TRIBAL MIGRATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 



By DAVID I. BUSHNELI., JR. 



(With Four Maps) 



INTRODUCTION 



The map entitled " Linguistic Families of American Indians North 

 of Mexico ", by J. W. Powell, issued by the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, some years ago and several times 

 revised and reprinted, indicates the position of the various groups of 

 tribes when they first became known to Europeans. The map, as its 

 title implies, includes the entire North American continent north of 

 Mexico, but in the present paper, only that portion bordering on 

 the lower Mississippi, and eastward to the Atlantic coast, will be 

 considered. 



The principal stocks indicated on the map as having been encountered 

 within this region during historic times, those with whom the early 

 Spanish and French explorers came in contact during the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries, as well as others who entered the country 

 or subsequently changed their position, are the Caddoan, Siouan, and 

 Algonquian, west of the Mississippi, and the Muskhogean, Algonquian, 

 Iroquoian, Timuquanan, and Siouan, together with a small group of 

 Uchean, east of the river. 



Although some of the native tribes may have been long established 

 in the localities in which they were discovered, it is evident that move- 

 ments of various separated groups had taken place during the genera- 

 tions immediately preceding their first contact with Europeans. It is 

 likewise believed that sufficient evidence is now available, as a result 

 of the investigation of many ancient sites, and a comparative study of 

 the languages, customs, and traditions of the scattered tribes, to make 

 it possible to trace, with a degree of certainty, the routes followed by 

 the tribes during their migrations, and to discover some of the causes 

 that may have impelled their removal into the regions which they con- 

 tinued to occupy in historic times. 



Four maps have been prepared to indicate the country occupied or 

 traversed by the several groups during their migrations. The maps 

 are presented not only in the endeavor to trace the possible routes 

 followed by the tribes, but also in the attempt to ascertain the prob- 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 89, No. 12 



