Chiaha
35°57′14″N 83°29′47″W / 35.95383°N 83.49644°W
Chiaha was a
The Spanish explorers' accounts of Chiaha provide a rare first-hand glimpse of life in a Dallas phase Mississippian-era village. The Dallas culture, named after Dallas Island near Chattanooga, where its distinct characteristics were first observed, dominated much of East Tennessee between approximately 1300 and 1600 AD.[3] Both the de Soto and Pardo expeditions spent several days at Chiaha's principal village.
In addition, the Pardo expedition constructed a fort nearby called San Pedro. This was one of five forts constructed in the interior west of Joara,[4] the largest Mississippian-era site in modern North Carolina. Pardo constructed his largest fort there first, known as Fort San Juan. All but one of his soldiers were killed by the Native Americans in 1568, and the Spanish did not attempt further colonization in the interior.
The peoples suffered high mortality from infectious diseases carried by the Europeans. Historians believe this resulted in political realignments and the rise of the Cherokee and Creek tribes in these areas. By the time English explorers arrived here in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Chiaha area was dominated by the Cherokee.[5]
Geographical setting
The chief village of Chiaha was called Olamico in their own language. The Hernando de Soto expedition recorded the name as Chiaha and the Pardo expedition recorded it as Olamico. The town was located on an island in the lower French Broad River; in modern times it was called Zimmerman's Island.[6]
This island was located 33 miles (53 km) upstream from the mouth of the French Broad and approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream from the present location of Douglas Dam. With the completion of Douglas Dam in 1943, a reservoir was created that completely submerged Zimmerman's Island, ending possible archeological excavation of Olamico and the area.
Spanish expeditions
Hernando de Soto, 1540
In 1539,
Chiaha was the first town fortified with wooden palisades which the de Soto expedition encountered.[11] The expedition's chroniclers described the village's location as "two crossbow shots" (appx. 600 yards (550 m)) from the upstream (eastern) end of the island. The island ranged between one and two crossbow shots in width. The river was wide on both sides, but could be forded. Maize was growing along the river banks opposite the island. The chief of Chiaha loaned de Soto his house, and the expedition members were initially well treated by the village's inhabitants. After approximately two weeks, however, de Soto angered the village elders when he asked them to provide thirty women for his expedition. The offended people quickly got all the women away from the village. De Soto threatened to attack the settlement, and the people fled to an impenetrable island further upstream. De Soto finally dropped his demand for women, and instead asked for porters, which Chiaha agreed to supply.[12]
On June 28, the de Soto expedition departed westward along the French Broad River. They followed the river to its confluence with the Holston River, which creates the Tennessee River, just east of modern Knoxville and continued along the banks of the Tennessee to the village of Coste, which was located on Bussell Island at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River. The expedition followed the Little Tennessee to the village of Tali (probably a predecessor of the Cherokee village of Toqua), where they intercepted a Native American trail that led them southward to Coosa, based in modern northwestern Georgia.[13]
While the Spanish were at Chiaha, the chief of Coste met with de Soto. He told him of mines of "yellow metal" thirty leagues to the northeast, in the territory of the
Juan Pardo, 1567
In 1565 and 1566,
While Pardo was away, Moyano spent several days searching for gold and gems in the Joara area (modern Burke County, North Carolina). In April 1567, he marched northward across the mountains with 15 soldiers and a contingent of natives (likely a Joaran army) and attacked and destroyed a Chisca village in the upper Nolichucky valley. After receiving a serious threat from a mountain chief, Moyano was forced to continue westward down the Nolichucky to the French Broad River, and thence to Chiaha on Zimmerman's Island. They built a small fort, San Pedro, near the fortified capital of Chiaha (known as Olamico, a Muskogean word for "chief town") and awaited Pardo's arrival.[16]
Pardo's second expedition began on September 1, 1567, and he reached Joara in three weeks. After learning of Moyano's uneasy situation, he left Joara for Chiaha on September 29. Pardo passed through the Cherokee-speaking village of Tocae (near modern
Pardo remained at Chiaha for five days before departing for Coosa, described by de Soto's expedition. He spent several days traversing the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in modern Sevier and Blount counties before reaching the village of Chalahume in the Little Tennessee Valley. At the village of Satapo just downstream, Pardo was told that the Coosa chief was plotting to kill him, so he turned back. He again passed through Olamico on October 20 and departed back up the French Broad on October 22. He arrived back at Santa Elena in February 1568.[18]
The people of Chiaha
Chiaha was on the northern fringe of the Coosa chiefdom's sphere of influence, which stretched from Chiaha in the north to Talisi (near modern Childersburg, Alabama) to the south.[19] While most villages visited by Pardo were headed by a low-level local chief known as an orata, three villages— Chiaha, Joara, and Guatari— were each headed by a major regional chief known as a mico (some Muskogean-speaking tribes still used the word "mico" for "chief" as late as the 19th century). Micos were apparently subject to a paramount chief. At the time of De Soto's expedition, paramount chiefs resided at Cofitachequi and Coosa, but by the time of Pardo's expedition, Cofitachequi's power had been greatly reduced. The only known paramount chief was at Coosa, which Pardo did not visit because of a threat from its chief.[20]
Life at Chiaha was probably characteristic of life in a Dallas-phase Mississippian period village. The
In 1940,
Like most Dallas-phase peoples, the Chiahans depended on corn for sustenance. At Chiaha, De Soto and his men were given large portions of sofkee (a gruel similar to hominy grits), honey, and a sweet-tasting sauce made from bear fat.[23] The people also collected the wild fruits, such as mulberries and grapes, that grew in abundance in the surrounding hills.[11][24] The Chiahans stored their crops in raised storehouses, which the Spaniards called barbacoas.[25]
Relationship to the Cherokee
The relationship between the Mississippian people in the Tennessee Valley and the later
By contrast, the language of the Dallas-phase inhabitants of the upper Tennessee Valley (including the people of Chiaha) was a
The chroniclers of De Soto and Pardo show that Cherokee-speaking people coexisted with Mississippian Muskogean-speakers as early as the 16th century. Cherokee-speaking people lived in the mountains between Joara and Chiaha, most notably at Guasili, a village in the Nolichucky valley visited by De Soto.[28] While Pardo was at Joara, he was visited by several Cherokee-speaking chiefs. At Chiaha, however, Pardo was not visited by any Cherokee-speaking chiefs. The fact that Chiaha and Tanasqui were the only two fortified villages noted by Pardo (other than the Chisca village destroyed by Moyano) may suggest that the people of Chiaha were at war with the Cherokee living in the mountains.
Several Mississippian town names recorded by Pardo were retained in some form by their later Cherokee inhabitants, namely
Related sites and peoples
- List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition
- Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
References
- ISBN 978-0-89356-063-8. Archived from the originalon 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ Charles Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568 (Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 2005), 104.
- ^ a b Gerald Schroedl, Mississippian Culture, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009. Retrieved: 9 February 2013.
- ^ Beck, Robin A. Jr.; Moore, David G.; Rodning, Christopher B. (2006). "Identifying Fort San Juan: A Sixteenth-Century Spanish Occupation at the Berry Site, North Carolina" (PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 25 (1): 65–77. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
- ^ Samuel Cole Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, 1540-1800, Johnson City, TN: The Watauga Press, 1928
- ^ a b David Dye, Pardo Expedition, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009, Retrieved: 9 February 2013.
- ^ David Dye, Soto Expedition, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009. Retrieved: 9 February 2013.
- Charles Hudson, Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1997, 175.
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 187-190
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 193-199.
- ^ a b Hudson, Knights of Spain, 199
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 199-203.
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 204-214.
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 203.,
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 3.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 26-29.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 29-36.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 36-45.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 10.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 62-63.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 36.
- ^ Chapman, Jefferson (1985). Tellico Archaeology: 12,000 Years of Native American History. Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority. p. 79.
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 201.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 105.
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 156.
- ^ "Languages of the World - Cherokee", The National Virtual Translation Center,2007, Retrieved: 6 July 2008
- ^ "Koasati Language and the Coushatta Indian Tribe," Native Languages of the Americas website, 1998-2007. Retrieved: 6 July 2008
- ^ Hudson, Knights of Spain, 193-194.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 102-105.
- ^ Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions, 87.
External links
- Zimmerman's Island Mound Archived 2014-08-26 at the Wayback Machine— photograph and brief description on the Frank H. McClung Museum website
- In the Footsteps of De Soto — Destination Chiaha