Early Illinois Confederation

  General Description   Our early Illinois period refers to the span of time from 1640 CE, the approximate date of the first European written reports of the Illinois (also known as Inoca, Illiniwek, Illini) Indians, ^[1] to 1717, when the Illinois Country was incorporated into the French colony of Louisiane. ^[2] From the 1660s and 1670s onwards, France claimed title to the Illinois Country (Pays des Illinois) as part of its North American colonial possessions, but French presence in the region before 1717 was generally limited to small numbers of missionaries and traders. ^[3] In this early contact period, the Illinois were theoretically under the ’protection’ of the French crown, but in practice maintained their autonomy. ^[4] The region referred to as the Illinois Country in both modern and older sources was located to the east of the Middle Mississippi river, bounded to the north by Lake Michigan, to the south by the Ohio river, and to the west by the Wabash. ^[5] However, it is likely that the Illinois-speaking groups encountered by Europeans in the 17th century had arrived in this area relatively recently, possibly migrating westwards from the Lake Erie basin. ^[6]
Population and political organization
Despite the use of the term ’Illinois Confederacy’ to describe Illinois society, there is no indication in the written sources of intertribal political organizations such as those found among Iroquoian groups to the northeast in the same period. ^[7] Political leadership was provided by both peace chiefs - who played important diplomatic roles, such as conducting calumet (peace pipe) ceremonies for visitors, but had relatively little formal authority - and war chiefs, who organized raids on other settlements. ^{[8] [9]}
In the post-contact period (specifically in the late 17th century), the Illinois formed large villages close to French forts and trading posts, most notably the Grand Village of the Kaskaskia. ^[10] It has traditionally been assumed that these large settlements, which included Illinois speakers from various subgroups as well as Chickasaws, Shawnees and others, functioned almost as refugee centres as the Illinois fled attacks from the Iroquois to the east and clustered together in the wake of disease and depopulation. ^{[10] [11]} Historian Robert Morrissey has offered an alternative interpretation, arguing that the large Illinois villages represented an aggressive ’bid for power’ based on bison hunting and slave raiding and strategically positioned between the woodlands to the east and the grasslands of the west. ^[12] Nevertheless, what is not in doubt is that the Illinois suffered drastic population losses in the post-contact period, falling from around 12,000 people in 1680 to just 1,900 by 1763. ^[13]

[1]: (Illinois State Museum 2000) Illinois State Museum. 2000. "The Illinois: History." MuseumLink Illinois. http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/il_hi.html. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/PT8275IS.

[2]: (Walthall and Emerson 1992, 9-10) Walthall, John A., and Thomas E. Emerson. 1992. "Indians and French in the Midcontinent." In Calumet and Fleur-De-Lys: French and Indian Interaction in the Midcontinent, edited by John A. Walthall and Thomas E. Emerson, 1-13. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2VQKWPMN.

[3]: (Walthall and Emerson 1992, 8-9) Walthall, John A., and Thomas E. Emerson. 1992. "Indians and French in the Midcontinent." In Calumet and Fleur-De-Lys: French and Indian Interaction in the Midcontinent, edited by John A. Walthall and Thomas E. Emerson, 1-13. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2VQKWPMN.

[4]: (Havard 2013, 117) Havard, Gilles. 2013. "’Protection’ and ’Unequal Alliance’: The French Conception of Sovereignty over Indians in New France." In French and Indians in the Heart of North America, 1630-1815, edited by Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale, 113-37. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IDG32ZN9.

[5]: (Walthall and Emerson 1991, 5) Walthall, John A., and Thomas E. Emerson. 1991. "French Colonial Archaeology." In French Colonial Archaeology: The Illinois Country and the Western Great Lakes, edited by John A. Walthall, 78-84. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQWPU4VH.

[6]: (Hall 1997, 173) Hall, Robert L. 1997. An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian Belief and Ritual. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8KH357GV.

[7]: (Callender 1978, 673) Callender, C. 1978. "Illinois." In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by B. Trigger. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TD2AIF67.

[8]: (Callender 1978, 676) Callender, C. 1978. "Illinois." In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by B. Trigger. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TD2AIF67.

[9]: (Illinois State Museum 2000) Illinois State Museum. 2000. "The Illinois Indians: Society: Leaders." MuseumLink Illinois. http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/soc_leaders.html. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/REVSHE82.

[10]: (Morrissey 2015, 681-82) Morrissey, Robert Michael. 2015. "The Power of the Ecotone: Bison, Slavery, and the Rise and Fall of the Grand Village of the Kaskaskia." Journal of American History 102 (3): 667-92. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZDDVHJMV.

[11]: (Nichols 1998, 36-37) Nichols, Roger L. 1998. Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8H2XHS76.

[12]: (Morrissey 2015, 668-69) Morrissey, Robert Michael. 2015. "The Power of the Ecotone: Bison, Slavery, and the Rise and Fall of the Grand Village of the Kaskaskia." Journal of American History 102 (3): 667-92. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZDDVHJMV.

[13]: (Hauser 2015, 299) Hauser, Raymond E. 2015. "Illinois." In Colonial Wars of North America, 1512-1763: An Encyclopedia, edited by Alan Gallay, 299-300. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/QS4Z9FFR.