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The Natchez Nation was a powerful Native American people in the early days of European Colonization . Although suffering a turbulent history since European contact, the ''Natchez'' Nation still represents a vital part of the United States Native American community. The Natchez (w-nahk'-che) exist as a loose confederacy of interdependent families principally within the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) Nations of Oklahoma. The current leadership of the Natchez Nation consists of a War Chief, Peace Chief (the Great Sun) and 4 primary Clan Mothers. These "Sun's" as the Natchez refer to them have included K.T.(Hutke) Fields (Principal Peace Chief / Great Sun, 1996...), Eliza Sumpka (Primary Clan Mother), William Harjo LoneFight, Robert M. Riviera (Principal War Chief, 1997...),Watt Sam, Archie Sam, White Tobacco Sam and others within the historic period. HISTORY The ''Natchez'' were located in about nine separate towns along St. Catherine's Creek (east and south of modern Natchez, Mississippi ), they had a highly stratified and theocratic government led by a male leader referred to as 'The Great Sun'. The royal bloodline was matrilineal, meaning 'The Great Sun' achieved his office through kinship to a woman; a man did not pass his titles to his son, but rather they were inherited by his nephew (his sister's son). The Natchez had one of the most hierarchical social organizations found in the Eastern United States . The Natchez were divided into two classes, with a three-part upper class and a lower class. The upper classes were referred to as the Suns, Nobles, and Honored Peoples, while the name of the lower class is usually translated into English as "Stinkards." According to early French accounts, the Natchez practiced class exogamy, an unique marriage practice in which all members of the upper classes had to marry Stinkards. The Great Suns were so revered by the Natchez people that at the death of a Sun, many practiced voluntary suicide. At the death of Tattooed Serpent in 1725, two of his wives, one of his sisters (nicknamed ''La Glorieuse'' by the French), his first warrior, his doctor, his head servant and the servant's wife, his nurse, and a craftsman of war clubs were all killed. His brother, the ruling Sun at the time, apparently wanted to die as well, but was reportedly convinced by the entreaties of his French allies to remain alive. The Natchez were a formidable force when they first made contact with Spanish explorers and then French colonists. Unlike many other groups, the Natchez initially enjoyed very warm diplomatic relations with the French, and the two groups were briefly allies. Relations worsened, however, and diseases and warfare took their toll; after three wars with the French - in 1716 , 1722 and 1729 - Natchez society collapsed and the peoples scattered. In 1729 , perhaps one-half of the population remained of the pre- 1716 era. Most survivors settled with the Creek , with English colonists or in Chickasaw towns; the latter two groups ended up with the Cherokee within fifty years due to subsequent intraethnic conflict. Those living with the Upper Creek fled with these peoples after the Red Stick War ended in 1814 and also took refuge with the Cherokee . The First Natchez War, in 1716, was called the "Incident of 1716." When the Natchez began growing tired of the French, four Natchez warriors robbed and murdered four French fur traders. Governor Cadillac ordered Bienville and the military to punish the Natchez. When Bienville demanded that the Natchez turn over the guilty parties, the Natchez sent the heads of four Natchez men. The French, however, knew that these were not the same men who had killed the fur traders. So, the Natchez had to send in the heads of the four guilty parties in addition to the innocent men they had already slain. This was the "war." LANGUAGE The Natchez language is a Language Isolate . A distant relationship to the Muskogean Languages has been posited, though is not considered proven. Its two last fluent speakers were Watt Sam and Nancy Raven who spoke it up until the 1930s . The language is well documented in fieldwork with Sam and Raven conducted in the 1930's by Mary Haas . It now exists primarily as a ceremonial language. Efforts are being made to reintroduce it into common usage. SEE ALSO
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