Encyclopedia of American History, Revised Edition
Copyright © 2010, 2003 by Peter C. Mancall
Maps copyright © 2010, 2003 by Infobase Publishing
Editorial Director: Laurie E. Likoff
Editor in Chief: Owen Lancer
Chief Copy Editor: Michael G. Laraque
Associate Editor: Dorothy Cummings
Maps and Illustrations: Dale E. Williams
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Set e-ISBN: 978-1-4381-2744-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Encyclopedia of American history / Gary B. Nash, general editor. — Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v. 1. Three worlds meet, beginnings to 1607 — v. 2. Colonization and
settlement, 1608 to 1760 — v. 3. Revolution and new nation, 1761 to 1812 — v. 4.
Expansion and reform, 1813 to 1855 — v. 5. Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to
1869 — v. 6. The development of the industrial United States, 1870 to 1899 — v. 7.
The emergence of modern America, 1900 to 1928 — v. 8. The Great Depression and
World War II, 1929 to 1945 — v. 9. Postwar United States, 1946 to 1968 — v. 10.
Contemporary United States, 1969 to the present — v. 11. Comprehensive index.
ISBN 978-0-8160-7136-4 (set : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7137-1 (v. 1 :
hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7138-8 (v. 2 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-08160-7139-5 (v. 3 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7140-1 (v. 4 : hc : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-8160-7141-8 (v. 5 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7142-5 (v. 6
: hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7143-2 (v. 7 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-08160-7144-9 (v. 8 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7145-6 (v. 9 : hc : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-8160-7146-3 (v. 10 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7147-0 (v. 11 :
hc : alk. paper) 1. United States—History—Encyclopedias. I. Nash, Gary B.
E174.E53 2009
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2008035422
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our
Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.
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Printed in the United States of America
VB Hermitage 10
9
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6
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1
Encyclopedia of
American History
Revised Edition
Three Worlds Meet
Beginnings to 1607
E
RI
O
AM
RY
�
OF
� EN
C
A
LOPEDI
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C A N HI S T
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Revised Edition
THREE WORLDS MEET
Beginnings to 1607
COLONIzATION AND SETTLEMENT
1608 to 1760
REVOLUTION AND NEW NATION
1761 to 1812
ExPANSION AND REFORM
1813 to 1855
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
1856 to 1869
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL UNITED STATES
1870 to 1899
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA
1900 to 1928
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II
1929 to 1945
POSTWAR UNITED STATES
1946 to 1968
CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES
1969 to the Present
COMPREHENSIVE INDEx
Encyclopedia of
American History
Revised Edition
Three Worlds Meet
Beginnings to 1607
E
RI
O
AM
RY
�
OF
� EN
C
A
LOPEDI
YC
C A N HI S T
Peter C. Mancall, Editor
Gary B. Nash, General Editor
Encyclopedia of American History, Revised Edition
Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1607)
Copyright © 2010, 2003 by Peter C. Mancall
Maps copyright © 2010, 2003 by Infobase Publishing
Editorial Director: Laurie E. Likoff
Editor in Chief: Owen Lancer
Chief Copy Editor: Michael G. Laraque
Associate Editor: Dorothy Cummings
Maps and Illustrations: Dale E. Williams
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Encyclopedia of American history / Gary B. Nash, general editor. — Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v. 1. Three worlds meet, beginnings to 1607 — v. 2. Colonization and
settlement, 1608 to 1760 — v. 3. Revolution and new nation, 1761 to 1812 — v. 4.
Expansion and reform, 1813 to 1855 — v. 5. Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to
1869 — v. 6. The development of the industrial United States, 1870 to 1899 — v. 7.
The emergence of modern America, 1900 to 1928 — v. 8. The Great Depression and
World War II, 1929 to 1945 — v. 9. Postwar United States, 1946 to 1968 — v. 10.
Contemporary United States, 1969 to the present — v. 11. Comprehensive index.
ISBN 978-0-8160-7136-4 (set : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7137-1 (v. 1 :
hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7138-8 (v. 2 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-08160-7139-5 (v. 3 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7140-1 (v. 4 : hc : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-8160-7141-8 (v. 5 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7142-5 (v. 6
: hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7143-2 (v. 7 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-08160-7144-9 (v. 8 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7145-6 (v. 9 : hc : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-8160-7146-3 (v. 10 : hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8160-7147-0 (v. 11 :
hc : alk. paper) 1. United States—History—Encyclopedias. I. Nash, Gary B.
E174.E53 2009
973.03—dc22
2008035422
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our
Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.
You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com
Printed in the United States of America
VB Hermitage 10
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6
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and contains
30 percent postconsumer recycled content.
★
Contents
LIST OF COLOR MAPS
vii
LIST OF ENTRIES
ix
ABOUT THE EDITORS
xii
FOREWORD
xiii
FOREWORD TO THE REVISED EDITION
xv
INTRODUCTION
xvii
ENTRIES A TO z
1
CHRONOLOGY
395
DOCUMENTS
399
BIBLIOGRAPHY
427
★
List of Color Maps
Prehistoric Routes from Asia to the Americas
M2
Precolumbian Civilizations in North America
M3
Native American Culture Areas and Economy
M4
Toltec Empire, ca. 900–ca. 1200
M5
Inca Highway Network
M6
Maya Territory
M7
Vikings in North America, 800–1015
M8
Native American Nations Prior to European Colonization
M9
Early European Exploration of North America, 1492–1595
M10
Voyages of Columbus, 1492–1504
M11
Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494
M12
Portuguese Exploration of Africa
M13
Voyages of John Cabot, 1497–1498
M14
European Exploration along the Brazilian Coast, 1499–1502
M15
Hernán Cortés’s Conquest of Mexico, 1518–1521
M16
The Reformation, 1517–1560
M17
Voyage of Ferdinand Magellan, 1519–1522
M18
Francisco Pizarro’s Expeditions, 1524–1533
M19
Explorations of Jacques Cartier, 1534–1536
M20
Expedition of Francisco Coronado, 1540–1542
M21
European Exploration in New Spain, 1519–1543
M22
Voyages of Martin Frobisher, 1576–1578
M23
Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577–1580
M24
vii
★
List of Entries
Aataentsic
Abenaki
Abyssinia (see Ethiopia)
Acadia
Acosta, José de
adelantado
Africanus, Leo (see Leo
Africanus)
Aguilar, Francisco de
Aguilar, Gerónimo
(Jerónimo) de
Akan
Albuquerque, Alfonso de
Alexander VI
Algonquian
Alvarado, Pedro de
Amazon River
Andes Mountains
Anglo-Normans
Apalachee
Arawak
Armada (see Spanish
Armada)
art and architecture
Asante
Askia Muhammad I
astrolabe
Atahualpa
audiencia
auto-da-fé
Azores
Aztecs
Aztlán
Baba, Ahmad
Bahía
Balboa, Vasco Núñez de
Bantu
Barbados
Barlowe, Arthur
Battel, Andrew
Behaim, Martin
Benin
Bermuda
Bermuda Company
black legend
Blaeu, Willem
book, the
Brazil
Brendan the Navigator,
Saint
brigantine
Bristol
Bry, Theodor de
Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar
Núñez
cabildo
cabinet of curiosities
Cabot, John
Cabot, Sebastian
Cabral, Pedro Álvares
Cacamatzin
cacao
cacique
Cadamosto, Alvise de
Cahokia
Calabar
California
Calusa
Calvin, John
Camden, William
Cameroon
Canary Islands
cannibalism
caravel
Carib
Caroline, Fort
Cartier, Jacques
Casa de Contratación
casta paintings
castas
Castile
Cathay
Cayor
Cayuga
Charles V
Chichén Itzá
Chimalpahin, Domingo
Francisco de San Antón
Muñón
chinampas
Cholula
Church of England
Cieza de León, Pedro
cod
Codex Mendoza
Coelho, Jorge
d’Albuquerque
coffee
Cofitachequi
Columbian Exchange
Columbus, Bartholomew
Columbus, Christopher
Company of Cathay
conquistador(es)
Coosa
Copán
Córdoba, Francisco
Hernández de
ix
corn
Coronado, Francisco
corregidor
Cortés, Hernán
Council of the Indies
Counterreformation
Cozumel
cross staff
Cuauhtémoc
Cuba
Cuitláhuac
Cuzco
Dagomba
Dahomey
Darfur
De La Warr, Lord
Dengel, Lebna
Dias, Bartholomeu
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
disease
Djenne-Djeno
Djibouti
Dominicans
Drake, Sir Francis
Drake Manuscript
Durán, Diego
Dürer, Albrecht
Dutch East India
Company
East India Company
Eden, Richard
El Dorado
Elizabeth I
encomienda
entail
Escalante, Juan de
x
List of Entries
Ethiopia
Ewe
Fang
Ferdinand and Isabella
Fernando Póo
feudalism
Florentine Codex
Florida
flowery wars
Fon
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
Franciscans
French explorations of the
Atlantic
Frobisher, Martin
Fulani
Gama, Vasco da
Gao
Gedi
Gesner, Conrad von
Ghana
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey
gold
Gold Coast
Gomes, Diogo
Gonja
Gorée Island
Greenland
Grenville, Sir Richard
Grijalva, Juan de
Grotius, Hugo
Guamán Poma
Guerrero, Gonzalo
Guiana (see Ralegh, Sir
Walter)
Guinea-Bissau
Gutenberg, Johannes
Gensfleisch zum
habitants
hacienda
Haida
Hakluyt, Richard, the
Elder
Hakluyt, Richard, the
Younger
Hanno the elephant
Harriot, Thomas
Hausa
Havasupai
Hawkins, Sir John
headright
Henry IV
Henry VII
Henry VIII
Henry the Navigator
Hiawatha
Hidatsa
Hispaniola
Hochelaga
Hohokam
Holy League
Holy Roman Empire
Hopewell culture
Hopi
horse
Huguenots
Huitzilopochtli
Huron
Ibn Battuta
Ibn Khaldûn, ‘Abd-arRahmân Abû zayd
ibn Muhammad ibn
Muhammad
icebergs
Iceland
Igbo
Ignatius Loyola
Inca
India
Ingram, David
inquisition
invention and technology
Iroquois
Isabella (see Ferdinand
and Isabella)
Islam
Itzcóatl
Jamaica
James I
Jenne-Jeno (see
Djenne-Djeno)
Jesuits
Jews
John III
Kaabu, kingdom of
Kayor (see Cayor)
khipu
Kongo
Kotoko
Lane, Ralph
L’Anse aux Meadows
Las Casas, Bartolomé de
Laudonnière, René de
Le Moyne, Jacques
Leo x
Leo Africanus
Leonardo da Vinci
Léry, Jean de
Levant Company
Lima
limpieza de sangre
Linschoten, Jan Huygen
van
Lisbon
London
Luba
Luhya
Luther, Martin
Mabila
Machu Picchu
Madeira
Magellan, Ferdinand
Mahfuz, emir of Adal (see
Ethiopia)
Ma Huan
maize (see corn)
Mali
Malinche
Maliseet
Mandeville, Sir John
Mansa Musa I
Manteo
Mantoac
mappae mundi
marabout
Maravi
Martinique
Mary I
Massachusett
Maya
Mbundu
Mecca
Mendoza, Antonio de
Mercator, Gerhardus
mestizaje
mestizo
Mexico
Michelangelo
middle passage
Mississippian
Moctezuma II xocoyotzin
Mohawk
Monardes, Nicholas
monsters
Montagnais-Naskapi
Monte Albán
Monte Verde
Montserrat
Moryson, Fynes
Mossi
mound builders
Mpongwe
Nahua
Nahuatl
Narváez, Pánfilo de
Natchez
Native American religion
navigation technology
Nevis
New Mexico
New Spain
New World
Niger River
Norse
Northeast Passage
Northwest Passage
Norumbega
Nzinga
Ojeda, Alonso de
Olmecs
Oñate, Juan de
Oneida
Onondaga
Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo
Fernández de
Oyo
Palenque
Panama
paper
Parliament
Parmenius, Stephen
Passamaquoddy
pearl diving
Peckham, Sir George
Peru
Peter Martyr
Philip II
Picts
Pigafetta, Antonio
Pizarro, Francisco
plague
Polo, Marco
Ponce de León, Juan
population trends
Porres, St. Martín de
Portuguese seaborne
empire
Potosí
Powhatan
Prester John
Príncipe
printing press
List of Entries
Privy Council
Pueblo
Puerto Rico
Purchas, Samuel
Puritans
Quetzalcoatl
Ralegh, Sir Walter
Ramusio, Giovanni
Battista
Reconquista
reducción
Reformation
religion (see individual
entries)
repartimiento
Requerimiento
Ricci, Matteo
Roanoke
Sahagún, Bernardino de
Sahara
salt trade
Sandoval, Gonzalo de
Sandys, Sir Edwin
San Martín de Porres (see
Porres, St. Martín de)
Santa Fe
São Tomé
scribal publication
Secotan
Seneca
Senegambia
Sepúlveda, Juan Ginés de
Sequeira, Diogo Lopes de
Settle, Dionyse
Seville
Shakespeare, William
shipwreck narratives
Silk Road
silver
slavery
slave trade
smallpox
Songhai
Soto, Hernando de
Spanish Armada
Spice Islands
Stade, Hans
Sudan
Sufism
sugar
Suleiman I
Sundiata Keita
Tabasco
Tacuba
Taino
Tarascan
Téké
Tempest, The
Tenochtitlán
Teotihuacán
Tezcatlipoca
Thevet, André
Tikal
Timbuktu
Timucua
Tlacacla
Tláloc
Tlaxcala
tobacco
Toltecs
T-O maps
Tordesillas, Treaty of
Toxcatl (see
Tezcatlipoca)
travel narratives
Trent, Council of
Tuareg
Tula (see Toltecs)
Tupinambá
Valdivia, Pedro de
Velázquez, Diego de
Venice
Veracruz
Verrazano, Giovanni da
Vespucci, Amerigo
Vikings (see Norse)
Vinland
Vitoria, Francisco de
Waldseemüller, Martin
Walsingham, Sir Francis
Wanchese
werowance
White, John
witches
xicotencatl the Elder
xicotencatl the Younger
Yoruba
Yucatán Peninsula
zacatecas
zambo
zumárraga, Juan de
zuni
xi
★
About the Editors
General Editor: Gary B. Nash received a Ph.D. from
Princeton University. He is director of the National Center
for History in the Schools at the University of California,
Los Angeles, where he teaches American history of the
colonial and Revolutionary era. He is a published author of
college and precollegiate history texts. Among his best-selling works are the coauthored American People: Creating
a Nation and Society (Longman, 1998), now in its seventh
edition; American Odyssey: The U.S. in the Twentieth
Century (McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 1999), now in its fourth
edition; and The Atlas of American History, coauthored
with Carter Smith (Facts On File, 2006).
Nash is an elected member of the Society of American
Historians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the American Antiquarian Society, and the American
Philosophical Society. He has served as past president
of the Organization of American Historians in 1994–95
and was a founding member of the National Council for
History Education. His latest books include First City:
Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), The Unknown
American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and
the Struggle to Create America (Viking, 2005), and The
Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Era of Revolution
(Harvard University Press, 2006).
Volume Editor: Peter C. Mancall is professor of history and
anthropology at the University of Southern California (USC)
and director of the USC–Huntington Early Modern Studies
Institute. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and
is an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society.
He is the author of several books, including Deadly Medicine:
Indians and Alcohol in Early America (Cornell University
Press, 1995), Hakluyt’s Promise: An Elizabethan’s Obsession
for an English America (Yale University Press, 2007), and
Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson (Basic
Books, 2009), and the editor of eight books, including Travel
Narratives from the Age of Discovery (Oxford University
Press, 2006) and The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550–1624
(University of North Carolina Press, 2007).
xii
★
Foreword
The Encyclopedia of American History series is designed as a handy reference
to the most important individuals, events, and topics in U.S. history. In 10 volumes, the encyclopedia covers the period from the 15th century, when European
explorers first made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, to the
present day. The encyclopedia is written for precollegiate as well as college students, for parents of young learners in the schools, and for the general public.
The volume editors are distinguished historians of American history. In writing
individual entries, each editor has drawn upon the expertise of scores of specialists. This ensures the scholarly quality of the entire series. Articles contributed
by the various volume editors are uncredited.
This 11-volume encyclopedia of “American history” is broadly conceived
to include the historical experience of the various peoples of North America.
Thus, in the first volume, many essays treat the history of a great range of
indigenous people before contact with Europeans. In the same vein, readers will find essays in the first several volumes that sketch Spanish, Dutch,
and French explorers and colonizers who opened up territories for European
settlement that later would become part of the United States. The venues and
cast of characters in the American historical drama are thus widened beyond
traditional encyclopedias.
In creating the eras of American history that define the chronological limits
of each volume, and in addressing major topics in each era, the encyclopedia
follows the architecture of The National Standards for United States History,
Revised Edition (Los Angeles: National Center for History in the Schools, 1996).
Mandated by the U.S. Congress, the national standards for U.S. history have
been widely used by states and school districts in organizing curricular frameworks and have been followed by many other curriculum-building efforts.
Entries are cross-referenced, when appropriate, with See also citations at
the end of articles. At the end of most entries, a listing of articles and books
allows readers to turn to specialized sources and historical accounts. In each
volume, an array of maps provide geographical context, while numerous illustrations help vivify the material covered in the text. A time line is included to
provide students with a chronological reference to major events occurring in
the given era. The selection of historical documents in the back of each volume gives students experience with the raw documents that historians use when
researching history. A comprehensive index to each volume also facilitates the
reader’s access to particular information.
xiii
xiv
Foreword
In each volume, long entries are provided for major categories of American
historical experience. These categories may include: African Americans, agriculture, art and architecture, business, economy, education, family life, foreign policy, immigration, labor, Native Americans, politics, population, religion,
urbanization, and women. By following these essays from volume to volume, the
reader can access what might be called a mini-history of each broad topic, for
example, family life, immigration, or religion.
—Gary B. Nash
University of California, Los Angeles
★
Foreword to the
Revised Edition
“History has to be rewritten in every generation because, although the past
does not change, the present does,” writes Lord Christopher Hill, one of Great
Britain’s most eminent historians. “Each generation asks new questions of the
past, and finds new areas of sympathy as it re-lives different aspects of the experiences of its predecessors.” It is this understanding, that the pursuit of historical
knowledge requires new research and new reflections on the past, that undergirds a revised and extended edition of the Encyclopedia of American History.
The individual volume editors of this revised edition have made important additions and revisions to the original edition published in 2003. Most
important, they have added many new entries—several hundred for the entire
11-volume set. This puts more meat on the bone of what was already a comprehensive encyclopedia that presented four centuries of American history in
all its diversity and complexity. For the 10th volume, covering the period from
1969 to the present, new entries cover momentous events and important figures of the last six years. For the other volumes, new entries increase the diversity of Americans covered by biographical accounts as well as events that new
scholarship shows have had greater importance than recognized heretofore.
In addition, careful attention has been given to correcting occasional errors
in the massive number of entries in the first edition. Also, many entries have
been revised to add further details while making adjustments, based on new
scholarship, to the interpretation of key events and movements. Consonant with
that effort to make the encyclopedia as fresh and usable as possible, the volume editors have added many new recently published books to the “Further
Reading” notes at the ends of the entries, and new full-color historical maps
help put history in its geographical context.
—Gary B. Nash
xv
★
Introduction
Three Worlds Meet covers the period from 1492, when Christopher Columbus
made his historic voyage to the west, to 1607, the year of the founding of the
English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. It treats “American” history from
what we can call its conception to its birth. Unlike the other volumes in this
series, Three Worlds Meet does not focus on the territory that eventually became
the United States. Instead, the entries here cover aspects of the history of the
Atlantic world and the four continents on its periphery. Readers will find much
on early modern Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Although some entries span
the landmass of the modern-day United States, most focus on the peoples from
different continents who encountered one another in the century following
Columbus’s expedition.
What follows in these pages will provide readers with the background
necessary for understanding the development of the United States. Even as
late as 1607 there was no guarantee that the English would establish successful colonies in North America. At that time, the indigenous peoples in
the Americas still believed that their lives and communities were secure. The
noxious commerce in human beings known as the slave trade had only begun
to bring Africans to the Western Hemisphere. Various Europeans envisioned
colonies in North America, and books circulating across the Continent from
printing presses (a new invention) offered abundant information about what
could be found across the Atlantic. Much of the information turned out to
be false, and many peoples’ dreams never came to fulfillment, but the events
from 1492 to 1607 nonetheless left a legacy that Americans continue to confront five centuries later.
—Peter C. Mancall
University of Southern California
xvii
ENTRIES
A TO Z
A
★
Huron society, women raised crops and cared for children,
but through the story of Aataentsic they were “flattered by
being mythically endowed with dangerous and aggressive
qualities.” The idea that Aataentsic and her son, though
very different in personality, lived together in a bark cabin
may have emphasized the complementary roles men and
women played in daily life.
Aataentsic
The Huron believed that Aataentsic, although “the mother
of mankind” in their creation story, was a deity who brought
harm to human beings.
According to the Huron, Aataentsic had originally
dwelled in the sky with her husband, where spirits lived in
a forested land much like earth. One day she fell to earth
through a hole in the sky. As she fell toward the ocean that
covered the world, the tortoise saw her falling. He told the
other water animals to dive and bring up earth. As they
returned, they piled the earth on his back, forming the land.
Aataentsic fell safely on this land. Soon after her fall, she gave
birth to twin sons, Iouskeha and Tawiscaron. Iouskeha sought
to help human beings. He brought good weather, made the
lakes and rivers, and showed human beings how to hunt. He
also taught people to use fire and grow corn. His brother
Tawiscaron was not favorably disposed to humans, and when
the brothers grew up they fought, and Iouskeha drove him
away. His blood, which fell on the ground as he fled, turned
into flint. After this time, Iouskeha and Aataentsic lived
together in a bark house far from Huron country.
Aataentsic, who may be identified either as Iouskeha’s
mother or his maternal grandmother, tried to undo his
good works and to harm human beings. She sent disease,
made people die, and controlled the souls of the dead. If
a traveling Huron found her cabin, she would try to harm
him, but her son would try to help the unfortunate traveler.
She appeared as an old woman, though she could make
herself young again as she pleased. Iouskeha grew old like
any human being, but when he became old could rejuvenate himself and become young again.
The anthropologist Bruce Trigger suggested that the
story of Aataentsic and Iouskeha functioned to compensate
both men and women for the limitations in their roles in
daily life. Men, who killed animals in the hunt and other
human beings in war, were aggressors in daily life. The male
deity Iouskeha, on the other hand, was a life-bringer who
gave human beings corn and fire and tried to help them. In
Further reading: Elisabeth Tooker, An Ethnography of
the Huron Indians, 1615–1649 (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse
University Press, 1991); Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of
Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, vol. 1
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1976); ———,
The Huron: Farmers of the North (New York: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston, 1969).
—Martha K. Robinson
Abenaki
The Abenaki, whose name means “People of the
Dawnland,” lived in northern New England when Native
Americans first met Europeans.
Before 1492, Abenaki territory extended from Lake
Champlain on the west to the White Mountains on the
east. From north to south it reached from southern Quebec
to the Vermont–Massachusetts border. Soon after contact
with Europeans the Abenaki suffered from devastating epidemics. The rate of depopulation from these epidemics,
which struck before sustained contact with Europeans, is
unknown but may have exceeded 75 percent. Because of
these death rates and because the first European explorers
to visit the Abenaki homeland left few accounts of their
journeys, Abenaki history is difficult to reconstruct.
The Indians of New England shared many cultural
traits. Many of the groups, including the eastern and western
Abenaki, the Maliseet, the Micmac, and the Passamaquoddy
nation, referred to themselves collectively as the Wabanaki.
The eastern Abenaki lived in Maine; the western Abenaki in
1
2 Abyssinia
New Hampshire and Vermont. The Abenaki did not have
the kind of formal tribal structure that Europeans looked
for among the peoples whom they met. Instead, they traveled in small bands made up of related families. These bands
might come together for a common purpose, such as planting, preparing for war, or holding religious ceremonies, but
the Abenaki did not recognize any central authority over all
the bands. The Abenaki did have chiefs, some of whom were
powerful. More commonly, chiefs had limited powers and
could not coerce their followers.
Because the growing season in northern New England
is short, the Abenaki did not rely on agriculture. They grew
corn, beans, tobacco, and squash, but the staples of their
diet came from hunting, fishing, and gathering. Abenaki
men hunted, while the women prepared food and clothing.
The Abenaki lived in conical wigwams or longhouses. In
either case, men constructed the frame, which the women
then covered with sewn bark pieces.
The Abenaki believed that the world was full of spiritual forces, some of which were hostile to people. They
believed that shamans, or medeoulin, could offer protection against dangerous forces. Such shamans might be dangerous themselves, since they could use their powers either
to help or to harm the people.
The first known Europeans to visit the area arrived with
Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524, though the Abenaki did
not participate in the fur trade until the 17th century. By
the early 17th century the eastern Abenaki and the Micmac
were fighting over access to European trade goods.
Further reading: Colin G. Calloway, The Abenaki (New
York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989); ———, The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600–1800: War, Migration and
the Survival of an Indian People (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1990); Gordon M. Day, “Western Abenaki,” in Handbook of North American Indians, William C.
Sturtevant, gen. ed., vol. 15, Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1978),
148–159; Dean R. Snow, “Eastern Abenaki,” in Northeast,
ed. Trigger, 137–147.
—Martha K. Robinson
Abyssinia See Ethiopia.
Acadia
The original designation for parts of the North American
eastern seaboard that once stretched from colonial New
Jersey to the present-day Canadian maritime provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island,
today Acadia refers only to the lands of present-day Maine
and the Canadian maritime provinces.
The origins of the name Acadia are unclear. Giovanni
da Verrazano, an Italian navigator who explored for
France, was the first known European to use the term.
Verrazano possibly derived it from words used to describe
the landscape such as quoddy or cadie, or more likely modified the word Arcadia, the term for a pastoral paradise
commonly used in Greek and Roman literature.
Human life in Acadia dates back at least 10,000
years, but knowledge of this history is poor because of
meager archaeological records. The circumstances of the
first meeting between Europeans and the peoples native
to Acadia also remains a matter of conjecture. By July,
1534, when the French explorer Jacques Cartier provided the first written account of the inhabitants of Acadia
after trading with a group of Micmac, many Europeans
had interacted with Native peoples. Cartier described the
Micmac and Maliseet peoples as enthusiastic traders;
the Abenaki, living along the Kennebec River in present-day Maine, impressed other writers with their barkcovered conical shelters and brilliantly engineered bark
canoes.
Often the early interchanges between European settlers and Micmac and other Native peoples were amiable, but eventually the relationships proved disastrous to
the indigenous peoples. The Micmac taught settlers how
to hunt the wildlife of Acadia and shared with them their
knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs. In return, the
French introduced alcohol and new diseases to the Native
peoples and helped instill a dependence on European
goods that hastened the ruin of traditional ways of life.
Early settlement also proved difficult for the French.
Many settlers succumbed to scurvy during the long winters of the early 1600s, while the politics of gaining commercial rights to the new territory, rather than concern for
the health of settlers, dominated the French mainland. The
majority of settlers, known as Acadians, depended upon
the land for their livelihood. They developed a system of
dikes that prevented marshes from being flooded by high
saltwater tides, yet allowed rainwater and melting snow to
flow out. This ingenious alteration of the landscape converted vast salt marshes into arable land. The tremendous
amount of labor required to build and maintain the dike
system bound neighbors together while the reliability of
crop yields spared established communities the miseries of
famine. Later, from 1680 to 1740—an epoch known as the
golden age of Acadian history—Acadian birth rates were
high and child mortality relatively low. Large families of
many generations often lived under the same roof, held
together by kinship ties and Catholicism.
Though smaller communities were relatively stable,
larger political struggles continually interfered in Acadian
life. The English claimed the region by rights of the 1497
and 1498 explorations of navigator John Cabot, but
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