The great power of small nations : indigenous diplomacy in the Gulf South / Elizabeth N. Ellis.

Author/creator Ellis, Elizabeth N., 1988- author.
Format Electronic
PublicationPhiladelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2023]
Description1 online resource (330 pages) : illustrations, maps.
Supplemental ContentJSTOR
Subjects
Indians of North America--Mississippi River Valley. --Politics and government.
Indians of North America--Gulf Coast (U.S.). --Politics and government.
Indians of North America--Mississippi River Valley. --History. --18th century.
Indians of North America--Gulf Coast (U.S.). --History. --18th century.
Mississippi River Valley--History. --18th century.
Gulf Coast (U.S.)--History. --18th century.

SeriesEarly American studies
Early American studies. ^A375699
Contents A world of towns -- Establishing relationships with the French -- Enslaved by their allies : Tensas and Chitimachas in French Louisiana -- Colonial propaganda and indigenous defiance -- French transgressions and Natchez resistance -- Imperial blunders and the revival of interdependency at midcentury -- Tunica power after the Seven Years' War -- The beginnings of marginalization -- Remembering, forgetting, and mythologizing the Petites Nations.
Abstract In The Great Power of Small Nations, Elizabeth N. Ellis (Peoria) tells the stories of the many smaller Native American nations that shaped the development of the Gulf South. Based on extensive archival research and oral histories, Ellis's narrative chronicles how diverse Indigenous peoples-including Biloxis, Choctaws, Chitimachas, Chickasaws, Houmas, Mobilians, and Tunicas-influenced and often challenged the growth of colonial Louisiana. The book centers on questions of Native nation-building and international diplomacy, and it argues that Native American migration and practices of offering refuge to migrants in crisis enabled Native nations to survive the violence of colonization. Indeed, these practices also made them powerful. When European settlers began to arrive in Indigenous homelands at the turn of the eighteenth century, these small nations, or petites nations as the French called them, pulled colonists into their political and social systems, thereby steering the development of early Louisiana. In some cases, the same practices that helped Native peoples withstand colonization in the eighteenth century, including frequent migration, living alongside foreign nations, and welcoming outsiders into their lands, have made it difficult for their contemporary descendants to achieve federal acknowledgment and full rights as Native American peoples. The Great Power of Small Nations tackles questions of Native power past and present and provides a fresh examination of the formidable and resilient Native nations who helped shape the modern Gulf South."-- JSTOR resource page, viewed April 1, 2024.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Source of descriptionOnline resource; title from digital title page (JSTOR, viewed April 1, 2024).
Issued in other formPrint version: Ellis, Elizabeth N. (Elizabeth Nicole), 1988- Great power of small nations. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2022] 9781512823097
Genre/formHistory.
ISBN9781512823189 (electronic bk.)
ISBN151282318X (electronic bk.)
Stock number22573/ctv2g7kqj5 JSTOR

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Electronic Resources Access Content Online ✔ Available