unlike some of the classic Early American History courses, we have a somewhat more expansive view of early america. That includes the great plains. This is fun material to look at. I think well enjoy this. We have a couple of starting anecdotes. The first has to do with an expedition. The year is 1720. The spanish in new mexico are hearing more and more about french activities coming out of the louisiana and canada. Particularly, theyre hearing these rumors that french traders are moving west toward new mexico. Theyre lying with indians on the great plains, providing them with weapons. In 1720, the governor of new mexico sends an expedition east to the plains to investigate. 45 spaniards and 60 pueblo indians. Everything about this is uncertain, but they probably get into what is now western nebraska, the intersection of the plat and loop rivers. They encounter indians. The next, they set up camp, negotiate. Theres no initial effort by the spanish to cause trouble. The next morning, the pawnees attached the spanish with arrows and muskets. Heavy armed. 2 3 of the spanish are killed in the battle. Of the survivors, its estimated that six or half a dozen get back to santa fe. It was basically a disaster for the spanish. Were here under the hot lights. All right. The survivors contribute to a painting of the expedition. This is hard to see. It was difficult for me to get a good resolution copy. If you look closely, its by an unknown artist, but there is a group of spanish and probably bl pueblo indians here. Some of the pawnee indians have bows and some have guns. They dont well, actually, theres one thing the indians dont seem to have. What might you guess that is . What would you expect . [ inaudible ]. In 1720, the spanish are in the plains, who are attacked by indians who dont seem to have horses. Thats significant. The implications of this expedition, one, is you can see spanish fear. Particularly spanish fear of french guns and french alliances withi withi indians. Also, this absence of horses. You also notice a group of plains indians can defeat a spanish expedition easily. The spanish dont have a military advantage on the plains at this time. In the aftermath of this expedition, the spanish have no desire to venture out to the plains and have a repeat of this experience. Thats our first starting point. The second starting point has to do with the group of explorers. Thats a pawnee village, just to give you a sense. This will be important later. Also, give you a sense of the p habitations. Next starting point is in the early 1740s. The winter of 1742 and 1743. Two french brothers, sons of the explorer whose document we read for today, go out into probably south dakota, north dakota, its uncertain, but this area around the black hills. Theyre looking for a number of things. In particular, theyre looking for the head waters, some kind of Western Water that would lead to the pacific. Thats their ultimate objective. Theyre in the vicinity of the black hills in south dakota, and they report back, if we can climb the black hills, i bet we could have seen the pacific from the top. If you know the geography of north america, its not the case, unless you the jump really high. As theyre moving around, their guides, the bow indians, receive reports of the indians known as the snakes. So the bbow indians want to go back and protect their villages. The exploration has to be abandoned, as these bow indians go back to their home. Interestingly enough, at this time, all the indians have horses. This is about two decades later. Little farther north. At this time, the indians that the french explorers encounter have horses. One way we know, just to show you how cool this is, one way we know about the location of the exploration is well, actually, this is a great map. One reason these french guys are optimistic that maybe they can see the pacific from the black hills is because there are some french views of north america that are a little different than the views we have today. In particular, there are these rumors in the first half of the 18th century that there is an inland sea in north america. The leading gee g orkgeograp put this together in france. Europeans at this time dont know very much about the geography of Western North ameri america. Its plausible that explorers think they can reach the waters of the pacific or inland extension of it relatively easy. Any idea what might give rise to this image . Anybody been to utah . You have that salt lake, which looks really big. In the sort of standard, if youve been out there, and the way that stories travel, you could imagine how stories of salt lake could be sort of magnified. Puget sound is something that seems like an inland body of water. Salt and sea in Southern California isnt always there, but it is occasionally. There are some basis for these rumors, but theyre a little farfetched. This is a lead plate, which was left by the expedition, which was found by school kids during recess in pierre, south dakota, in 1913. As i said, back in the days when everything was totally cool and you could find relics when you were playing tag or something. Everybody has this idea that virginia has the historical sites. Pierre was probably psyched about this. As late as the middle of the 18th century, the french who know a lot about world geography, are confused about Western North america. You can also see the french presence out west is meager and dependent. You have two dprfrench explorer dependent on the indians theyre working with. This is a few scouts trying to figure out whats going on out there. The other thing, horses, pretty far north by the 1740s, and theres indications of warfare on the northern and Western Plains by this time. With these anecdotes, we can address questions. One question, why when does yo our study of the spanish start . Oh, the first heaalf of the course. Yeah. Its like 1520s, 1530s. Theres the coronado expedition, the early 1540s. One question, the spanish have been in Western North america for over two centuries at this point, or close in 1720. Why are they still largely confined to places like new mexico and texas, as well talk about in a second . Why isnt there more of a spanish presence as you go to other areas of the plains . Thats one question we want to look at. The other question is why are the french moving west, and what are the consequences of this movement in the 18th century . What does it matter that the french are pushing west from canada and louisiana . The final question, whats the relationship between what happens in the 18th century on the plains and the kind of iconic image of north American Indians that most, i think, americans have, which is someone like a warrior on a horse. Thats the image that comes into your head when i say indian. Whats the relationship between all those things . Well start with the spanish. Why is the spanish only reaching to southern texas and new mexico . This is a Mandan Indian village from the 19th century. Therell be something you can have in find when we talk about the document, when hes talking about his own visit from the village. It would have looked Something Like that. This is just a quick image of sort of the spanish expansion in texas in the late 17th century and early 18th century. Its moving along the costal plain. Key places. Were going to talk about san sava, up here, and the missions around san antonio, which are the most significant ones. Get the sense of this expansion of Spanish Missions up into texas. The alamo, attractive historical post guard. Im not sure it looked like this in 1740. It looked like when they did this postcard. This is to get in your head. A representation of the movement of horses north. You get the idea of horses starting here, the southern parts of north america, new mexico, mexico. We dont need to get into def l details but you see the movement of horses to the north. Well talk about that as one of the developments of the 18th century. Have a sense of what that looks like physically. Not the best map, but something we havent talked about too much in class, but there is this great inland body of water in canada. Hudsons bay. There are these british trading posts in the late century. Theyll be involved in the story when we discuss the document. Get a feel for those. The final image, basically, i want you to have a sense of new mexico as moving up in southwest north america, a colony thats surrounded by areas that are not controlled by the spanish. Thatll situate our discussion when we get into the document from 1754. That should be all we need for the moment. Lets talk a little bit about why the spanish presence is halting. One thing you have to consider f you look at the empire as a whole, what is the top priority as an imperial official in madrid or mexico city . Protect the mines. Places like mexico and peru. Are this mines in mexico and texas . Yeah. Much later on, but not in the 17th and 18th centuries. If you think about the spanish empire as a whole, its enormous. It extends to the southern portions of south america, includes peru, bolivia, chili, central america. This fringe, mexico and texas. It tends not to be the priority for spanish official planners. In that sense, its not surprising that it takes a while for the spanish to begin launching forays out into the plains. Theres other ways the spanish can allocate their resources. If you recall, for example, the coronado expedition to the plains in the 16th scentury, on we didnt talk about much, in the early 1600s, do you recall how those went . Not great. The spanish went out there, and they discovered thousands of pretty formidable plains indians who werent going to welcome the spanish on to the plain. The spanish found the plains were an area sort of meager reward and also significant danger. That, i think, is one factor that held spanish expansion back until the 18th century, when they were worried about the french. Texas just gets going in the early decades of the 18th century. Early decades of the 1700s. What do you think is the impetus for the Spanish Mission in texas . Whats happening east of texas that might inspire you . [ inaudible ]. Thats exactly it. The french begin a colony in louisiana in 1699. There are french explorations down the mississippi, even before 1699. The spanish are nervous about the presence of these french guys, the presence of a french colony, that might conceivably be a threat to mexico and new mexico. Thats the primary reason. The spanish expansion into texas is generally a few missions with a small number of soldiers to go with them. Good day to remember is the founding of san antonio in 1718. Probably the most significant example of the spanish expansion. Its a site that well, what did the spanish look for before they found a mission . Do you recall for new mexico, for example . [ inaudible ]. Thats exactly what they find. San antonio is already a place of irrigated field thats been established by local indian communities t. Spanish are trying to move into an area that seems compatible to move the mission. The hope again is also, the spanish is looking for settled agricultural indians. Thats who theyd like to find. Theyre compatible with the lay of life and to christianization. Its easier to establish a church that can work with them. In fact, the way the Spanish Missions in texas were, theyre not a great success. Generally speaking, its only the most desperate indians who go there. They dont have a choice. They go to the missions for lack of anything better. The population doesnt increase. By 1760, san antonio has 1,000 people. Any idea what would bring texas indians to missions . [ inaudible ]. Yeah. This is actually a big factor. Texas is a dangerous place in 1700s. The Spanish Missions are one potential place of refuge. Theres fortifications, spanish soldiers with guns, theres an alliance with the spanish empire. You get indians who are looking for a place where they can take refuge from some of the other indians on the Southern Plains or texas in the 18th century. Another way to think about this, something that historians have talked about recently and it makes sense, is for inian india went to the texas missions, it wasnt a huge change in how they lived. Theres the season of migration of indian groups from one place to another. Maybe theyd be getting nuts from one particular place, when moving inland. The indians viewed the missions as another stop in their seasonal migrations. Thered be food, a place of refuge. They viewed them as an adaptation of their lifestyle, rather than a total change in it. You do get some of these Spanish Missions. They werent a great success. They dont generate a lot of wealth, dont get a lot of people. Theyre vulnerable to indian raids. They dont establish a dominating spanish presence in texas. Theyre as a rulable as a rule to indians. A spanish effort to move north, well beyond san antonio. What happens is, at the request of apache indians, the spanish build a mission in 1757. Spanish mission, 1757. In 1758, one year later, a group of indians, most likely an alliance of other groups from the north, annihilate the san salva mission, which is a bad way to start out. Its an indication on even the spanish fortified places in texas. Viewing that as unacceptable, the spanish try to pursue the comanches and their indian allies north. What they find is a well fortified indian camp. Stock aid, ditch and walls. Its pflying a french flag. The spanish who attached this fortification name there were all kinds of guns and ammunition, and there was a lot of french there. There is no evidence for that. They claim there were people carrying french flags and wearing french uniforms. The spanish are repelled. The key point is, again, the weakness of the spanish in texas, and also the fact that the indians of texas are formidable. They have fortifications. Mobile striking power on horses, and they can also rebuild fortifications. The spanish dont have clear military advantage in places like texas. That explains why theres sort of the spanish moving to texas but why its not many. Mexico, the other key spanish salient in north america at this time, well talk about california on wednesday, new mexico remains, as you see from the map, relatively similar to what its been throughout the course. It doesnt have the massive extension in the 1700s. New mexico, as was the case in the 17th century, is never a big revenue generator for the spanish empire. French, louisiana, theyre convinced theyre trying to get to it but it never is. New mexico is a poor Frontier Colony at the end of a long supply route from mexico. I doesnt find the silver lines the spanish were hoping for. Its up in the north. 1765, theres only about 10,000 people of spanish decent. Its relatively poor and small in terms of population. Isolated at the end of a long supply route from mexico city and doesnt have a burning commodity. Theres some trade. Any idea how new mexico as a colony would make money . Economic basis . [ inaudible ]. Theres some production of local crops, but thats not a great export commodity. There is a small fur trade. Theres actually a slave trade in new mexico, sending indian slaves, taken in raids, around new mexico, down into mexico itself. In that sense, from the sort of brutal logic of an early modern colony, the fact that new mexico was up there, sort of middle of indians who are not part of the spanish alliances in some cases, means that there are more indian groups to raid for slaves. That is part of new mexicos economy. The biggest problem that new mexico has, in addition to the fact that economically, its meager, is what would you guess . Just looking at that map. [ inaudible ]. Yeah. Its a long ways away from the center and all that goes with it. Help. If its a long way from the centers of spanish power, what is it close to . [ inaudible ]. Yeah. Thats exactly right. Theres a lot of indian peoples surrounding new mexico who become more and more formidable as the 1700s go on. New mexico has to worry about the utes to the north, the comanches to the west, the apaches, who are all over the place, the navajos, who are to the northwest. Theres a lot of indian groups that the governor of new mexico has to be concerned about. New mexico is a vulnerable colony. Its a little surrounded. What its concerned about is some of these indians who were surrounding it, increasingly, are carrying french weapons. One difference between the spanish colonies in new mexico and texas and the french colonies in places like louisiana is the spanish discourage trading guns with western indians because they think theyll be a threat to the colonies. The french encourage it, which makes the spanish nervous. It means their potential enemies are much pbetter off. Lets talk now about lets shift from the spanish colonies and talk a little bit about the indians on the plains themselves. You can already see, weve already had little hints of very interesting story thats going on. Lets first go back in time a little bit and talk about some of the developments that lead up to what happens. What we see in the 1700s. The first thing to talk about is that when were talking about the 1700s, there are a number, a lot of indian communities on the great plains who are growing crops. Agricultural, you have big towns growing things like corn. This Development Starts 1700 a. D. Going way back. Prehistory of the course. What you see is very gradually, this movement of the growing of corn kind of moving up mississippi, and moving west along the tributaries of mississippi, to the point where a river like the missouri has the significant villages that are growing a lot of corn around it. These mandan villages, for example, are surrounded by corn fields. So the pawnees, another example of these communities. What tends to happen to communities that grow a lot of food . Thanksgiving is the perfect preparation. Theyre sluggish. Cant move quickly. Their population grows. One thing you get is that these pawnee and mandan towns and the other towns of peoples like this are often really big. Hundreds or thousands of People Living in these, some cases, fortified, substantial villages or towns along the tributaries of the missouri and mississippi. Its a formation of a new style of life, at least from what had been in the region before 1700. The villages arent just growing corn, but theyre hunting buffalo. Buffalo provides protein. Theyre also making stuff, involved in handicrafts, basic production. By the 18th sen which ycentury, horses. The spanish see some of this see it in the 17th and 18th century. Big towns out on the plains. Thats one big sort of feature of the plains at this time. Theres another big feature of the plains, and this is what makes the plains an exciting place and a dramatic place. Its one of those things in the 1700s. That is, lets go back to your iconic image of the north american indian, which is a guy on a horse, okay . The question is, when does that start . Well, when the spanish arrive, when the french arrive, when europeans arrive in north america, are there horses in north america . There are not. Shortly thereafter, there are horses in north america. There used to be horses a long time ago but went extinct. When the spanish arrive, they bring horses with them. What would happen, would you guess . Spanish move to new mexico, horses are part of what gives them the military advantage over their neighbors, what would happen to some of the horses, just in normal run of events . [ inaudible ]. Theyll escape. Horses can move. Thats part of their feel. They can be stolen. It was another possibility. Even before, even by the middle of the 17th century, some horses are getting away from the spanish. Some cases, theyre getting into possession of some of the indian peoples around new mexico. Some of the apaches seem to have horses even before the pueblo. Thats one thing that happens. Then theres the other thing that happens, right, the pueblo revolt of 1680, when the spanish are driven out of new mexico. In addition to the spanish being temporarily driven out of new mexico, or at least santa fe and the northern settlements, lots of horses get away from spanish control in 1680 and end up dispersing to the regions around new mexico. Now, for a few moments, i want you to think of yourself as a horse. Its always constructive. All right. So you get away from the spanish, youre feeling good, maybe you cross that little range of mountains and take a good look over the plains. What do you think . [ inaudible ]. This is my lucky day, okay . I just found one of the best places in the world to be a horse. What is there on the plains . Lots and lots of grass. Not lots of horses, right . There are the buffalo things, but you can deal with them. Theyre funny looking. When the horses get away from new mexico, especially those on the plains, this is a great place to be a horse. Consequently, horses multiply quickly on the plains, as you would expect. Thats the horse side of the story. Which is of the story which is important but theres another side of the story as well. If youre one of these indian groups around new mexico or maybe youre moving onto the plains yourself and suddenly you see these big animals, you have some knowledge maybe that they can be dmes kated and you pick up the horse for yourself. All of a sudden you have people who for a millennia lived on foot and all of a sudden they have the more formidable creatures of the early modern world. If you wanted a good example of people who prophet from spanish horses, the comanches are a good one. They get down onto the plains by around 1700. Theyve been living in the great basin. They moved to the plains at a time when the horses are already there. The comanches quickly in the 1700s adopt horses for themselves and make it a critical part of their lifestyle and essentially become a mounted people. Whats the advantage of being a mounted people on the plains in the 1700s . What can you do if you have horses . You can hunt buffalo. What are the advantages of hunting buffalo . Yeah . Absolutely, yep. Yep, yep, absolutely. Youve got a great source of protein which is critical and you have all kinds of items that you can sell to other people. You can sell buffalo hide. You have people like the comanches and other people and suddenly they can hunt at a greater distance more efficiently and take advantage of the buffalos on the plains who when the horses got there they said this is a great place to be a buffalo. Thats one thing. Thats nice, okay, you can hunt buffalos. Thats good. What else can you do with your horses . Yeah . Thats kind of, you know, kind of neutral language. You can expand your control. What would that expansion of control feel like . You can get a gun and you can move very quickly and all of a sudden youve got a big military advantage over the folks youve had a quarrel with over the past two decades. The comanches, one group moves to west texas. One group hangs on the plains near new mexico. They move around a lot. But these comanches are now militarily an extremely Formidable Group of people. They can move fast and they can attack isolated spanish settlements, hit an outlying ranch, take what they want and disappear. They can choose the point at which they can attack. They can also for example, attack the apache settlements. Prior to the movement of the comanches, the apaches had been the dominant group in that area. After that, the apaches are no longer the dominant group and they disperse off the Southern Plains. Some of them move into the more mountainous areas south of new mexico, west of new mexico. They are driven away essentially by the comanches who become this dominant force on the Southern Plains over the course of the 1700s. Its important to know that comanches can raid other places but that trading point is important as well. In some years the comanches or groups like them will show up at a trade fair like new mexico and theyll be peaceful. Theyll Exchange Buffalo items for various things which well talk about in a second. Other years theyll raid the spanish. It depends on a variety of factors. Theres an alternative thats true on the plains as a whole. This Comanche Development extends to a number of different plains peoples over the course of the 1700s. If if you recall that map i showed you at the beginning of the class, as the horse moves north, different peoples adopt horses. Different groups see the horse as a potential advantage. Some groups profit from horses and some groups are terrified. You can see some of the consequences of people beginning to move easily across the plains and raid one another. One of the great ironies of this, i dont know if you guys have studied a longterm history of eur asia. You could argue atila the huns are the baddest. What characterizes these classic baddies . I mean no quarrel with mongolia. If you took a poll, these guys would come up. What characterizes some of the baddest . Absolutely, absolutely. One of the great continuities of history is you have these guys who live on the steps of eur asia, they get horses and that enables them to be formidable. They dont have guns but they have bows which are terrifying weapons. They have 12 horses at a time and theyll shift horses. You see this alternative between the power of these nomads and these settle people who always have to deal with this presence to the north. Any idea when the step nomads are done as a feature of history when theyre no longer a threat to the settled people of eur asia . Even earlier. Its really the 18th century where china launches this expansion to the west and basically kind of destroys the major kind of step empire, the nomad empire in the west. The point i wanted to get across is, this feature kind of ends in the 1700s. China is not worried about step nomads after the 1700s. If you look at this in the broadest perspective, at exactly the moment that a military technology or tactics, exactly the moment when its over, finished, antiquated, it suddenly appears on the plains of north america. Its almost like theres a balancing mechanism in the world where horses crop up and they have their heyday in north america well into the 19th century. Lets take should we take a break . Whats funny about the heyday . Pardon me . Hay day . I didnt think about that. Let me just give you a few more questions and then well take a break. Where did the french fit into this whole story . The french are trying to expand west in the 18th century from louisiana and canada. Theyve got a number of objectives. Finishing up a little bit of that discussion of the spread of horses onto the plains, as i say, this leads to a kind of tumult, you have people rising and falling very quickly. To give you a good example, the indians were probably the ones that those bow indians were frightened of in the early 1740s. When lewis and clark go west the sha shownies are hiding in the rockies trying to survive. People who had a brief moment of dominance on the plains, often that moment is quite brief. The acquisition of horses, rifles leads to a lot of conflict and that leads to a lot of instability. The other factor, when i talked about how if youre an indian sorry, if youre a horse and imagine you go out in the mountains and look out on the plains and say this is totally excellent, assuming theres two horses, what happens relatively quickly after these horses get onto the plains and start eating a lot of grass . Three horses, four horses, five horses and then you get indian groups breeding horses. All of a sudden you have a lot of horses on the plains. Theres already a lot of buffalos on the plains. The plains are big. They seem infinite. If youre in a car driving across, they seem to have no apparent end. But in fact, they do have an end. So what happens . Also the climate is highly unstable. It was unstable in the 18th century as well. You have wet periods, dry periods, hot periods, hot periods, cold periods. What happens when you have yeah . Exactly. Certainly by the 19th century you start to have hints of an ecocrises on the plains when theres too many grass eating animals eating the grass. That gives you a sense of introducing Something Like the horse into a new environment, the consequences are endless. All kinds of things happen ek logically, militarily, cultural. Its a big change. Lets briefly talk about the french and then well go for discussion. The french are expanding west from louisiana and canada. Its a little bit different than what you saw in the 17th century. There are missionaries still involved but a bit less of an emphasis. Theres more of an emphasis on trade and furs and human beings and a little less on missionary, conversion of indians. The french as i mentioned earlier are quite happy to trade guns to western indians and that does give them an advantage when theyre competing with the spanish. What are the french looking for as they go west into north america . Why would they bother to go at all . Theyre still hoping that theres going to be some kind of Northwest Passage to the pacific, some relatively easy water route leading to the pacific. You realize jefferson in the first decade of the 19th century is still thinking lewis and clark might find a gentle plateau in the center of the continent and then there will be a nice river and theyll get on their boats and slide to it. Instead, when lewis and clark get west, what did they discover . Idaho. Its just one range of mountains after another. The french dont know that so theyre still hoping for a relatively easy way to get to the pacific. Ill talk more about the pacific on wednesday but theyre hoping for a route to the pacific and trade with asia. Theyre hoping for new trading partners. Theyve heard rumors that there might be elaborate civilization on the pacific coast. From what theyve heard from second and third and fourth hand indian accounts, they think maybe japan or china might have outposts in the pacific northwest. They think maybe theres some kind of indian civilization in the northwest similar to the ink kas or the aztecs. What might give rise to that story . Anybody from British Columbia or Washington State . You do have in the northwest and well talk about this on wednesday, big sophisticated towns with monumental architecture, fantastic sculpture, living in fantastic wealth. All you have to do is dip your hand in the water and you find two salmon. You do have the kind of indian communities in the northwest who again when youre talking about information traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles could set up stories i think of very sophisticated indian peoples or lead to rumors of other people in the northwest. The french are curious about this. Theyve heard rumors there might be europeans somewhere in the west. Theyre trying to figure this kind of stuff out. The french are moving to the west. The big limitations on the french, theres not a lot of them. Theyll really kind of beyond the range of french power. These are very small parties. As we know from earlier in the 17th century, what do the french do to compensate for the fact that there arent that many of them . They try to make friends with different indian groups and become the allies of those indian groups. In the 17th century the french alie themselves with different indian groups and that makes them the enemies of the iroquois. Theyre trying to work with all these groups and who do they antagonize . The sioux. Bad call. The french in certain ways are among the less lucky of the colonizing if groups. The family exploration is killed by a sioux war party. Even as they make certain allies, they antagonize other groups. If we wanted to summarize the takeaway points, the first thing is regional dine namism. All kinds of changes are going on. This longdine namism, the corn based agriculture, the horse coming out onto the plains in the late 17th and 18th century, this is a very different place than it was before. I think a second point is the presence of these crop growing peoples which is a little bit different than your iconic image of the plains indian. Its worth noticing, as you think about the course as a whole, look at how many of these kinds of indian peoples weve seen. The folks that desoto met, the coronado met, the indians in new mexico, different groups in arizona, the iroquois. Were seeing groups of indians that are different than the classic stereotype of indians that we see in American History. Its worth noticing how many examples were talking about. Then i think the third point is the formation of these horse peoples of the plains in the 1700s. This really is a Crucial Development and it does set the stage for a lot of what you see in the 19th century. Thats enough of me talking. Now im going to make you guys perspire. Ill shift a little bit to discussion and well see how much fun youll have over thanksgiving. You have to admit, these documents were very short actually. Theres no extra essays and everything so these should be a pleasure. Even if theyre not, i can guide us through because these i quite enjoy. You want to start with the french or new mexico . The french it is. Weve got this account. In the fall and early winter of 1738 theyre going out to visit ma villages on the upper missouri, same villages that would be visited a little more than half a century later by the lewis and clark expedition, same broad cultural group. If la varn dree what is he hoping for . What kind of relationship would he like to establish . What kind of relationship do the french always want to establish . Some kind of trading relationship, some kind of alliance. If you can, go ahead and raise your hand before asking a question. That will give time for the microphone to move to you. Its difficult because were fast paced. A physical microphone has difficulty keeping up with our thoughts. Its true. Some kind of trading relationship and alliance. So if youre going to establish a french trading relationship with people like the man dan, people like the creed who are farther north, if you want them to trade with the french, who do you not want them to trade with . We havent talked about this much in the class. Its from the great white north from where canada is now. You remember that map i showed you way back at the beginning of class, this class, not the beginning of the semester . Ill go to this map. Stand clear for just one second. Youve got this big inland sea in north america called hudson bay. On the edges youve got the british establish these little trading posts right along the edges of hudson bay. The british, what they try to do is encourage indians from inland to come to these posts along the edge of hudson bay, frozen sea, and give them what . What in the age before tarzan, what would be the whats the great virtue of Northern Canada in terms of a particular commodity . Absolutely. So the Hudson Bay Company establishes these posts and they want these interior indians to essentially do all the work of getting the furs, making this long trip and giving the furs and then the british take them back in their ships. From the point of view of a french explorer, how does this make you feel . Outmaneuvered. If we look, for example at page 295, in the right hand column, at this point he talks about i got the two chiefs to come to my tent. I knew that they went every year to the english post and one of them according to a report may have received a collar from with a present as an enducement. Whats the problem . You got the indians trading with the british and you dont want that. So what do you do to sort of what can you do to draw these western indians away from the english . Give them better gifts . Exactly. Its better gifts and gifts. So thats one interesting aspect of this. The french are trying to establish a trading relationship but they have to get it relationship started by giving stuff away. Theres a high initial investment of giving a lot of gifts to the groups. What else if the british rely on sitting in these forts and waiting for the indians to come to them, what can the french do . They actually go out to the indian forts and communicate directly. Thats exactly what they do. The french begin moving west. Theres a chain of lakes extending west from the great lakes. They go into Northern Canada. The french are moving into the western interior of north america and trying to get to the indians before the indians get to hudson bay. The french are kind of working in a certain sense a lot harder. Are the western indians without a negotiating position with the french, without leverage . What kind of thing do they say, we would love to have a trading relationship with you if . For example, the french abandoned us. As long as the frenchmen remain in our lands, we promise you not to go elsewhere. Whats the upshot of that . Just move from point a to point b. They can move and they can have demands on the french. They want a consistent relationship. You cant just come and go. You got to come and stay. Theyre asking for an ongoing relationship with the french that will be equal in value or predictability to what they can do with the british in hudson bay. Theyre moving the french. Yes, we would love to be your friends but heres what we expect from you. Theres a negotiation going on there. On 296, they say well keep quiet as he desires and let the sioux do the same. The herd is still sore on account of your son. Thats what i was talking about before. As part of this french expansion of the interior, this movement of trading relationships, some french people dont come back. Its a dangerous operation. What makes it great to be a man dant or visit the man dant . They have an impressive fortification and theyre expert traders. Absolutely. You go to the man dan, you dont find a bunch of tents. You dont find a kind of paltry settlement. You see a big town with permanent buildings with fortifications, with a moat, a big moat. I cant remember the exact dimensions but it sounds like something formidable to deal with. Its sort of impressive physically. What is the basis for this town . What establishes its position on the Northern Plains . What does it have to offer . You can kind of figure, if some people live by hunting buffalo, for example, primarily and other people spend a lot of time growing corn, what might be a basis of exchange . Yes. Buffalo for corn . Thats one thing. You can imagine the sort of exchange of Agricultural Products for animal products which we saw in new mexico in the 1700s. If you have a nice town with nice houses and you spend a lot of time in those houses, especially in winters in north dakota and south dakota, what can you do with your spare time in your rich, agricultural village on the upper missouri with your buffalo hides that you traded for and other things . Yes . You can work with it, you can create clothing and other goods . Absolutely. The man dan is also kind of a manufacturing center. They make baskets, things like clothing. They make all kinds of goods out of animal products and Agricultural Products which they can then trade with other Northern Plains people who are less sedentary and move around. One of the difficulties of moving around is you dont have time to sit around and make stuff. The man dans are quite good at that. So you could trade. Youve got a nice town. Its well fortified. Are you happy to have people visit . I think so. Its nice to have people trade with you. Maybe you can establish a relationship with the french. When people do visit and again thanksgiving is a good time to talk about this. When people show up at your village, what do they want to do with your corn . What are your obligations as a host . They need to feed them but they dont want them to eat it all. Thats right. The roaming people from the plains, when they show up as guests, they get to eat a lot of the man dan corn. Does this remind you of anything from way, way back in the course . The large group of texas indians were going to the towns and eating the corn. Im not entirely sure what to make of this but this idea of folks moving around on the plains, europeans who serve as the center of attraction, that provides an entree to a village where you can eat which seems to be a quite significant factor. If the man dan are worried that a group are eating too much of their corn, what do the man dan say to them . This will give you a sense of the plains. The sioux are coming to attack . Exactly. For some reason theyre the butt of all the jokes. I think the man dan look down on them. I think the french do as well. Theyre worried about the sioux. What does that tell you about these Different Things . We talked about trade and thats one thing that makes the man dan a prosperous village. Theyre kind of a Trading Center for the Northern Plains. All you have to do is say the sioux are over there and the visitor will run away. What does this say about life on the Northern Plains . Its complex and there are different diplomatic relationships and understandings between the groups saying i want you to do this in return for this, a high level of interaction that you otherwise wouldnt expect. Thats right. Theres economic relationships, violent relationships, relationships that change regularly. Theres a lot going on. You can see how for someone like la varn dree just trying to figure out how this works, and its not so easy and thats part of the difficulties the french have when they get into the Northern Plains is trying to understand all these relationships, many of which are changing rapidly. If the french are interested in finding europeans or what they would call civilized people in the west, do they find them . Like, yeah, this is what i was looking for. They dont sound that excited. He had heard rumors that there was a europeanlike people on the Northern Plains and he feels a bit disappointed. What reports does he get do the man dan talk about any other groups on the plains who might be european style . For example, on page 301 in the left hand column talks about the groups built their forts and lodges. You could not see the land on the other side. The water was not drinkable. All the land was inhabtd by people who worked in iron. The word iron seems to be applied to all metals. Those people i was told never went on foot but horse back. You could not kill any of these men with gun because they had armor. Bucklers bright and fought with lancers and sables that they handled with great skill. Who are we talking about . Its most likely an account of the spanish in new mexico which has made its way to the north, or there may be some sort of mixing of categories. There are indians associated with new mexico who have spanish weaponry and wide horses. And there are other indian groups adopting horses. But i think probably the root of this is the account of the spanish. What does that tell you about Information Networks on the Northern Plains . Everybody hides in the village and never talks . Is Movement Restricted . New mexico is a long way from south dakota and north dakota. If the man dan can talk about the spanish, that would suggest that information seems to be moving on the plains. What would facilitate the spread of information on the plains possibly in the 1700s . Conceivably horses are moving information more quickly although its possible that people are terrified by horse peoples that information is moving less rapidly but it raises the question. Its most likely that some folks are moving things like information and trading goods longer distances. Lets shift a little bit to new mexico in 1754. The governor is writing a report saying if you want to be governor of new mexico this is what you need to do. This kind of flows from what we talked about earlier. Whats the big problem if youre governor of new mexico . What keeps you up at night . Practically answers itself. Yes . Revolt . Potentially. Also attacks from the indians outside the colony. What might make a revolt of the pueblo indians in new mexico less likely in the 18th century maybe than had been in the 17th century . Because theyve already very brutally put one down to dissuade people from doing it again. Theres that unfortunate experience with the previous rebelli rebellion. New mexico which has both indian and spanish is surrounded by people who are potentially trading partners but potentially dangers to the settled inhabitants of new mexico. Lets get a sense of this. So who are some of names, some of the groups of indians that they talk about . For example, on page 303 in the left column, apaches, comanches, utes, one after another. When he talks about the settlements of this province, new mexico to the north, the population is driven out with the loss of positions of many of their lives. Is new mexico a stable colony, no. There are certain areas in the northern parts of new mexico which are in danger of being essentially wiped out by the kind of raid we talked about. Its not just that the comanches have horses but groups like the utes have also adopted horses and had an alliance with the comanches. So the conservation of this nation and the rest of its tribes is one of the dpraetest consideration because of the favorable results that it brings to this province. Whats he done . If you cant beat them, yeah, alie with them. You have a group like the utes who are capable of ravaging northern parts of new mexico. The thing to do is establish an alliance with them. Take the people who are raiding your settlements and make them your friends. Thats one strategy. Its find allies among the people who are most dangerous to you. Is the relationship between new mexico and the surrounding indians on the plains for example always one of hostility . You got to know the answer to this. It is not. Sometimes there are these sort of trade fairs where groups like the comanches will come in and utes will come down from the mountains. If youre the governor of new mexico and you have hundreds of groups of indians coming together in these big trade fairs, what might you as a governor want to do to make sure this works out nicely . Whats the danger when you bring together hundreds of people from different ethnic groups, many of whom are armed and they have horses and theyre involved in economic relationships where theres sometimes a danger that there will be a little trickery and fraud and deceit. Remember what happened with some of the gifts . They had that big bag and what happened . Somebody stole the bag of goodies. Hes like santa claus losing the toy bag. What can happen when people bring lots of stuff to exchange . What are the dangers . Theft, violence and fraud. Exactly. Business. Its all the things that happen today. Theres a danger when you get all these people together youre going to have people stealing each others stuff, people trying to cheat each other and getting very angry about it afterwards. Youre going to have theft, fraud, what was the other one . Violence. Youre going to have people who didnt like each other last year who are suddenly staring at each other across a field outside of santa fe. Theres a danger of violence between all these groups. What do you do as the governor of new mexico to keep a lid on all this . Youve got troops in santa fe. Theyre not huge but you have a presence. If you want to do a business deal today, what precedes the business deal today . Wine and dine them, give them some gifts. Exactly. You wine and dine, share a smoke together, which you dont do now. At the time you would smoke pipes together and establish that this is kind of a friendly relationship. You reassure one another. As governor of new mexico can you walk out and say, inferior barbarian savages, bow down before me. Good strategy . Very bad strategy. What do you do instead . What would you do today . Im glad to see you. Hows the horse, the wives. You got to be polite and not condescending and not let on what they actually feel. You need to have good manners with people who are numerous and heavily armed. Whats the danger if you see that the spanish are aligned with the utes, you have an occasional relationship with the comanches, what would be the end of new mexico . Just think about it. Youre surrounded by different indian nations. What would cause the end of new mexico . If they all allied together. Exactly. You want to be on good terms with lots of these folks, you definitely dont want to be on bad terms with all of them. Theres not that many spanish in new mexico. The nightmare would be if all the surrounding indians simultaneously were hostile to new mexico. You cant defend yourself against that many people. You want to have trading fairs where its profitable to act peacefully, but sometimes people are just they just wont listen to reason. What do you have to do then . The comanches, for example. He talks about youve got to chase the page 304. The tribe is equally pacific and maintains an example of good faith. I have observed with them the greatest equity and kindness and made them understand the authority of our arms and they were excessively arrogant from dominating the rest of the tribes. What do you got to do . Attack them to show yeah. You got to be polite. You have to show from time to time that you are formidable. Occasionally the spanish will be sort of called upon to go out and humble one of these indian nations. They think of the comanches as the most elevated in their sense of themselves in part because the comanches are dominating the area between new mexico and texas and they feel like the lords of the Southern Plains because theyre kind of the lords of the Southern Plains. If you want to have peace with the utes, ideally you would like to keep things 125istable with comanches. Who would you like to concentrate your attention on . If you want to make peace with everybody except one group, whos the one group you want to get rid of your other enemies or stabilize the relationship your enemies so theres one group of people you can go after. If you only knew five indian nations from your extensive watching of western movies when you were growing up which i know doesnt happen with your generation. Yeah . Yes, the attapacheapaches. They were on the Southern Plains and theyve moved into areas south of new mexico into northern mexico. They are conducting extensive raid on spanish settlements. Lets make peace with everybody else and go after these guys. Lets attack the apaches and end these raid not just on new mexico but other spanish settlements in what is now northern mexico. What makes it so difficult to defend new mexico and the other spanish settlements . Whats the strategic difficulty . Sam . Yeah, its a big place. Its a large colony. Its thinly settled so its not especially densely populated. Youve got a large area with a lot of outlying ranches and small villages and so forth. Whats the great danger for a Spanish Ranch for example in the 1750s . The apaches could show up to your house, burn it down, do a little dance and leave long before anybody even realized what was happening. Exactly. The great problem is theres no way the spanish cant keep a military force in every ranch in new mexico. Theyve got these disbursed settlements and theyre highly vulnerable. The apaches can attack an outlying settlement and the spanish cant do that much about it. On 308 talking about the people of new mexico, because of their extreme poverty they are worthy of compassion. Their small houses which consist of a few horses, cattle and sheep are exposed to the attacks of the barbarians. It can be guarded by scouts continually and impede the enemy from getting access. The enemy never comes in large numbers but small parties to hide their trail and prevent their discovery. It talks about albuquerque later. The settlers wish to have a soldier for every cow and horse they pasture so they have nothing to worry about. Ive tried to accustom the idea that each one should take care of the defense of his own hacienda. So whats the solution . Youre on your own. So the solution is you got flying parties who try to guard the access routes to the settlements, mountain passes and so forth. That doesnt always work. Then the other thing is, well, good luck. Just imagine hypothetically for some reason youre in mexico city and it comes into your mind, i need to immigrate, go someplace else, how about new mexico. Doesnt seem like it would be that appealing if the basic message is, you can work this out on your own. So you see the dangers of new mexico. Now im going to hand back the papers. With the senate in its august break, well feature book tv programming weeknights in primetime on cspan 2 starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. For the weekends here are a few book tv special programs. Saturday were live from jackson, mississippi for the book festival, beginning at 11 30 a. M. Eastern with discussions on harpy lee, civil rights and the civil war. On saturday september 5th were live from our nations capitol fr for the National Book festival, followed by our program with the former first lady lynn cheney. Book tv on cspan 2, television for serious readers. On january 26, 1915, president wid droe wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park act, creating a park which 100 years later spans 415 square miles in North Central colorado. Up next on American History tv, author James Pickering exams naturalist e nis mills involvement in the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park. He talks about the legislative process and opposition to establishing the 10th National Park. Hosted by history colorado, this event marking the centennial of the park is a little over an hour. On january the 26th of 1915, 100 years ago, president Widrow Wilson signed the legislation rating the Rocky Mountain National Park. Five days earlier on january 20th, with the enabling legislation finally through congress, the cartoon on the screen behind me appeared in the denver post
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