Kyzyl
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From the author, PeterVexillographer on reddit:
Yá'át'ééh everyone! This is a map I designed to show the traditional territories of the Indigenous nations of middle North America in their approximate 16th-century locations. Most similar maps place each nation in the area where each first European encounter occurred; but I wanted one that was set at a more specific time, and one that promoted a less colonial perspective - no hard border lines, and emphasizing Native names.
After a couple years of researching, drawing, and revising, here is the first edition of my map. I did my best to make it as complete as possible, and to confirm all information in multiple sources, but there are surely many knowledge gaps that still need to be filled. Corrections are most welcome if you have any to offer.
My hope is that this map will find its way to those more skilled than myself in Indian Country who can make it much more accurate and complete. So, I've released the entire project copyright-free into the public domain; anyone may copy, modify, or expand upon it in any way. Full HD downloads and GIS shapefiles available here.
My wish is to share this continent's rich history in a way that can give context to our settler neighbors while lifting Indigenous pride. I hope you enjoy browsing the map. :)
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianCountry/comments/svz9gy/map_of_indigenous_american_nations_c1500s_public/
runswithlag
This is awesome.
ArcaneM37
I live in Madison, WI and have learned a little about the Ho-Chunk who live(ed) here. They called my city Dejope meaning 4 lakes, and I bet you can't guess how many lakes we have. The Arboretum has restored or recreated a lot of the ecosystems that the Ho-chunk lived in and maintain the prairie portion with indian input on when to do controlled burns. It's fascinating, and I wish the whole forcing them off their land and fucking it up part hadn't happened.
HillOfBeans
This is really interesting, thanks!
TrumpRapesAndEatsChildren0002
That profound feeling of "fucking hell, all the things that got destroyed and we'll never get to see..."
Pseudobatrachotoxin
I think of all the old growth forests that were managed by the natives - trees that were sacred and cared for by many over the course of centuries… now probably some rich cunt’s table or floors, or returned as CO2 to the atmosphere to heat said cunt’s feet… why can’t we all just get along and stop trying to one-up each other in how depraved we can be? There’s more than enough for everyone to live well and all to prosper.
conglacious
chinook justice!
ATLandNerdy
This is why I like the Canadian term "First nations people", because there isn't just "a" native american, they were as diverse as any early country, and the only unifying property was european opression.
IWasGoingToMakeEspresso
Same. I have always struggled with all of the terms in the US for this and it bothers me now more than it ever has.
Smokinsalmon
First Nations does not mean all Indigenous people (the term we use now but legally we use Indian still) First Nations are mostly Southern groups with Inuit being generally more Northern and Metis being another consideration for First Nations who married newcomers e.g. European settlers usually Scottish and French.
MotoCanuck
How many are there? Also, what is that plotting number system the map uses?
Richek
Love to see the Uma represented in their original lands!
MarkWithAQue
yáadilá, that must have taken some time to do
raggeragnar
Info like this really ignites my brain into hyper interest.
jesuisgur
Just a nitpick: too bad it's in Mercator projection.
necrojoe
Honestly, find a local community college that offers any sort of "geography and history of [insert your region here]" class. Especially if you have one that offers classes for free. I've learned a lot from classes like this, and my classmates (though I do live in a very diverse area, so my current history and geography class had people from over 45 different countries).
Perkunas687
Years back I had a story idea, started doing research, and ended up with a ton of information on the Iroquois, books and articles galore. I just couldn't stop researching. I know enough now to know how much I don't know, and when I extrapolate that to all the other groups that were on the continent, it's like intellectually overwhelming.
IHaveGreatKittenRecipes
Knowing the entire history of all the cultures that were native to the Americas is like knowing the entire history of Europe *and* the Middle East *and* S.E. Asia all at once. So much happened here that we have no records of since writing only appeared in some cultures. I know so little of my own family history and culture because of the schools and the Trail and the lost elders and those gaps will likely never be filled, and I come from one of the moderately well researched bands (Choctaw).
highfidelityfood
Is there somewhere I can buy a large print of this?
Tuttle51
Very cool!
tollerscream
Nice Here's another one that's an interactive map, I wish more people knew about it. https://native-land.ca/
Pseudobatrachotoxin
This is quite awesome, thank you!
chumster
No Iroquois?
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
A language group and sorta an alliance system, not a nation. Though a couple of the ones up in Canada also strike me as flattening multiple nations/bands/tribes into language families, especially the Cree
chaylar
I bet the territory sizes are inversely proportionate to resource availability.
KuroFluff
I tried to pronounce Tsistsistas and my cats both stared at me.
anonymous
Can anyone please tell me why zooming in on this pic brings my $2000 high-end phone to a crawl?
meskarune
I'm happy to see the taino on there
InitHello
This is from when "america" was great.
bloxxing
i've seen the aussie version of this. its equally complicated.
TheVaal
k4ste
Check your sources for the contemporaniety of these cultural groups and these boundaries, but I'm not sure the Olmec empire co-existed with these other entities...
Kyzyl
You can see in the label of the map that it's an alternate history map. It's the sentiment of the large caption at the top that's the important thing. the actual "map" is a distraction, as it has wild inaccuracies, like the one you mentioned.
brandsilven
Bit of information: The name "Anasazi" is a Navajo word roughly meaning "Ancient Enemies". The current preferred name is "Ancestral Pueblo". This isn't an attack on anyone, just a bit of extra learning about the subject, so please don't take it as a hostile response! https://indianpueblo.org/what-does-anasazi-mean-and-why-is-it-controversial/
Nalianna
Was also the name for a messed up X-Files episode.
TheVaal
TIL Thank you.
Skawomplious
Thanks for putting a date on it.
picklesue
I'm honored to see the Chinook represented on this map. We're currently battling the US to regain our federal recognition (wrongfully rescinded in the early 2000s) and have our rights restored.
tacticalbox
Eeyouch is my favourite name here. very cool map
Wuz314159
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Lenape_Languages-map-Wikimedia.jpg
Pseudobatrachotoxin
I found the Boy Scout!
Wuz314159
Pseudobatrachotoxin
My apologies, for my knowledge of the Lenni-Lennape is from there in the Order of the Arrow - and unless you were a leader… you learned it elsewhere. Cheers for you having this knowledge!
Wuz314159
No worries. I live here. This was 3rd grade stuff here.