Confederacies and Chiefdoms - Essay Example

Confederacies and Chiefdoms The ancient world was organized differently from the modern world that we live today. The political organization was not uniform even within a single country, with different communities having different forms of political organizations. The Eastern North America is one perfect examples of a region that had multiple political organizations of communities, which presents a suitable opportunity for the comparison and contrast of the different types of political organizations that were found in this period. The region was inhabited by different communities, which had different ways of organizing their political authority thus providing a system of giving their communities some sense of order and leadership. The main forms of political organizations that were found in the Eastern North America were Confederacies and Chiefdoms (Diaz-Granados & Duncan, 2004). The major communities that were living in this region include the Hurons, the Iroquois and the Powhattans, operating under the political organization form of confederacy, and the Cahokia, who were mainly organized in the chiefdom political organization form (Johnson & Smith, 2003). The Confederacies and Chiefdoms shared various characteristics in common while they also had many other traits that differentiated both forms of political organization. While the confederacies mainly had various constituencies brought under one leadership, such as various tribes being unified under one leader, the chiefdoms mainly entailed the political organization of a single community (Johansen, 2005). Therefore, this discussion seeks to investigate the comparison and contrasts between the Confederacies and Chiefdoms in the Eastern North America, with a view to understanding the number of people under each form of political organization, the nature of their powers and the reasons behind the formations. There were three main confederacies that inhabited the Eastern North America, namely the Hurons, the Iroquois and the Powhattans (Johnson & Smith, 2003). The three confederacies took the form of having one single leader who was in charge of different tribes or communities that had been united to form a confederacy. The confederacies were mainly found in the regions of Southern Ontario, near lakes Ontario and Erie, where the Huron confederacy occupied, while the Iroquois confederacy occupied the central New York region and the Powhattans occupied the Chesapeake regions (Johansen, 2005). On the other hand, the chiefdoms were organizations of a single community under the leadership of their chiefs, who wielded much authority and powers over the people and established informal government structures, with their aides under them, who were responsible for overseeing the implementation of the chief’s authority by the different sections of the community. The chiefdoms occupied the major river ways of the Mississippi River hence their being referred to as the Mississippian chiefdoms (Milner, 2006). The advantages in both forms of political organization is that the coming together of tribes and communities gave the political organizations the strength to fight against their enemies as opposed to when they could fight as single tribes or communities. However, the disadvantage is that the political organizations allowed for the leaders to exploit their subjects since their word was the authority. Therefore, the subjects had to share the spoils of their hunting, gathering and agricultural exploits with the leaders, through paying such exploits as tribute to the leaders (Milner, 2006). The population estimate of the confederacies and the chiefdoms in the eastern North America region has been the subject of controversy between archeologists. However, there is an agreement between the archeologists, based on the archeological artifacts that have been discovered in this region, that hunting and gathering was the main social and economic activity of the people, while agriculture eventually developed especially in the chiefdoms found around the Mississippi area, as evidenced by traces of agricultural remains such as corn (Diaz-Granados & Duncan, 2004). Therefore, the political organizations were organized in the form of the paramount chief heading the confederacy or the chiefdom, who then had the diplomacy and trade powers to negotiate with the neighboring communities for the exchange of their hunting and agricultural products, while also determining the state of warfare necessary for the political organization (Milner, 2006). There is a general agreement between the archeologists regarding the population of the Powhatan confederacy and that of the Cahokia chiefdom, with estimating the population to be 14,000-21,000 for the Powhatan confederacy, and that of the Huron confederacy estimated to be between 20,000-25,000, while that of the Cahokia chiefdom was estimated at 30,000-40,000, by the thirteenth century (Milner, 2006). The major aspect of comparison between the confederacies and the chiefdoms is the fact that both forms of political organizations were established with the motive of defending territories (Diaz-Granados & Duncan, 2004). The size of the territory that was owned and occupied by a certain community, tribe or empire highly defined its superiority in the region (Johansen, 2005). Thus, most of the ancient communities valued territorial expansion as a major activity of the community, which would constantly fight against their neighboring communities to annex territories and thus expand theirs. The archeological artifacts found in the central New York region suggest that the early inhabitants of the region were warring communities since various kind of weaponry have been excavated in the region (Milner, 2006). Before the colonization of America by the Europeans, the Native American communities occupied specified territories, which they used as their bases for hunting and eventually agricultural activities. However, the communities constantly experienced the threats of territorial invasions and annexation by the neighboring communities which made the need to protect their territories fundamental (Diaz-Granados & Duncan, 2004). Therefore, both the confederacies and the chiefdoms were established with the main objective of uniting the people living within the territory so that they could fight against the external aggression by the other communities, who threatened to invade and annex some of their territories. The other similarity between the Confederacies and Chiefdoms is the fact that both political organizations concentrated the tools of political powers and authority under one main leader, mostly the chief. Therefore, the chiefs were the main symbols of authority within these political organizations, who ruled the communities through his aides (Milner, 2006). The chiefs had the powers to take any action against any individual within such communities, who they deemed were a threat to the peaceful coexistence of the community or whom they though threatened to destabilize the political organization. The chiefs had absolute powers on their subjects, which was exercised through the chiefs’ aides and the community warring and defense unit, which comprised the young men from the community who had been recruited as warriors and soldiers to protect their communities (Johansen, 2005). The aides and the warriors also served the internal functions of ensuring that the authority of the chief was felt and implemented to the letter by the members of the confederacies and the chiefdoms. However, there are many aspects of the two forms of political organization, which differentiates them. The reason behind the formation of the confederacy and the chiefdoms is different. First, the major difference between the confederacies and the chiefdoms is the societies or communities that constituted each form of political organization. While the confederacies were mainly established by the warring communities and tribes, the chiefdoms were mainly formed by the rather peaceful hunter and gathering communities (Milner, 2006). For example, the Iroquois confederacy was established by 5 different Iroquois tribes, which had experienced the inter-tribal wars for long, and thus wanted to unite as a peace making effort while also using the formation of the confederacy as a strategy to strengthen them and thus enable them to fight their enemies (Johnson & Smith, 2003). This presents the major point of contrast between the confederacies and the chiefdom political organizations being the reasons behind their establishment. While the chiefdoms were established to consolidate their powers and authority under one main leader, who guided the community and thus helped to establish a system of leadership and order in the society, the confederacies were established as a peace-making effort while also strengthening the uniting tribes or communities, against their enemies (Diaz-Granados & Duncan, 2004). References Diaz-Granados, C., & Duncan, J. R. (2004). The rock-art of eastern North America: Capturing images and insight. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Johansen, B. E. (2005). The Native peoples of North America: A history. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. Johnson, M., & Smith, J. (2003). Tribes of the Iroquois confederacy: [...]. Oxford [u.a.: Osprey. Milner, G. R. (2006). The Cahokia chiefdom: The archaeology of a Mississippian society. Gainesville: University press of Florida. Read More