Trading Paths: Mapping Chickasaw History in the Eighteenth Century

758 St. Jean: Trading Paths Because of its small size, the Chickasaw Nation has been relegated to the margin of studies of eastern Woodlands tribes and rarely included in narratives of Southern history. This omission is regrettable because the Chickasaws were at the center of resistance to French expansion in the region. And while representative of other southeastern Indians—sharing common fears of enslavement, disease, and military conquest—the Chickasaws were often more successful in responding to the challenges posed by European colonization. Whereas other historians have emphasized the Chickasaws’ warlike reputation, we will see that they, like other southeastern Indians, offset their warpaths to their enemies with trading paths to their friends. The Chickasaws’ strategic alliances, combined with their favorable location, enabled them to overcome their military adversaries and to evade political dissolution, the fate of so many of their Indian neighbors. In his political history Splendid Peoples, Splendid Lands: The Chickasaws to Removal (2003), archaeologist James Atkinson draws a different conclusion, writing: “The reason for the preservation of such a small population of people is . . . the result of living in a small area.” Unlike the Creeks and Cherokees whose towns were divided by rivers, mountains, and other natural barriers, Chickasaw settlements were located on flat prairie lands that facilitated communication. Atkinson is right to point out that geography was an important facet of Chickasaw strength; however, this alone does not account for why the Chickasaws exist today, whereas many of their neighbors were conquered and absorbed into larger political entities. As much as geography matters, it matters as a part of relationships with other peoples. By focusing on the alliances that the Chickasaws deTrading Paths