By the time Europeans had begun their invasion of North America, American Indians had been engaged in farming—in raising a variety of food crops—for thousands of years. For Indian people in the Southwest and in the Southeast, farming was the primary source of calories, while farther north, in the Great Lakes area, farming was of secondary economic importance.
The reduced importance of agriculture in that area was due largely to climatic conditions. Throughout much of the region, the 140 growing-day season made agriculture a risky endeavor. A later spring or an early fall meant that crop failures were a constant possibility. There are, however, microclimates along the Great Lakes which offer more suitable conditions for agriculture and offer a slightly longer growing period.
When the Europeans began arriving in the Western Great Lakes area, the primary Indian crops--maize (corn), beans, and squash (often collectively known as The Three Sisters)-- were plants that had been originally domesticated in Mexico. However, it should be noted that there was an indigenous agriculture prior to the diffusion of the Mexican crops. In addition to the Three Sisters, Indian people also raised other crops, including tobacco and potatoes.
Tobacco was an important ceremonial and trade plant. Tobacco smoking is a symbolic way of enhancing the communication between individuals, between groups, and between the people and the supernatural. Tobacco is used for all important activities. This includes sprinkling of tobacco on the water as an offering to the underwater spirits just before getting into a canoe; offering a pinch of tobacco to the earth where other ceremonial plants are gathered; providing tobacco to someone when a special request is made. Anthropologist Victor Barnouw, in his book Acculturation and Personality Among the Wisconsin Chippewa, writes:
“Tobacco always redresses the balance which man upsets.”
The oldest form of tobacco cultivated and use in this area was Nicotaina rustica. This tobacco, often described as “strong-tasting”, was cultivated in small patches, and was used in religious ceremonies. According to archaeologist Mark Wagner, in his chapter in Stone Tool Traditions in the Contact Era:
“Many Native American groups reserved N. rustica for use in religious and other ceremonies while using the commercially obtained N. tabacum for recreational smoking.”
Nicotaina tabacum was originally cultivated in Brazil and was introduced to North America by the Europeans who raised it as a commercial crop.
Briefly described below are a few of the aboriginal agricultural practices of some of the Great Lakes tribes. These tribes include the Algonquian-speaking Anishinaabe (Ojibwa or Chippewa), Shawnee, Ottawa, and Sauk and the Siouan-speaking Dakota and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago).
Anishinaabe
Among the Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwa and Chippewa), the men would break the ground for the crops, but the women, assisted by the older children, would do the actual cultivation. Among the Anishinaabe in Minnesota, corn and squash were the most important crops, but the people also grew potatoes, beans, and pumpkins.
Writing about the Anishinaabe in Minnesota, Timothy Roufs, in his book The Anishinaabe of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, reports:
“Domesticated crops provided an important supplement to the hunting-gathering-fishing-economic base of the Ojibwa and contributed significantly to the winter stores.”
Frequently, once the fields were planted, the people would leave the village for a summer hunt and to visit other villages. They would then return to the fields in time to harvest the crops.
Ottawa
Among the Ottawa, women would remain in the summer village to tend the crops while the men went off to hunt.
Illinois
The Illinois (or Illini) were a confederacy of Algonquian-speaking groups which included the Kaskaskia, Maroa, Tamaroa, Tapouaro, Coiracoentanon, Moingwena, Espeminkia, Chinkoa, Chepoussa, Kahoki (Cahokia), Michigami (Michigamae), Wea, Piankashaw, Peoria, Mascouten, and Miami.
The Illinois women would plant corn about the first of May and then harvest their first crop at the end of July. There was usually a second harvest in August. In addition to corn, the Illinois also planted beans, squash, and watermelons.
Shawnee
The Shawnee were a confederacy of five political units: Chillicothe (Chalahgawtha), Hathawekela (also spelled as Thawekila or Thawegila), Kispoko (Kispokotha), Mequachake (Mekoche or Maykujay), and Piqua (Pekowi).
The Shawnee used slash and burn agriculture. The fields would be cleared and then burned so that the wood ash would fertilize the soil. Corn would be planted first. When the corn was about a foot high, beans, squash, and pumpkin were interplanted with the corn.
Among the Shawnee, a slightly fermented corn drink was made. Flint corn would be allowed to ripen and dry on the stalk. The kernels were then boiled in water until it became a heavy whitish mass. This would be set away until it fermented and then used. It is described as tasting something like a sweet pickle.
Sauk
Before leaving on their winter hunt, the Sauk would cache corn and other provisions in underground storage facilities.
Dakota
The Dakota in Minnesota would return to their summer planting villages in the late spring. In noting that the nineteenth century Euro-American writers never referred to the summer villages as planting villages, Janet Spector, in her book What This Awl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a Wahpeton Dakota Village, writes:
“Perhaps writers felt that by calling such encampments ‘planting villages,’ they would draw attention to two things about the Dakota that many Euro-Americans consistently denied or attempted to change: first, the Dakota, like the settlers who coveted the Dakota’s land, were farmers, not just hunters; and second, that woman, not men, farmed the land.”
Ho-Chunk
Among the Ho-Chunk (also known as the Winnebago), the fields were usually owned and worked by the clan. In the center of each field would be an earthen representation of the clan animal.
To prepare the corn for storage, the Ho-Chunk would dig a large pit which would then be lined with leaves. The corn would be placed in the pit and covered with more leaves and with earth. This would preserve the corn until needed later in the winter.
As an alternative to pit storage, the Ho-Chunk sometimes lined the pit with stones and build a large fire in it. Once the fire had gone out, the corn would be placed on the hot stones, covered with husks, and then sprinkled with water. The pit would then be covered with earth and after about 12 hours the corn would be uncovered and removed.
More about American Indians
Indians 101: Iroquois Farming
Indians 101: Aboriginal Farming in New England
Indians 101: Acoma Farming
Indians 101: Pawnee farming
Indians 101: Mandan farming, hunting, and fishing
Indians 101: A Brief Overview of the Illinois Indians
Indians 101: A Short Overview of the Huron Indians
Indians 101: A very short overview of the Shawnee Indians
