3min chapter

Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong cover image

History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 17: The Hiawatha Belt

Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

CHAPTER

The Hodonoshoni - The Native Peoples of North America

The hodnoshoni were a confederation of Native Americans. They engaged in strategic trade, diplomacy and intermarriage with europeans. And they maintained their political position partly by playing the british and the french off against one another. It was able to hold up effectively against european onslaught.

00:00
Speaker 1
It was able to hold up effectively against european onslaught, despite large demographic losses to disease, which the hodonoshoni suffered, just like all other native peoples. None the less, they were able to hold their ground, especially in that kind of corps area that's now up state new york. And the confederation engaged in strategic trade, diplomacy and intermarriage with europeans, especially with the french. And they sometimes were seen as kind of junior partners in diplomatic relationships but they were never subjugated, all the way up the eighteenth century. And they maintained their political position partly by playing the british and the french off against one another. So the british, by the early 17 hundred the british held most of the atlantic seaboard the hudson valley, while meanwhile, the french still had sway on the saint lawrence. The honoshoni were sort of in between these two expanding empires. And they were able to in play a game of a balance of power, almost like the the same sort of balance of power game that was going on at the same time in europe. And they produced many powerful leaders who could carry a lot of weight in diplomatic relations. And a lot of them were people of mixed ancestry, such as, for instance, the montour family, who were an important family of mixed french, seneca and mohawk ancestry. And in some cases, some of these individuals were very prominent and could kind of manage relations across the civilizational divide. Because the european civilization was patrilinnial, names and status and inheritance came down from the father, whereas the hodenoshoni were matrilenial, one status from the mother. And so there were some individuals, especially because there was a scarcity of european women, some individuals were born of european fathers and indigenous mothers, and hence could borrow the sort of status and prestige of both sides. So that was a phenomenon that happened many times all round north america. But also in among the hodnochon, there were some who were exceptions to this. Like, for example, catherine monteur, who was also called queen catherine, who was very respected by the british, the french and the hodnochoni. She had a mohawk father and a partly european mother. So it it wasn't all just one model. And arguably, the hodnoshoni actually rose to the height of their power in the early 17 hundreds.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode