The Good Berry: A Wild Rice Domestication TL

[twovultures]

Regarding gendered work, how involved are women in paddy agriculture? IOTL, a lot of the work of maize agriculture was considered women's work, with hunting and fishing more the purview of men. Is wild rice agriculture similarly gendered, or no? And if not, have those different attitudes towards women's work vs. men's work filtered to the maize growers of the south?

 

[PeterEzgo]

Regarding gendered work, how involved are women in paddy agriculture? IOTL, a lot of the work of maize agriculture was considered women's work, with hunting and fishing more the purview of men. Is wild rice agriculture similarly gendered, or no? And if not, have those different attitudes towards women's work vs. men's work filtered to the maize growers of the south?

From Chapter 5: Year on the Turtle's Back:

While most agricultural work was done by women, the entire community would come together and work from sunup to sundown for weeks in order to bring the harvest in.

Women do the every day hum drum work of weeding and such. Planting and harvesting (and digging irrigation ditches) are bigger jobs that require the whole community, both men and women. As society has gone fully agricultural, more farm work is done by men. But that's really only because as communities expand and drive away animals, there are fewer opportunities for hunting and fishing.

Maize agriculture is less communal than rice agriculture and its more likely to be done on homesteads rather than in villages. So, maize is probably more likely to be farmed by women. On a homestead, there will be lots of opportunities for men to hunt and fish.

 

[Zenevidas]

It's quite unique

 

[PeterEzgo]

Chapter 26: In the Land of War Canoes​

War, trade, and movement across water were very important to the Mishigami and Ziibiing. This should not be surprising as the names for both places translate as “Great Water” and “Place of Rivers”. Water was a dominating feature of life in both places.

There were no sails or sailing ships. This meant that boats either had to be paddled, poled or float on their own. On the Great Lakes boats could easily move back and forth using oars. On rivers, boats went downriver relatively easily but had trouble going back upriver, especially if they were too large.

Small canoes might be owned by an individual but most trading and fighting ships were owned by clans. High ranking clan members were appointed to manage the boat for the good of the clan. Profits and losses were shared equally amongst clan members. A ship captain would not expect their orders to be obeyed without question. Instead, his (and it was almost always “his”) crew was expected to operate independently without much need for oversight.

Dugout canoes used a single log that was burnt out and carved into the rough shape of a boat. It was said that to make a dugout canoe that you should take a tree and “remove all the parts that do not look like a canoe”. They were generally larger, heavier, and more stable than other boats.

Canoes might also be constructed from multiple pieces of wood and other materials. These were categorized into three types: large, medium, and small. The largest was called a rabaska. They were more than 30 feet long, 5 feet wide and carried a crew of ten or more as well as plenty of cargo. A rabaska could not easily traverse rapids and needed deeper water to avoid damaging the hull. A medium sized canoe was called a gizhiibide. It was around fifteen feet long, two and half feet wide, and carried a crew of two or three. It was quicker but carried much less than the rabaska. The smallest canoe was called a jiimaan. It fit only one or two people and little cargo but was very maneuverable. The deepest rivers and the Great Lakes had the largest ships.

Canoe construction[1]​

Birch bark was the preferred skin of a multiple piece canoe as it was light weight, waterproof, and strong. Ash or cedar was preferred to make the structure and interior lining due to the wood’s pliability and strength. The frame was made and then the bark skin placed over it. The canoe was then sewn together with rope. Spruce sap glue was used to plug any holes and to ensure the pieces stayed together. Other types of trees were used when these was not available. Many clans maintained special forests to grow and harvest the material for the building of canoes.

Flat bottom barges made by quickly strapping together sets of logs were used to carry large volumes of trade goods. They were much larger than canoes but they were typically too large to row back up river though this depended on the flow rate of the river and size of the barge. This limited trade, especially in the Ziibiing. In some cities many houses were built using the remains of barges that had sailed downriver with valuable cargo and then been abandoned.

There are some places that boats cannot easily travel. They are generally places between watersheds or where rivers have rocks or rapids. Trade towns often formed in these areas and merchants would often unload and sell their cargo. Where this was either not possible or not profitable, boats were sometimes carried overland to the next body of water in order to continue the journey. This is called portage. If their boat was small enough, the crew could simply carry the canoe either on their backs or using their oars as handholds. If their boats were not small, other methods would be used.

Large canoes had holes drilled above the water line to place ropes through. Greased logs were laid in a path. Then, strong men and/or wapiti would pull boat and cargo. Wapiti pulling a boat on greased logs that spun as they moved may have been the inspiration for the invention of the wheeled cart, though that is still some way into the future.

The harness before the wheel[2]​

Similarly, some rivers and canals used what are called towpaths. These are roads or paths built beside the river. Wapiti elk or people would walk on the path, pulling the boat upriver behind them. Portage and tow paths were the first systematic use of wapiti elk teams for labor. A team of powerful wapiti could pull all but the largest barges along a canal or upriver to their destination.

As people used rivers, canals, and lakes for transportation so they were also used for war. We already spoke briefly of how some zhimaaganish warriors used sharpened oars when travelling by canoe. During the classical period, some city-states began requiring trade clans to operate their boats during times of war as a form of tax.

Commanders would utilize awnings on their boats both in order to mark themselves out during the chaos of battle. Barges were used to transport levies to the fight. Smaller, more maneuverable canoes would paddle beside them, offering a level of protection from quick raiders. Archers on the barges would also use their arrows to repel any enemy attacks or to drive away defenders when landing on the shore. Some stone throwers carried “canoe breakers”, heavy stones meant to break the hulls of enemy vessels.

A fleet of warships[3]​

We have also already spoken of how chains of logs were used to stop boat traffic at checkpoints. There were three ways of circumventing these chains. The first was to take an alternate route, either over water or over land, to avoid them. This was not always possible or desirable. The second was to land troops on the shore and take control of the chain’s anchor points on land. As this became more common, defenders built small fortresses to protect the anchor points and rope. The third way was to ram the chain, breaking it.

Ramming was risky and therefore was only done when a landing could not be made. There were specially made ramming boats, called bitaakoshin. Bitaakoshin had rams on the front. These rams were made of fire hardened wood or metal such as copper or lead. The rams were sometimes shaped like the heads of clan animals.

Bitaakoshin were narrow, in order to make them swifter in the water. The crew was made of rowers, archers, and marines. The archers, stone throwers, and marines were only to protect the rowers and stop other boats from getting too near.

When ready, dozens of rowers would begin to row in unison. A drummer on the back of the boat would set the pace, increasing the beat as they came near their target. Then they would hit the chain of logs. Sometimes the bitaakoshin was destroyed, sometimes the chain was. In any case, the chains would slow down the attacking fleet and perhaps provide enough time for a warning.

A Bitaakoshin war galley[4]​

Bitaakoshin war galleys might also be turned on canoes. Duels between bitaakoshin, where the ships tried to ram each other without being rammed themselves, were usually only possible in the very largest rivers or on the Great Lakes. Ramming was usually aimed at damaging the oars and the crew, not the boats themselves. Once the two boats hit each other, brutal hand to hand fighting would ensue.

Some states, like the Three Waters Confederacy, maintained fleets of hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors. Others might have only a few or no permanent war ships, relying on converted civilian ships for defense.

Next time, we will discuss the land of Chitti and the Mishi River delta region.

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[1] Taken from: https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e124a2c2-479c-46e9-a471-ac955b6338de.jpg
[2] Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towpath#/media/File:Trekkers_van_vrachtschip_Towing_a_ship.jpg
[3] Taken from: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A64PK3/he...ief-aquixo-and-his-native-american-A64PK3.jpg Ignore Hernando De Soto in the foreground
[4] Taken from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Burmese_war-boat_-_ILN_1852-0327-0004.jpg Actually a Burmese war galley

Comments? Questions?

 

[Zenevidas]

Do they have naval sieges

 

[PeterEzgo]

Do they have naval sieges

Like a blockade? Sure, I guess but they'd be pretty rare. Sieges in general are rare in North America. They don't have wheeled carts to carry supplies long distances or horses for cavalry to ride around gathering/stealing supplies. That means its hard to resupply an army the further it gets from home. The defenders have a pretty big advantage in a siege.

 

[goodol' turan]

@PeterEzgo Do they have any high-yielding varieties of Zizania rice yet? For example, do they have two harvests per year, or plant rice; and then rotate it with corn in the same year? Because that would have radical implications on the population increases of the Mishigami and Ziibiing.

 

[PeterEzgo]

Do they have any high-yielding varieties of Zizania rice yet? For example, do they have two harvests per year, or plant rice; and then rotate it with corn in the same year? Because that would have radical implications on the population increases of the Mishigami and Ziibiing.

They do have winter crops, like Little Barley and Maygrass. But I don't think the Great Lakes Region has enough growing season to support two crops of wild rice. And further south, zizania is less well suited (and therefore lower yielding). At the moment, I think they are sticking with one crop per year.

 

[Johannes Parisiensis]

Not surprised to see a civilization near a major lake to have so much advanded shipbuilding. Might be interesting to see how south they might go on the Mississippi and if bigger ships might become necessary if there's more and more people and goods travelling.

 

[PeterEzgo]

Chapter 27: The Land of the Living and the Dead​

The Mishi River meets the Gulf of Chitti at a delta. This means, in effect, the Mishi River splits into multiple smaller rivers, called Bayouk [Bayous]. Which of these Bayouk is the primary outflow of the Mishi has changed throughout the years. Water flows downhill and will prefer the swiftest route downhill. However, the swiftest route downhill has changed repeatedly over time due to sea level changes and sediment deposits.

Deltas of the Mishi River; Purple is the Delta created by the Bayouk Macha[1]​

The first outflows were in the west (orange and dark green in the picture). Then, it turned east as sea levels rose at the end of the ice age (pale green), and then turned south (purple) after the creation of Lake Okwata [Lake Pontchartrain]. Later it would turn back east (grey and beige). That is where it is today.

During the classical period, Bayouk Macha [Lafourche Bayou] in the center (purple) was the primary outflow of the Mishi River. It was here that the city of Macha [Thibodaux, LA] was built. During the classical period, it was the greatest and largest city of the land of Chitti.

At the height of the Kingdom of Macha, it stretched from Calcasieu [Lake Charles, LA] in the west to Biloxi [Biloxi, MS] in the east and from Itihumma [Baton Rouge, LA] in the north to the Gulf of Chitti [Gulf of Mexico] in the south.

The physical territory that Macha controlled was dwarfed by its indirect power over trade. The land of Chitti forms a key hub in trade between Meso-Minisia and the Mishigami. By controlling the Bayouk Macha, the city of Macha controlled all trade on it. Most of the city’s buildings were made from barges that had sailed down the Mishi carrying precious trade goods and been abandoned by merchants who could not take their barges back upriver.

As it grew in power, Macha also started asserting control over the coastal shipping trade. Shipping over the open sea was dangerous. Most did not dare to do so. Instead, merchant shipping hugged the coast, often hiding behind the many barrier islands that Minisia has. As Macha gained control over the coast so Macha gained control over the coastal shipping. So long as it sat at the nexus point of these two powerful trade networks, Macha would be powerful.

This did not mean Macha was without industry of its own. It was famous for the quality of its pottery and linens. It also produced large harvests of manoomin and maize. The production and consumption of crayfish in Chitti outstripped all other regions combined. Macha was so wealthy and powerful, many of those in the Mishigami had heard of it. In fact, when the Menominee of the Mishigami referred to Chitti they called it Aki Ashaageshiinh which means the Land of the Crayfish.

Most people in Chitti spoke a Tunica language, closely related to the one spoken by their neighbors in the Tunica Empire. The kingdom of Macha was friendly with the Tunica Empire. There are surviving examples of diplomatic correspondence between the Great Sun of the Tunica Empire and the King of Macha, each calling the other “brother”.

At its height, Macha had as many wajiw as any city in the Ziibiing. Its largest was the Temple of the Living and the Dead. This was both the palace of the King of Macha as well as the primary temple of the city. The priests who served the temple were marked by the tattoo of a skull on their face.

Modern Priest of the Living and the Dead[2]​

The King of Macha was called Lord of the Living and the Dead. The king was supposed to be the reincarnation of all previous kings. Ancestor worship was an important part of Macha religion.

Human sacrifice was more important in Chitti than in most of the Ziibiing or Mishigami. Like in the Tunica Empire, ritual cannibalism was used to ceremonially increase the strength of the royalty and nobility. Sacrificed slaves were said to serve their masters in the afterlife. Some wajiw contain thousands of them. It is said the Wajiw of the Living and the Dead contains tens of thousands, though no modern archeological survey has been allowed.

Let’s discuss the major cities of the Kingdom of Macha and the Natchez:



Name: Natchez

Population: Medium

Ethnic Majority: Natchez

Ruling Doodem: Uvsel (“sun”)

Type: Kingdom

Natchez [Natchez, MS] was the capital and largest city of the Natchez kingdom. Like the Tunica Emperor, the ruler of the Natchez was called the Great Sun. It is unknown which group used the title first. The Natchez kingdom was relatively small and weak compared to the more populous and powerful Tunica Empire and Kingdom of Macha. It survived by playing both sides off each other. Neither the Tunica Empire nor the Kingdom of Macha wanted the other to control the Natchez and would support the Natchez if the other invaded. In any case, the Natchez were quite poor and it was not generally considered worth it to send armies into their territory. The largest exports from Natchez were cotton and catfish.



Name: Biloxi

Population: Small

Ethnic Majority: Siouan

Ruling Doodem: Asaha (“white”)

Type: Tributary

Biloxi [Biloxi, MS] is named after its principal inhabitants, the Biloxi, who were a Siouan people that made a living off the coastal trade. The Kingdom of Macha dominated their city state, forcing them to pay tribute.



Name: Macha

Population: Large

Ethnic Majority: Tunica

Ruling Doodem: Esintahki (“skull”)

Type: Kingdom

Macha [Thibodaux, LA] was the capital and largest city of the kingdom of Macha. It is described in more detail above.



Name: Itihumma (“The Red Stick”)

Population: Medium

Ethnic Majority: Tunica

Ruling Doodem: Mili (“red”)

Type: Tributary

Itihumma [Baton Rogue, LA] is named after the kisewa pole painted red that lies at the center of its religious festivals. It controlled much of the trade that flowed up and down the Mishi River.



Next time, we will discuss the lives of the nobility in the Mishigami and Ziibiing. But first, a supplemental on the numeral system.

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[1] Modified from: https://html.scirp.org/file/1-1660723x3.png
[2] Taken from: https://otwstatgraf.s3.amazonaws.com/skull-face-tattoo-lg.jpg

Comments? Questions?

 

[Zenevidas]

Do the Nahua still exist

 

[PeterEzgo]

Do the Nahua still exist

Yes but they are way to the south. We will get to Mesoamerica eventually but not for quite a while I think.

 

[PeterEzgo]

Supplemental: Numbers and Numerals​

The development of numerals began in the Mishigami at the same time as proto-writing. By the late classical period, a consistent system was common throughout the Mishigami and Ziibiing.

Like many languages, Anishinaabe uses a base ten system for counting. This means that numbers were put into groups the size of powers of ten (so 10, 100, 1000, 10000, and so on) just like Hindu-Arabic numerals. The Anishinaabe word for eleven translates literally as “one-and-ten”; the word for twelve as “two-and-ten” and so on.

Suffixes were used to mark the words for twenty, thirty and so on. So, the word for twenty looks like “two-(ten suffix)”. The numbers between were said equivalent to “three and twenty”. A different suffix was used to mark hundreds. So the word for four hundred look likes “four-(hundred suffix)”. Like in English, thousands were simply the words for the number and then the word for a group of a thousand.

Like many early numeral systems, the Anishinaabe numeral system was additive. This means that each symbol represented an amount and you would add each amount together to get the full number. The only exception to this was the strikethrough, which multiplied whatever symbol was struck through by ten. These are the basic symbols:

Quantities were read right to left (just like the writing and the opposite of the English language), with the smallest amount first and then the next largest and so on. Groups of the same symbol would be written in patterns. Three symbols would form a pyramid. Four would form a square. For example, the quantity three-and-forty-and-one-hundred (143) would be written:

The quantity 2654 could be written:

This adds to (4+50+100+50*10+200*10) = 2654.

This is not the only way 2654 could be written. Here is another way:

This adds to (4+50+600+200*10).

This kind of ambiguity, where numbers can be written in multiple ways, is common among early numeral systems. Traditionally, you should write any numeral with as few symbols are possible and you should avoid writing more than four of the same symbol if possible.

In general, the Anishinaabe numeral system was adequate for its intended purpose which was to track warehouse and granary inventory. It struggled with large numbers and could be ambiguous. There were regional variations throughout the classical period but the symbols we have talked about were the most common.

Most surviving examples of classical era numerals are found on pottery. The marks would show how much was stored in the vessel. A pictograph on the pottery was then used to identify the contents. Later, phonetic writing was used to label the content of pots.

Next time, we will discuss the lives of the nobility in the Mishigami and Ziibiing.

 

[spkaca]

There were no sails or sailing ships.

I wondered about this. Why not? Do they lack suitable textiles? The military advantage alone (thinking in terms of logistics as much as direct use in combat) would surely spur their development.

 

[PeterEzgo]

I wondered about this. Why not? Do they lack suitable textiles? The military advantage alone (thinking in terms of logistics as much as direct use in combat) would surely spur their development.

Couple of reasons

1) They did not develop sails IOTL. Even Mesoamerica and Andean cultures mostly lacked sails. (There is some controversy about whether Andean cultures had sails before Columbus. I'm inclined to think they probably did, but not much before.)

2) Sails aren't as big of an advantage on rivers or the great lakes. European voyageurs mostly didn't use sails when transporting furs from Duluth to Montreal, even though they obviously had access to and expertise with that technology. The only way sails are useful on rivers (especially with primitive sails) is if the wind is always blowing upriver. Otherwise, oars and poles are better. On the great lakes, the wind blows a lot and kind of randomly. So sails just aren't as useful. They'd still probably be useful if they were already around but not so useful as to be invented there, if you get my meaning.

3) Textiles would be expensive. I don't think fur is suitable. Cotton can't be grown that far north and has to be imported from the southeast. Their only wool growing animal is the dog and dog wool production is going to be fairly limited. They have linen made from Lewis flax but that's rather thin as well. Plus, the winters are bitterly cold that far north. They are going to use all the cloth they have to make clothes. Not a lot left over with to experiment on.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Copper swords and armor were for rich men.

Copper swords are amazingly unlikely. AFAIK there's not a single culture that used copper swords iOTL.
Bronze (early ones arsenical bronze) are what the earliest swords were made of.

 

[piratedude]

Copper swords are amazingly unlikely. AFAIK there's not a single culture that used copper swords iOTL.
Bronze (early ones arsenical bronze) are what the earliest swords were made of.

Maybe they could be like langseax, something that most Europeans would consider more like a particularly long knife or dagger instead of a sword

 

[PeterEzgo]

Copper swords are amazingly unlikely. AFAIK there's not a single culture that used copper swords iOTL.
Bronze (early ones arsenical bronze) are what the earliest swords were made of.

There were definitely copper daggers and axes. I imagine a copper sword would look more like a macuahuitl but with copper instead of obsidian rather than a solid metal sword.

In any case, they are more ceremonial and meant to be seen rather than used for practical fighting.

 

[spkaca]

Couple of reasons

1) They did not develop sails IOTL. Even Mesoamerica and Andean cultures mostly lacked sails. (There is some controversy about whether Andean cultures had sails before Columbus. I'm inclined to think they probably did, but not much before.)

2) Sails aren't as big of an advantage on rivers or the great lakes. European voyageurs mostly didn't use sails when transporting furs from Duluth to Montreal, even though they obviously had access to and expertise with that technology. The only way sails are useful on rivers (especially with primitive sails) is if the wind is always blowing upriver. Otherwise, oars and poles are better. On the great lakes, the wind blows a lot and kind of randomly. So sails just aren't as useful. They'd still probably be useful if they were already around but not so useful as to be invented there, if you get my meaning.

3) Textiles would be expensive. I don't think fur is suitable. Cotton can't be grown that far north and has to be imported from the southeast. Their only wool growing animal is the dog and dog wool production is going to be fairly limited. They have linen made from Lewis flax but that's rather thin as well. Plus, the winters are bitterly cold that far north. They are going to use all the cloth they have to make clothes. Not a lot left over with to experiment on.

Many thanks for a great answer. Just one remaining quibble though: what about the sea coasts? I am just very attracted to the idea of e.g. alt-John Cabot or Erik the Red being met out at sea by a fleet of sailing ships.

 

[PeterEzgo]

Many thanks for a great answer. Just one remaining quibble though: what about the sea coasts? I am just very attracted to the idea of e.g. alt-John Cabot or Erik the Red being met out at sea by a fleet of sailing ships.

You won't be disappointed, I promise. Having said that, canoes are fine along the sea coast. Its just sailing out into the open ocean that sails really start to have a big advantage. And right now there isn't much of that.