The Age of Discovery Through American-Indian Eyes

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. So, when Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century, they encountered societies they did not understand, having developed differently from their own, and whose power they often underestimated. And no civilization came to a halt when a few wandering explorers arrived, even when the strangers came well-armed.

To explore this overlooked history is today’s guest, Kathleen DuVal, author of “Native Nations.” For centuries after these first encounters, Indigenous people maintained an upper hand and used Europeans in pursuit of their own interests. In Native Nations, we see how Mohawks closely controlled trade with the Dutch--and influenced global markets--and how Quapaws manipulated French colonists.

Power dynamics shifted after the American Revolution, but Indigenous people continued to control the majority of the continent. Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa forged new alliances and encouraged a controversial new definition of Native identity to attempt to wall off U.S. ambitions. The Cherokees created new institutions to assert their sovereignty on the global stage, and the Kiowas used their preponderance of power in the west to regulate the passage of white settlers across their territory.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's going to hear with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast.
0:08.0	One thousand years ago, some of the largest cities of the world were found in a place that few people would expect. That is the Western Hemisphere.
0:15.0	This part of the world isn't thought of as having dense urban settlements in the pre-Columbian age,
0:20.0	except for maybe a few Aztec or Incantemble complexes.
0:23.0	But a millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers
0:26.2	around the world in size, government complexity, diplomacy,
0:29.5	and developed economies.
0:30.9	And these civilizations didn't come to a halt when European explorers arrived, even when they came well armed.
0:36.0	In today's episode, we're going to look at the Age of Discovery and what came afterward from the perspective of American Indians.
0:42.0	We're joined by Kathleen Duval, author of the book of American Indians.
0:42.6	We're joined by Kathleen Duval, author of the book Native Nations, which looks at various American
0:46.8	Indian civilizations, including the Guapah, the Shani, the Cherokee, which are broad patterns
0:51.7	across the continent and the ways of which these nations
0:53.8	differed from other global civilizations at the same time. For centuries after their
0:57.6	first encounter with Europeans, these nations maintained an upper hand and used
1:01.2	Europeans in pursuit of their own interests, such as how Mohawks closely
1:04.9	controlled trade with the Dutch and Guo-Pauplas manipulated French colonists.
1:08.7	And for the first few presidential administrations of the United States, the most important diplomatic relations that American
1:13.8	presidents held weren't with European nations but with heads of Indian nations. This is a
1:18.2	new perspective on world history and I hope you enjoy this discussion with
1:21.2	Kathleen Devall.
1:29.0	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Unplugged, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Unplugged and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.