Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are a North American Indian people who originally settled along the Tennessee River in the area of today's US states Mississippi , Alabama and Tennessee and are part of the cultural area of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States . The name " Chickasaw " comes from " chikasha " and means either "rebel" or "from Chicsa".
The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is the thirteenth largest federally recognized tribe in the United States with around 38,000 tribal members today . There is also the Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People , who were officially recognized by the State of South Carolina as a Native American Indian Group (not to be confused with a state recognized tribe ) in summer 2005 .
Both linguistically and culturally they are closely related to the Choctaw (Chahta) , because both languages - the Chickasaw (Chikashshanompa ') and Choctaw (Chahta Anumpa) - make up the so-called Western Maskoki of the Muskogee (Maskoki) language family .
In the 19th century both - along with the Muskogee (Maskoki) , Seminoles and Cherokee (Tsalagi) - were known as one of the Five Civilized Nations because they carried out a variety of cultural and technological "practices" through - often forced or self-defensive - Assimilation and acculturation had been adopted by Europeans. This, however, just as little protected them as the other four peoples from being forcibly expelled on the trail of tears into the newly defined Indian territory , today's Oklahoma , during the era of Indian resettlement under pressure from the US Army .
history
The origin of the Chickasaw is uncertain. When first described by the Europeans, the Chickasaw lived in villages in what is now Mississippi and West Tennessee , with a smaller number in South Carolina . They likely immigrated to this area and may not have been the descendants of the prehistoric Indians of the Mississippi culture .
The Chickasaw had a reputation for being brave and strong warriors. Their warlike culture can be compared to that of the ancient Spartans . The Europeans first contact with the Chickasaw was in 1540, when the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto described them. After several misunderstandings, the Chickasaw attacked the De Sotos expedition and the Spaniard moved on.
The Chickasaw began trading with the British after the Carolina colony was established in 1670. Armed by the British, the Chickasaw ambushed, captured and sold their enemies, the Choctaw, and sold them into slavery, a practice that did not end until the Choctaw, in turn, received weapons from the French. The Chickasaw often fought the French and Choctaw in the 18th century, for example at the Battle of Ackia in May 1736 until France gave up its territories in the region after the Seven Years War .
The majority of the tribe were deported to Indian territory during the Indian resettlement in the 1830s (headquarters in what is now Ada, Oklahoma ). Members of the South Carolina Chickasaw, also known as Chaloklowa Chickasaw , organized a tribal government and were officially recognized by the State of South Carolina in the summer of 2005 (Headquarters in Indiantown, South Carolina ).
During the American Civil War , the Chickasaw Nation was allied with the Southerners and was the last Confederate community to surrender to US forces.
The capital of the Chickasaw Nation was Tishomingo (Oklahoma) from 1855 to 1907 . The third main building was used as the Johnston County's courthouse until recently, when it was reclaimed by the Chickasaw Nation. The current main building was built from red granite in the Victorian Gothic style and is located in Ada.
Culture
Like many indigenous peoples, the Chickasaw had a dual organization and traditionally divided their villages and their entire society into two matrilineal moieties (lineages) - the "Impsaktea" and the "Intcutwalipa" - each of which referred to an ancestral mother and thus a common blood relationship , so that the Chickasaw traced back to two ( fabulous ) ancestral mothers separately . Since marriages were not allowed in "relatives" were marriages not within, but only between the two moieties allowed ( exogamy to a cousin marriage should be avoided). The membership in the respective moiety was also hereditary and unchangeable, so you still belonged to your own moiety even after the marriage.
“Pashofa”, broken white dry corn cooked with pork , is a main course that is still eaten. Pigs are not part of the original fauna of America; however, some specimens escaped from De Soto's expedition and went wild.
The suffix "-mingo" is used to denote the chiefhood. For example, "Tishomingo" was the name of a famous Chickasaw chief . The city of Tishomingo, Mississippi, and Tishomingo County were named after him. The Black Mingo Creek in South Carolina was named after a colonial Chickasaw chief who controlled the area as a kind of hunting ground. Sometimes it is written “minko”, which is usually a reference to older literary references.
Known Chickasaw
- Bill Anoatubby , Governor of the Chickasaw Nation since 1987
- Molly Culver , actress
- Tom Cole , Republican Congressman for Oklahoma
- John Herrington , NASA astronaut, first Native American in space
- Linda Hogan , writer
- Rodd Redwing , actor
- Fred Waite , cowboy
- Wahoo McDaniel , wrestler and footballer
- Julia Jones , model and actress
See also
literature
- Colin G. Calloway: The American Revolution in Indian Country . Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Individual evidence
- ↑ South Carolina Native American Indian Entities - State Recognized Groups ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Official site of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma (English)
- "Chickasaws: The Unconquerable People" (English)
- History of Chickasaw (English)
- Tishomingo (English)