72 A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN 100 MAPS
Though it lacks a formal title, the lengthy description
of this map tells us much: “This map describing the
situation of the Several Nations of Indians to the NW
of South Carolina was copyed from a Draught drawn
& painted on a Deer skin by an Indian Cacique and
presented to Francis Nicholson Esq. Governour of
South Carolina by whom it is most humbly Dedicated
To His Royal Highness George Prince of Wales.”
At first glance this may look less like a map than
a slightly confusing organizational chart. With the
right context, however, the diagram becomes a
sophisticated guide to the trade war among Native
Americans and European settlers in the early
eighteenth century. To decode the map, first consider
that it depicts space in terms of networks and
relationships rather than absolute physical distance.
At left is an angular grid of streets that represents
“Charlestown,” the bustling port of the newly
named royal colony of South Carolina. The thirteen
circles of varied size represent the relative power of
southeastern tribes. Many, but not all, of these circles
are connected by lines indicating trade networks
and alliances. At lower right, the colony of Virginia is
connected primarily to the Nasaw (or Catawba), while
lines connect the port town of Charlestown to several
other tribes.
Though the geography may not be obvious at first,
rotating the map to the left makes it easier to see
Charlestown and Virginia along the Atlantic coast,
flanked at left by the tribes of the interior. The map
captures an intensely competitive era in the deerskin
trade. While tribes angled for advantage with the
British colonies, Virginia and South Carolina vied
to corner the market at their respective ports. The
Carolina colony had been founded only a few years
earlier as a geographical buffer between Virginia
and Spanish Florida. Carolina’s economy initially
depended on fur and deerskins, and it very quickly
surpassed Virginia as the most important center of
Indian trade. As those hides were profitably exported
to England, Carolina traders penetrated ever
further into the backcountry, eventually challenging
Virginia’s own territorial claims and trade networks.
Circa 1721
NATIVE AMERICANS NAVIGATE THE DEERSKIN TRADE
The explosion of the deerskin trade soon depleted
animal numbers. This was just one of several
grievances among southeastern Indian tribes that
led to the Yamasee War in 1715. Another was the
growth of rice plantations, which displaced the
tribes from their historical lands. The ensuing war
decimated the deerskin trade even further. In the
wake of this collapse, the Crown appointed Francis
Nicholson governor of the new South Carolina colony.
Nicholson was instructed to build new forts in the
interior to guard against French encroachments, and
to strengthen trade with the tribes. In pursuit of the
latter, he summoned the Cherokee, Catawba, and
Creek Indians for a meeting, where he was given
this map.
The author of the map is not definitively known,
but it was most likely a Cherokee leader, or cacique,
who sought to strengthen trade relationships with
the Carolina colony and its port at Charlestown.
Note the path alongside the top of the map, which
suggestively circumvented the Catawba to directly
link the Cherokee and Charlestown. Moreover, there
is no path that connects the Cherokee to Virginia, an
acknowledgment that the deerskin trade between the
two had recently ended. In light of that, the map may
have been a Cherokee strategy designed to cultivate
trade with South Carolina.
Whether drawn by a Cherokee or a Catawba,
this map was designed to influence Nicholson as
he navigated the complex network of commercial
and diplomatic relationships in the wake of a violent
and deadly war. Just a few years later Nicholson
received a very similar map from the Chickasaw, one
designed to strengthen their trade relationship with
the Carolina colony at the expense of the Catawba.
Both are superb examples of cartography from a
non-European perspective, and they underscore
the dramatic and fluid relationships at work on
a continent full of shifting alliances, networks,
and rivalries. They also remind us that it was the
Europeans who created the category of “Indian,”
lumping together groups who saw themselves as
distinct—and sometimes competing—peoples.
Finally, a chart such as this highlights the larger point
of this book: that maps are simultaneously reflections
of reality and instruments of persuasion.