Jessica Crabtree

December 4, 1619: The “Berkeley Thanksgiving”

Yet another contender for the title of the original Thanksgiving. English settlers from Berkeley, England arriving in Virginia in 1619 (yes, that’s the year before the Pilgrim’s Plymouth landing) made this date a commemoration of gratitude for their safe arrival in the New World.

Unlike its famous counterpart, this Thanksgiving was clearly intended to be carried on in the future, as evidenced by the original proclamation in the Berkeley colony’s charter:

“Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

This celebration is still honored today at the prestigious Berkeley Plantation.

Of course, this occasion is already predated by the little-known “St. Augustine Thanksgiving” shared in Florida by the Spanish and Native Americans – aptly enough, in the first permanent European settlement in the New World. (That one took place a whopping 56 years before its traditional 1621 counterpart.) But it is probably the earliest such celebration by English colonists in America.

See more: Countdown: 10 Things About Thanksgiving

Berkeley Plantation – Official Website

Berkeley House was built on the plantation later, in 1726. Photo from the National Park Service website, courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

(You can find the editorial version of this post under the title “Reframing Columbus Day” on Worldpress.org, an online magazine for independent journalism.)

Recently I posted about research positing a link between peoples of the Na-Dene/Athabaskan family (e.g. Navajo, Apache, Tlingit) and Central Asian refugees of Genghis Khan’s conquests. The connection, based on physical, cultural & religious similarities and linguistic and genetic evidence, has been proposed for decades but is only now being verified by concrete evidence.

The implications of such a realization are staggering – but no more than those of other recent discoveries challenging our conceptions of the early Americas.

In time for Columbus Day this year I thought it would be appropriate to note a few of the major convulsions in the established historical record that highlight the fact that the “era of Columbus” is now over. It’s already firmly established that Columbus didn’t discover America; and the illusion that the Americas existed in a bubble of cultural isolation is being shattered with every new finding of global interchange. But beyond that, it’s time to observe this ideological regime change by questioning whether Columbus is really so important after all – and what that means in the context of America’s colonial and imperialist legacy.

1: Norse Colonies & the First Native American in Europe

The presence of Scandinavians in North America before Columbus is well-established. At present they lay title to being the first Europeans to set foot on American soil. But one of the major revelations of the past year was the evidence of the earliest Native Americans in a European country – not as chattel transported via the English and Spanish slave trades, or even as diplomatic attaches to European monarchs – but as part of the saga of Norse exploration along the Atlantic seaboard.

The ill-fated Norse colony of L’anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, dating to the 11th century, may have shared less than ideal relations with their Beothuk neighbors, according to extant records; but their association may have been closer than those records indicate. It remained for DNA science to reveal that many present-day Icelanders carry the genes of Newfoundland’s extinct indigenous populations, indicating that this Norse emigration was, at least on one occasion, a two-way street. This discovery marks a milestone in our understanding of early European involvement in North America and raises numerous questions about the nature and extent of the interaction between these groups.

2: Polynesian Trade with the Pacific Coast

There is a growing body of evidence that Polynesian sailors reached the Americas long before the 15th century, setting up an exchange that left clues on both sides of the Pacific. The Polynesians are an optimal candidate in the search for pre-Columbian contact, because they had both the technology and the motive to reach the Americas.

The prime evidence:

• Chickens – Ancient remains of chickens found on the coast of Chile predate the arrival of domesticated breeds introduced by European colonists. There were no chickens indigenous to the Americas; they are native to southeast Asia where they were first domesticated and later brought as far east as the Pacific islands. Obviously their presence in Chile could not be explained as a simple case of migratory spread. The carbon dating of the chicken bones gave them a tentative age of 600 years, right around the peak of the Polynesian’s Pacific expansion.

(National Geographic: Polynesians – And Their Chickens – Arrived in Americas Before Columbus)

• Sweet potatoes – As part of the Columbian Exchange, many of the New World’s important native foodcrops – including maize, potatoes, and cacao – were transported to Europe, Asia, and Africa where they became fundamental commodities. One of these crops, the sweet potato, has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years by peoples in Central and South America, where it first originated. Apart from direct human introduction, it is difficult to account for sweet potato cultivation by the Polynesians dating back more than a millennia. (Sweet potatoes propagate through tubers or plant cuttings, not by seeds that can be windblown or spread by birds.) It is even more difficult to explain how they came to be called by almost identical names in both regions.

There are even deeper connections on the horizon. Many researchers point to linguistic similarities and parallels in artifacts found in the Polynesia Pacific (including Easter Island) and in America’s Pacific coast cultures. Such suggestions of an information and technology exchange may be circumstantial at best. But there is considerable support rising from other fronts, not the least of which is recent DNA research confirming the exchange of much more than just trade goods.

3: Tibetan origins of Athabaskans

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September 19, 1737: The Lenape (Delaware) “Walking Purchase” sets the boundaries of a colonial land swindle

The Walking Purchase Treaty – part of what may well be the most bizarre land-grab scheme in history – was based on a deed dating to the 1680′s. Supposedly signed by the Lenape Indians and Pennsylvania’s Quaker founders, it granted the colonists a parcel of land ambiguously measured from the Delaware-Lehigh river junction as far west as a man could travel on foot in a day and a half.

It is not clear whether this deed even existed, and Pennsylvania’s colonial government suddenly decided to collect – or whether it was just another fraudulent pretext for a land grab. Anyway it is a twisted irony of history that the very sons of William Penn, who was such a conscientious ally of the Lenape, should use their standing to such rapacious advantage.

Fully intending to honor their ancestors’ agreement, several Lenape chiefs met in Philadelphia in September to sign a treaty confirming the cession, including Lapowinsa (also Lappawinsoe) and Tishcohan. But the true face of the deal became apparent when the governor of Pennsylvania authorized settlers to clear a road for three hired runners to perform the role of the proverbial “man on foot” for the official survey.

The 36-hour dash undertaken by the runners was so intense that only one finished the course; but the 70 miles he covered created boundaries that amassed over a million acres for the colony.

For the next two decades, Lenape representatives appealed the so-called “Walking Purchase Treaty,” but eventually were forced westward alongside an influx of other displaced peoples. In the 1830s, most Lenape were relocated to Oklahoma as part of the mass removals collectively known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Both Lapowinsa and Tishcohan were depicted by the Swedish painter Gustavus Hesselius around the time of the Walking Purchase Treaty. These early portraits are distinctive for their attentive detail, and almost personal manner. They are rare glimpses of the Native people of this period. (Click for larger view)

Image: ExplorePAHistory.com (Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia)

Read more:

The Walking Purchase – A really good blog post on the background of the Walking Treaty, the Lenape nation, and several significant figures of the period

The Delaware Walking Treaty – Philadelphia History

Wikipedia: Walking Purchase

Lenape archives at ExplorePAHistory.com

Delaware Nation Website

June 18, 1868: Return from the Navajo “Long Walk” begins

The Long Walk was part of a removal program similar to the Trail of Tears. Beginning in January, 1864, Navajo people from across Arizona were led by army troops and Western legend Kit Carson on a forced march to the Bosque Redondo internment camp in New Mexico. An area nearly 40 square miles, originally intended to support around 5,000 people, it came to host nearly twice that number as the removals continued.

The relocation project was a fiasco; the area’s bad water and impossible terrain made disease and hunger rampant. In addition, the confinement of Navajo together with Apache and Kiowa led to conflict. The ordeal eventually claimed the lives of thousands of Navajo people.

Courtesy of the State Records Center and Archives. Frank McNitt Papers, Serial #5514; photo #5702. “Navajos under guard at Fort Sumner,” ca. 1864 (New Mexico Office of the State Historian)

US and Navajo leaders signed a treaty on June 1, 1868 which granted the right of return for the Navajo expatriates and formed the nucleus of the modern-day Navajo reservation. On June 18, the diverse bands of the Navajo diaspora began their trek back to their ancestral homelands in the Four Corners region of the Southwest, known to them as “Dine-tah.”

The Navajo are among the few Indian nations to have regained possession of their traditional territory. Their land holdings have expanded to what is today the largest Indian reservation in the US.

New Mexico History – The Long Walk

Legends of America – The Navajo Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo

Production interviews from the KUED documentary The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo

NPR Story: The Navajo Nation’s Own ‘Trail of Tears’

Wikipedia: Long Walk of the Navajo

Wikipedia: Bosque Redondo

This month in history marks the start of both the Seven Years’ War and Pontiac’s War – each pivotal events that shaped the course of history for Native & European Americans in profound ways.

This era was a melting pot of cultures and heritages – Indians, frontiersmen, European colonists, traders, and soldiers – making it fertile ground for historical artists. While on the topic, I’ve selected a few of my favorite artists who specialize in period depictions of early America.

David Wright: Artist of the American Frontier

Wright was born and raised in the heart of American frontier country, but trained internationally. He has an impressive portfolio of historical paintings centering on portraits of Native Americans, pioneers and Civil War characters. He also works as a historical consultant for television.

Above: Huron – based on Wes Studi’s role as the Magua in “Last of the Mohicans” (Wright also participated in the production). Interesting to compare with James Bama’s renditions of Studi from this and other movie roles (here for example).

Preparing for the Dance, 20×24 oil on canvas.
Below: Long Way From Home, 9×12 oil on panel. This is one of my favorite portraits – such attentive detail and gripping expressiveness.

John Buxton: Artist of Our Heritage

Focuses on 18th century American life. His earlier career as an illustrator included collaborations with the National Geographic Society.

Kinsman of the Shawnee, 16×26; a beautiful example of the extraordinarily detailed approach taken by this artist. I remember first seeing this piece in a magazine and being able to gaze on it for literally hours – a quality not often reached by modern artists.

Robert Griffing

Robert Griffing at Lord Nelson’s Gallery; also on Paramount Press

Like the above artists, Griffing also was born and raised in the eastern US surrounded by frontier heritage. His particular specialty is portrayals of the Woodland Indians of the early American period. A motive of his work which I find especially compelling is to try to bring life to a period that is often overshadowed by the glamorized image of the West. He achieves this brilliantly.

Above: He Speaks of the Old Ways; below, The Delicate Balance of Honesty – without a pretty large image file it’s hard to do this amazing painting justice. What an amazing composition!

There are many excellent artists such as these who specialize in historical pieces of this period – in fact too many to make an easy selection for a single blog post! I genuinely admire their talent and in particular their keen curiosity and commitment to accuracy that separate them from the artistic crowd.

May 15, 1756: The Seven Years’ War (in America the French and Indian War) begins

In the middle of the 18th century, France and England were the world’s biggest imperial powers, with massive holdings in North America. When they entered this ultimate contest for supremacy, it meant major repercussions for their Indian allies, who were already facing the onslaughts of colonization.

History Channel: May 15, This Day in History

Top Pick: “The War that Made America” docudrama, hosted by Graham Greene (read more…)

War for Empire – official website for the 250-Year Commemoration of the French & Indian War

See all posts tagged with the topic “French and Indian War”

April 5, 1755: Mary Jemison is taken captive during a Shawnee raid on the Pennsylvania frontier

Mary Jemison was one of numerous white settlers whose stories of captivity among the Indians became legendary.

The daughter of Scots-Irish immigrants living in what is today central Pennsylvania, she was captured by the Shawnee during a border dispute in which most of her family was killed. She was traded to the Seneca Iroquois and adopted into a family as part of a custom which enabled the replacement lost loved ones, or at least income provided through ransom. Mary eventually married into the Seneca and although offered redemption chose to remain with her adoptive people, becoming known by future settlers in the region as the “White Woman of the Genessee.”

Wikipedia: Mary Jemison

About.com Women’s History: Mary’s Jemison’s Captivity Narrative

Explore Pennsylvania History: Mary Jemison

There aren’t many topics having in common both Native Americans and the Irish. But in honor of St. Pat’s, I can actually think of one.

The story began in the mid 1800s with the coinciding tragedies of the Potato Famine in Ireland and the Trail of Tears in the United States.

Like the Irish, the Choctaw found themselves hungry, sick, and dispossessed – and this awareness led to an incredible act of solidarity and compassion.

Read more…

Indian Country Today – How the Choctaws Saved the Irish

Choctaw Nation Website – History Pages

Wikipedia: Irish Potato Famine Aid