Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy

by Usner, Daniel H., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780807843581
• ISBN10: 080784358X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-04-01
• Publisher: Omohundro Inst of Early Amer

Summary

In this pioneering book Daniel Usner examines the economic and cultural interactions among the Indians, Europeans, and African slaves of colonial Louisiana, including the province of West Florida. Rather than focusing on a single cultural group or on a particular economic activity, this study traces the complex social linkages among Indian villages, colonial plantations, hunting camps, military outposts, and port towns across a large region of pre-cotton South. Usner begins by providing a chronological overview of events from French settlement of the area in 1699 to Spanish acquisition of West Florida after the Revolution. He then shows how early confrontations and transactions shaped the formation of Louisiana into a distinct colonial region with a social system based on mutual needs of subsistence. Usner's focus on commerce allows him to illuminate the motives in the contest for empire among the French, English, and Spanish, as well as to trace the personal networks of communication and exchange that existed among the territory's inhabitants. By revealing the economic and social world of early Louisianians, he lays the groundwork for a better understanding of later Southern society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Illustrations and Tables
Abbreviations
Introduction	p. 1
The Evolution of a Colonial Region, 1699-1783	p. 11
Trade and Settlement in the Formation of a Colonial Region	p. 13
Divergence within Colonial and Indian Societies	p. 44
The Indian Alliance Network of a Marginal European Colony	p. 77
Change and Continuity during the Years of Partition	p. 105
The Frontier Exchange Economy	p. 145
Farming, Hunting, and Herding	p. 149
Food Marketing and the Evolution of Regional Foodways	p. 191
Soldiers, Sailors, and Rowers	p. 219
The Deerskin Trade as a Market System	p. 244
Conclusion	p. 276
Index	p. 287
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