Tribal Migrations East of the Mississippi Collections

Tribal Migrations East of the Mississippi

Linguisitic Families of American Indians - Powell

The map entitled “Linguistic Families of American Indians North of Mexico”, by J. W. Powell, issued by the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, some years ago and several times revised and reprinted, indicates the position of the various groups of tribes when they first became known to Europeans. The map, as its title implies, includes the entire North American continent north of Mexico, but in the present paper, only that portion bordering on the lower Mississippi, and eastward to the Atlantic coast, will be considered.

Linguistic Stocks During the Earliest Period Migrations

Map Intended to Visualize the Position of the Several Linguistic Stocks During the Earliest Period Considered in this page. The Algonquian tribes are believed to have come from the far northwest and to have skirted the shores of the Great Lakes before reaching the country farther south. At their first coining, long before the Iroquoian peoples had arrived in the regions south of the St. Lawrence, some tribes of the Algonquian stock appear to have penetrated far south along the mountains into Tennessee or beyond, while others pushed onward into the piedmont sections of the present Virginia and of the Carolinas.

Linguistic Groups at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century

The groups of tribes continued to move, and by the beginning of the sixteenth century they were located approximately as indicated on tile last map. The Iroquoian tribes had moved far eastward, and some occupied the country south of the St. Lawrence. The Hurons had settled north of Niagara, and the Eries remained south of the lake that bears their name. The Cherokee had become established far south in the Alleghenies, with Uchean tribes to the west of them. The Siouan peoples had scattered far from their ancient homes in the valley of the Ohio Some had traversed the mountainous … Read more

Iroquoian Peoples resulted in the separation of the Siouan and Algonquian Tribes

Many of the protected sites may have been constructed and occupied by the Iroquoian tribes during the movement northward, and consequently a comparative study of the archeological material recovered from them should prove to be of the greatest interest. If this hypothesis is correct, it is probable that before the Iroquoian tribes had reached the left bank of the Ohio the Siouan peoples were living in security in the upper valley of the stream. The great majority were north of the river, but others, including the Catawba, may have been south of the Ohio in the mountains to the eastward. The region … Read more

Iroquoian and Muskhogean Tribes after arrival East of the Mississippi

After the Iroquoian and Muskhogean Tribes had arrived East of the Mississippi.

The fertile valleys of Tennessee and Kentucky present more convincing evidence of having been occupied by a great number of tribes, at different times, than does any other section of the southeastern United States. Many of the tribes differed in manners and customs, as indicated by the great variety of archeological material recovered front the innumerable sites. During the migratory movements as theoretically expressed on the maps, the present States of Tennessee and Kentucky were crossed and re-crossed by many tribes, representing the historic Siouan, Uchean, Iroquoian, and Muskhogean stocks, while probably at an early time, and certainly at a … Read more