Description
Natchez, North American Indian tribe that inhabited the east side of the lower Mississippi River. When French colonizers first interacted with the Natchez in the early 18th century, the tribal population comprised about 6,000 individuals living in nine villages between the Yazoo and Pearl rivers near the site of the present-day city of Natchez, Miss. The Natchez are noted for being the only Mississippian culture with complex chiefdom characteristics to have survived long into the period of European colonization. In 1731, after several wars with the French, the Natchez were defeated. Most of the captured survivors were shipped to Saint-Domingue and sold by into slavery; others took refuge with other tribes.
Language
The Natchez language is generally considered a language isolate. As originally proposed by John Swanton in the early 20th century, some scholars believe that it may be related to the Muskogean languages.
Culture
The early ancestors of the Natchez hunted and gathered in forests and fished in creeks and rivers of southwest Mississippi. With the introduction of the bow and arrow and improved cultivation of maize (corn), beans, and squash, the natives began to settle into the more sedentary life of farming. The rich soils and climate of Mississippi created fertile ground for crop cultivation. It was during this period (800-1400 A.D.) that hundreds, or possibly thousands of elaborate earthworks (mounds) were constructed along the Mississippi River and tributaries.