Natchez

NATCHEZ

NATCHEZ. The Natchez, existing from circa a.d. 700 until they were dispersed by the French in 1731, stood out among other southeastern tribes for their class-like organization of society and for the power and privileges of their premier lineage, the Suns. French observers left accounts that, rich as they are, did not provide a clear record of Natchez society's many unique features. The Natchez language is a linguistic isolate not clearly related to other languages.

The Natchez population declined rapidly in the first quarter of the 1700s from an initial recorded estimate of about 5,000. Likewise, in precontact times, archaeological evidence reveals that the Natchez's ancestors occupied up to five mound centers, but in the eighteenth century European disease reduced the polity to a single mound center, Natchez proper, and nine smaller communities. Despite this contraction, the Natchez remained militarily powerful, and they resisted French domination in a series of rebellions between 1715 and 1730. However, tribal solidarity became fatefully compromised when they split into a French faction led by the chief of the Grand Village, and a British faction led by the upstart chief of the White Apple village.

The name "Natchez" actually refers to the Grand Village. "Theocloel," the name by which the polity was known to its members, meant "people of Thé," or the descendants of this founding ancestor-deity. The French used the name Natchez to refer to the polity as a whole, not understanding the degree of autonomy that individual villages could exercise. Village chief authority was despotic to those residing nearby, but chiefs of more distant places such as the White Apple village operated independently of each other in postcontact times.

The Natchez had a complex social hierarchy. Membership in one of three social ranks was by birth, with an additional "honored" rank that generally was achieved

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through merit. The topmost lineage was the Suns, who were senior descendents of a line of mothers from the tribal deity. Three influential positions were monopolized by the Suns. The eldest male held the chiefship, "Great Sun," and controlled access to the ancestral godhead in the shrine that was erected atop the principal platform mound. The mother of the Great Sun, or the senior female Sun, was called "White Woman," and the younger brother of the Sun was called "Tattooed Serpent," and held the office of war chief. The funeral rites of these privileged individuals captured the attention of the earliest French observers. Junior members of the Sun lineage possessed the same ancestral rights and exercised authority as chiefs in their own villages. In the second rank were the "Nobles," who were children of male Suns. Children of male nobles dropped in rank to that of "Stinkards," or commoners.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hudson, Charles M. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976.

Lorenz, Karl G. "The Natchez of Southwest Mississippi." In Indians of the Greater Southeast. Edited by Bonnie G. McEwan. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000.

Stern, Theodore. "The Natchez." In The Native Americans. Edited by Robert F. Spencer et al. New York: Harper and Row, 1965.

James A. Brown

See also Tribes: Southeastern .