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The Illinois and the Edge Effect: Bison Algonquians in the Colonial Mississippi Valley

This is a new history of the middle of the North American continent from the standpoint of the Native American people who controlled it from well before contact through the early 19th century. Beginning in the 1400s, the Illinois rose to power by exploiting unique social and ecological opportunities in-between the woodlands of the east and the plains of the west. Becoming North America's only "bison Algonquians," they built power based on bison hunting and the slave trade, and settled the largest population center on the continent in the 1680s. This book will be the first narrative ethnohistory and environmental history of the Illinois. Moreover, it will use the lens of human-animal studies, as well as archaeology, linguistics, and material culture, to tell early American history in new way. In time for the celebration of Illinois' state bicentennial in 2018, this book will bring to light the history of Native power in the heart of America.

Project fields:
Native American Studies; U.S. History

Program:
Fellowships for University Teachers

Division:
Research Programs

Total amounts:
$50,400 (approved)
$50,400 (awarded)

Grant period:
8/1/2016 – 7/31/2017