Now we are
getting into one of the most interesting, and often very tragic and sad, parts of the
Loess Hills story. Here are several links to follow:
- The first humans to reach the Lower Mississippi Valley's Loess Hills
were a people referred to today as the Paleo Indians.
- Eventually many tribes or nations of Indian lived among the Loess
Hills. In fact, our region appears to have been a kind of tribal
magnet.
- When the Europeans arrived, life among the Loess Hills' Indian
nations was rich and diverse.
- The first Europeans to visit the Loess Hills was a roving band of
Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernando de Soto.
- European diseases decimated the Southeast's
Indian populations.
- One tribe still maintaining many of its old traditions when European
Settlers began arriving was the Natchez Indians.
- Conflict between the French and English
pitted Indian nation against Indian nation, and sped the Indian demise.
- A few hundred Chickasaws were the last Indians
to live on their ancestral homes in our Loess Hills.
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