The Good Berry: A Wild Rice Domestication TL
- Thread starter PeterEzgo
- Start date
1) To be different. Writing the same way as English is too boring. I wanted to make something fun.
2) Writing was developed by scratching symbols into birch bark. Meaning, there is no smudging of ink if you put your hand on what you've written. (A problem for right handed people when writing RTL and for left handed people when writing LTR).
3) If you look at OTL wiigwaasabak, they appear to be mostly RTL.
Example:
Taken from: https://decolonialatlas.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/red-sky-migration-chart.jpg
This shows the migration of the Anishinaabe from the Atlantic Ocean to where they were when Europeans arrived. Note that it "starts" on the right withe Atlantic ocean and ends on the left with Leech Lake. I also linked a video about modern youth learning wiigwaasabak back in the chapter about Mowin Syllabics. Most of those were written RTL as well.
I doubt there was a RTL requirement IOTL but it sees to have been more common, at least as far as I can tell.
Plus, like I said, I wanted to make it different from English.
No that was added later. Wiigwaasabak was used more as a mnemonic device, intended to jog the memory of people who already been told information orally. That's how writing starts.
And will they use wind power in their mills and water pumps, without enough textile?
Do it means they will take whaling? After all, whales have a lot of meat, oil and bones, and even today, there's still native people using small boats to hunt whales, including in North America, although OTL New England Indians didn't take whaling unlike in Oregon-Washington even today.
They don't currently use wheel and axles so the windmill is beyond their capability. And even if they did, its far more likely they'd develop the watermill first.
They won't go whaling for a while at any rate. At least on the east coast.
Chapter 28: Mountain Men
Chapter 28: Mountain Men
The term for the aristocracy of the Mishigami and Ziibiing was “agidajiw”, which literally means “on top of the mountain”. This refers to their living atop wajiw, or platform mounds. This was the defining feature of the Minisian nobility.
The legal status of agidajiw varied by region. In the so-called “rice kingdoms” of the north, the term agidajiw conferred no legal status or privileges. The only title that conferred legal status was dibendaagozi, often translated as citizen. However, most dibendaagozi were not agidajiw. It was also not a requirement that an agidiajiw be a dibendaagozi, although it was rare for them not to be. Nor was it a requirement that officials like an Ogimaa, Sagamos, or Mide be an agidajiw but it was extremely rare for them not to be.
In the so-called “maize kingdoms” of the south, the status of agidajiw was protected and restricted. Only those clans that were already living on wajiw could live there and no new mounds could be built without the permission of the king. There were no dibendaagozi and no elections in the maize kingdoms, only strong men and their lackeys.
We should also not confuse the terms agidajiw, who were the nobility, and zhimaaganish, who were the warrior elite. Most zhimaaganish were not agidajiw. Some agidajiw passed the tests and became zhimaaganish warriors but most did not. Agidajiw generally employed and utilized zhimaaganish. At other times, zhimaaganish warriors were able to leverage their position to accumulate wealth and power to marry into the agidajiw clans or even construct wajiw of their own but this was rare.
The traditional agidajiw were those who owned and controlled the rice bogs [paddies] where the majority of food was grown. They used the wealth generated by these rice bogs to build large wajiw from which they dictated the lives and laws of the rest of society. They clustered their houses in rammed earth citadels to protect them from enemy attack while leaving the houses of the majority of the populace to be protected by mere wooden palisades.
As maize became more widespread, which lessened the need for the rice bogs, and trade intensified, which lead to the rise of a new class of merchants, those clans who had once dominated society began to weaken.
In Mishigami society, the rich dreamed and schemed to live on wajiw and join the ranks of the agidajiw. You became a member of the agidajw by building or buying a wajiw. This took not only enormous wealth but more importantly time. Clans or individuals who became wealthy in a short period often did not live on wajiw. They might marry the daughters of agidajiw men and marry their daughters off in turn but actually joining their ranks was rare.
Not all agidajiw were rich either. Some impoverished people clung to their ancestral wajiw. They were sometimes able to leverage their status to regain wealth through marriage. In extreme cases, they could sell their wajiw to an up and coming family but this was rare and considered extremely humiliating.
The physical location of a wajiw was also very important. The closer to the wajiw of the Sagamos and his clan, the more prestigious it was. Being inside the citadel was also very important. As we saw in the Tunica Empire, in some places clans that were particularly closely aligned or related to the Sagamos might live directly on the wajiw of the Sagamos. This was also true of other, less powerful clans, who might also have their followers live on the same mound as they did. This was another way for a lesser family to become an agidajiw. In some cases, the “follower” clans living on the wajiw were more powerful than the ancestral clan of the wajiw.
As the number of wajiw expanded throughout the classical period, more and more wajiw were built away from the Sagamos and outside the citadels. In some places, there was increasing pressure to slow or stop the building of wajiw by “unworthy” families who made their wealth through trade rather than through agriculture and land owning.
Each agidajiw clan competed for wealth, titles, and honor. They tried building their wajiw higher and their houses bigger. They pressured each other to display opulent wealth. They competed with each other during the festival of abundance or during elections. They forged trade connections with each other that could last generations. They started feuds with each other that could last centuries.
Many agidajiw men married multiple women. The richest men would marry dozens of women, usually a mix of agidajiw women and lower class women. Non-agidajiw women would have been expected to bring either beauty or wealth to the marriage. By law, no wife was favored above the others but the reality must have been very different. A number of prestigious but impoverished agidajiw clans replenished their coffers through strategic marriage alliances with wealthy merchant clans.
In the Ziibiing and particularly among the Muskogee, agidajiw marked themselves out with artificial cranial deformation. This is where a rope is tightly bound around the head of an infant in order to lengthen and deform the skull. While some people believe that this either enhances or restricts intelligence, it does neither. Although the result can seem strange to modern eyes, it was common among the agidajiw of southeastern Minisia. In the southeast, nobles were sometimes called “round-heads” because of this. Among the Muskogee in particular, agidajiw began wearing turbans over their “round-heads”. Turbans have been independently invented many times throughout human history. In this case, turbans came to be associated with the nobility of the Ziibiing.
In some places, sumptuary laws restricted ostentatious displays of wealth by non-agidajiw. These types of laws were first written in the southeast, where the status of agidajiw was the most restricted and regulated. Although such laws were rare at the beginning of the classical period, by the end of the period most cities had them.
Sumptuary laws restricted the types and colors of cloth worn by non-agidajiw, and how large non-agidajiw houses could be built. They also restricted the display of jade, silver or gold jewelry. The use of obsidian weapons was restricted to the agidajiw and zhimaaganish. Rules surrounding the giving of gifts during the festival of abundance also came into effect. These laws were resented and often flouted by the increasingly rich and powerful merchant class.
Next time, we will discuss the land of the Muskogee and Kusa in southeastern Minisia.
[1] Taken from: http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-miss-evidence-obese-comanche.html
[2] Taken from: https://images.nationalgeographic.o...557/EducationHub/photos/hopewell-ceremony.jpg
[3] Taken from: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/...-F2ZBKGC0L8HRYHXTTCNK/Schädel_der_Chongos.jpg
Comments? Questions?
twovultures
Donor
Was cranial deformation done by the Mississippians IOTL? I know some tribes in the Pacific Northwest and in South America performed it. It definitely makes sense as an innovation ITTL, with your description of the noble class' status anxiety.
I don't think it was widespread but there are a couple of places where it happened. It was a thing for the Choctaw as well.
- Are there any prominent sasquatch-like beings in each tribes' mythology?
- If the Athabascsan migrations to the Southwest are butterflied, will we see a post on the region?
I'm sure such myths are widespread. They are describing a real thing after all.
#teamsasquatchYes they are butterflied. As for an update, its on the list with like a dozen other things.
The tentative (and I do mean tentative) schedule for the rest of the year looks something like this:
10/2: Way Down South (the southeast)
10/5: Supplemental: Father of Lies (biography of the first narrative historian of the Mishigami)
10/9: The Winter and Summer Chronicles (beginnings of narrative history in the Mishigami)
10/16: -Happy Birthday to me- No update this week
10/23: Great White North (northern great plains and the arctic)
10/30: The Winter and Summer Chronicles, Part 2
11/6: The Big Middle (southern great plains)
11/13: The Duel
11/20: The Dawnland (Canadian maritime provinces and New England area)
11/27: -Happy Thanksgiving- No update this week
12/4: The Winter and Summer Chronicles, Part 3
12/11: The Veiled Woman
12/18: Start of the Shawnee Empire
12/25-1/1: -Merry Christmas and Happy New Year- No updates for two weeks
We are finally getting to the more narrative parts of this TL, rather than the more background and world-building stuff so far. But the plan is to alternate the narrative stuff with the descriptions of alternate regions. I do plan on talking about the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and West Coast at some point but it will have to be next year, I think.
The old tale of nobility marrying money.
Will the merchants and the nobles have conflicts, especially if trade becomes more and more important or farming becomes more and more productive? It would have interesting political implications such as traders finally overthrowing the nobility or the traders and the nobility fusing and becoming the Venice ruoling class if cash crops become more and more widespread in a city.
Yes and yes.
I don't know if any city will ever be truly ruled by merchants before Europeans arrive but plenty of merchants will be nobles and have influence.
Chapter 29: Way Down South
Chapter 29: Way Down South
During the classical period, the Muskogee kingdoms of the southeast relied more on maize, cotton, aji [peppers], koha [cane/American bamboo], and Muscadine grapes than any other area. This meant that as these products became increasingly common, domesticated, and/or adapted to the southeast throughout the classical period, the Muskogee kingdoms gained population, prestige, and power. Cotton cloth, aji spices, muscadine wine, and tobacco (all expensive luxury items) were all traded far and wide, making the Muskogee kingdoms rich.
There were many small kingdoms and city-states in the southeast. Most of these polities spoke a Muskogee language and followed similar customs. Unlike the area around the Mishi River, there was no geographic feature which encouraged these city-states to unify into a larger empire. This meant that throughout the classical period, the Muskogee kingdoms remained small and disunited, each vying for power and control over their neighbors.
There is almost no documentation on the Yuchi in this period. They lived in the Wasioto Basin [Nashville Basin] and had fairly large cities. They may even have had their own script. We have almost no evidence of it due to the destruction caused by the Shawnee Empire. We will discuss that later, when we reach it chronologically.
Name: Etowah (“town”)
Population: Large
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Chukotalgi (“panther”)
Type: Kingdom
Etowah or Etowaa [Atlanta, GA] was the largest and most powerful city-state amongst the Muskogee. Its power and prestige came from its control over the trade routes south of the Cohutta Mountains [Appalachian Mountains] and its control over the rich agricultural lands in its vicinity. It ruled over the cities of Daalonega, Chattanuga, and sometimes Ocmulgee.
Name: Daalonega (“yellow)
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Mixed Muskogee and Tsalagi [Cherokee]
Ruling Doodem: Koakotsalgi (“wild-cat”)
Type: Tributary
Daalonega [Dahlonega, GA] was less than four days walk from Etowah. It was also the source of much of the gold in the southeast. Daalonega was a colony of Etowah. Supposedly, warriors from Etowah were led to the gold by a Tsalagi [Cherokee] child who told them about “yellow rocks”. The warriors killed the child and took the gold for themselves. When they were arrested for the child’s murder, the King of Etowah demanded to be shown where the gold was. The warriors showed the king and were pardoned. From that time on, the king of Etowah controlled the gold mines of Daalonega.
Name: Chattanuga (“rock rising to a point”)
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Mixed Muskogee and Tsalagi
Ruling Doodem: Fusualgi (“bird”)
Type: Tributary
Chattanuga [Chattanooga] was situated on a bend in the Tanasi River [Tennessee River], between the Cohutta Mountains [Appalachian Mountains] and a ridge. This makes it very naturally defensible and a natural site for trade. Like Daalonega, it was a colony of Etowah with a mixed population of Tsalagi and Muskogee.
Name: Ocmulgee
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Ahalakalgi (“bede”) [Apios Americana]
Type: Tributary
Ocmulgee [Macon, GA] was the first and oldest city of the Muskogee. It is situated on the Ocmulgee River, which is where the Muskogee are said to first settled after coming from the west. It was the first and fiercest enemy of Etowah. According to the people of Ocmulgee, Etowah was originally a colony of Ocmulgee but the people of Etowah deny this strenuously.
Name: Mabila
Population: Medium
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Kohasalki (“koha”) [cane/American Bamboo]
Type: City-State
Mabila [Selma, AL] is located on a bluff overlooking the Alabamu River [Alabama River]. It was a powerful southern kingdom located in prime agricultural land.
Name: Towassa
Population: Medium
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Tsulalgi (“fox”)
Type: City-State
Towassa [Montgomery, AL] was built on a bluff overlooking the Alabamu River [Alabama River]. It was smaller and further east than Mabila. Supposedly it had been founded by twins.
Name: Tuskaloosa (“Black Warrior”)
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Hutalgalgi (“wind”)
Type: City-State
Tuskaloosa [Tuscaloosa, AL/Moundville, AL] is named after the legendary character called the Black Warrior, a dark skinned fighter who conquered most all of the Muskogee in the past and built his capital at Tuskaloosa. If he even ever existed, by the time writing entered the southeast the Black Warrior’s empire had fallen apart. The city of Tuskaloosa remained proud of its semi-legendary founder, however.
The Black Warrior of Legend, depicted here with much lighter skin than he would have had in real life[2]
Name: Opelika (“large swamp”)
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Muskogee
Ruling Doodem: Hlahloalgi (“fish”)
Type: City-State
Opelika [Columbus, GA] is at the furthest upriver point where the Chattahoochee River remained navigable to the sea. It had control over the prime agricultural land that surrounded it as well.
Name: Kuwanda'talun'yi (“Mulberry Place”)
Population: Small
Ethnic Majority: Tsalagi [Cherokee]
Ruling Doodem: Aniwayaa (“wolf”)
Type: City-State
Kuwanda'talun'yi [Knoxville, TN] was the only major city controlled by Tsalagi [Cherokee] nobility during the classical period. The Tsalagi were an Ongweh’onweh group of people most famous for living in groups of hunter gatherers amongst the Cohutta Moutains [Appalachian Mountains].
Name: Tohomae
Population: Medium
Ethnic Majority: Natchez
Ruling Doodem: Cokup (“Black”)
Type: Tributary
Tohomae [Mobile, AL] was located at the estuary of the Tohomae River [Mobile River] and the Gulf of Chitti. They were closely related to the people of Natchez. They controlled the trade flowing up the Tohomae River into the interior of the southeast.
Next time, we will discuss the first proper history written in the Mishigami: the Winter and Summer Count. But first, a supplemental on the first historian in the history of the Mishigami.
[1] Taken from: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/ga/GADAHgold_ks13_620x300.jpg
[2] Taken from: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...odDiplo.png/revision/latest?cb=20170904224257
Comments? Questions?
No more than most peoples I suppose. They would fight wars with each other, of course. But most of the wars are going to be over territory or resources. They are not genocidal (most of the time) nor are they able to form large empires at this time. That's not to say they would be nice but they aren't more aggressive than the other cultures throughout *North America.
With the Muskogee and Tsalagi, does this close out the tour of TTL's version of the Hopewell trade network? Do you have additional peoples that would share enough trade and cultural similarities that future archaeologists would consider the TTL "Hopewell" sphere to extend even further? Or do you plan some sort of transition (likely violent, as the mention of the Yuchi attests) into a new historical phase for the region?
I'm excited to see where you take this!
I'm excited to see where you take this!
We are still going to explore more regions as the schedule in post #292 says. We'll discuss it more in a few weeks but the trade network of the Menominee ITTL extends from the arctic to Mesoamerica. And the next historical phase will be less "archaeological" and more "historical" compared to what has happened so far, if that makes sense.
Thanks
Supplemental: Father of Lies
Supplemental: The Father of Lies
The first narrative historian of the Occident [Americas] was named Maskawigwan. Unlike Medweginoonind (The Man Who Made the Birch Bark Talk), Nipisii (The Great Peacemaker), and other historical/legendary figures we are more certain of his historicity.
Maskawigwan, which translates as “hard quill”, was born in Sagong [Saginaw, MI] in the first decade of the fifth century AD. He was as a member of the Gaag doodem, or Porcupine clan. The Gaag doodem was an agidajiw clan, meaning they lived atop a wajiw. They were rich and influential in the city of Sagong. From a young age, he was trained in martial pursuits and given a religious education. He became a zhimaaganish warrior at the age of 17, following his father’s footsteps. By that time, he could read and write as well as any priest in the city.
In the year 446 AD, when Maskawigwan was middle aged, the Naawayi’ii War broke out between the Three Waters Confederacy and the Miyamee Kingdom. The details of this war are complex (we will discuss some of them in the next update) but, in short, the Three Waters Confederacy and the Miyamee Kingdom were fighting over control of the city states of the Naawayi’ii Peninsula [Lower Peninsula of Michigan].
In this conflict, Maskawigwan was first a frontline soldier, later a commander, and then (briefly) Sagamos of Sagong. After the war’s end, he would move to Mackinaw Island and become a priest of Shingebiss for several years. Later, he moved to Milliokee and served as an advisor to the Sagamos of Milliokee. We know all of these details about his life from the Winter and Summer Chronicles.
The Winter and Summer Chronicles are the oldest surviving narrative history in the Mishigami. Earlier historical records were often little more than surviving lists of Sagamos, Mide, and noble marriages. They occasionally describe battles but only in the context of short pieces of propaganda written on the sides of columns or on the walls of temples. They freely mix actual history with mythology and religion.
The Winter and Summer Chronicles, by contrast, was a narrative written by a single person for the purpose of understanding the past. When Maskawigwan wrote the chronicles, he hoped they would rehabilitate his image, which had been damaged by his failures during the Naawayi’ii War. During his writing, he was able to speak with P’koomkwa, former Sagamos of Miyamee, and many other men who had fought on both sides of the conflict. Using this information, he presented the story of the war as accurately as possible (or so he claims).
After the publication of the Winter and Summer Chronicles, it became a sensation throughout the Mishigami. Maskawigwan’s image was rehabilitated. He died famous and well respected. But the effects of his manuscript lasted long after his death. The Winter and Summer Chronicles were copied and recopied hundreds of times and disseminated throughout the literate Minisian world. The earliest surviving partial manuscript of the chronicles comes from a cache of birch bark scrolls found in the tomb of a Shawnee Emperor. Its contents vary little from later copies. The Winter and Summer Chronicles inspired an entire historical tradition within the Mishigami. Many later historians would imitate his style and prose.
Today’s historians are more critical of his account. It often paints the actions of Maskawigwan and the Three Waters Confederacy in the most positive light possible while Miyamee and their other enemies are cast in the worst possible light. While the Chronicle is an invaluable source on the late classical period it should be taken with several large grains of salt.
Next time, we will discuss the Naawayi’ii War as told by the Winter and Summer Chronicles.