from other villages stage a violent attack on Awa-
tovi. When the invasion begins, most of the men
of Awatovi are in kivas, underground ceremonial
structures, where they are preparing for a religious
ritual. The attacking Hopi pull away the ladders at
their entrances and set the kivas ablaze. After they
kill all of the village’s male residents, they capture
the women and children, whom they send to live
in other Hopi villages. Through the destruction
of Awatovi, the Hopi express their passionate ha-
tred of the Spanish and their allies.
Summer
The Iroquois adopt a policy of neutrality.
In Montreal, Iroquois diplomats meet with the
French and declare that their tribes will remain neu-
tral in any future wars between France and England.
The promise is heartening to the French: The pow-
erful Iroquois’ traditional loyalty to the English has
long posed a threat to their settlements and trading
posts in North America.
At the same time, in Albany Iroquois leaders
enter negotiations with the English. To maintain
friendly relations with their old military ally, the
Iroquois cede to England western hunting ter-
ritory that they obtained through their defeat
of their Huron enemies (see entry for MARCH
1649).
Summer
Detroit is founded as a French fur
trading post.
With the backing of the French Crown, explorer
Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, establishes
on what is now the Detroit River a large trading
post, which he names Fort Pontchartrain du De-
troit (of the Strait). Detroit is occupied by about
100 settlers and soldiers as a means of keeping
English traders out of the area. Although the post
does not immediately live up to Cadillac’s claim
that it is “the Paris of New France,” Detroit soon
attracts many area Indians interested in trading
with the French.
1702Indians are drawn into Queen
Anne’s War.
The War of the Spanish Succession breaks out in
Europe, with England and France on one side and
Spain on the other. The conflict soon extends to
North America, where it is called Queen Anne’s
War, after the English queen. As with King Wil-
liam’s War (see entry for 1689), the Indian allies of
both these European powers will be called upon to
help them battle their enemies. (See also entry for
1713.)The English and the Creek begin attacking
Florida missions.
Under the command of James Moore, gover-
nor of Carolina, an army of English soldiers and
Creek warriors launch the first of three military
campaigns against Franciscan missions in Spanish
Florida. The troops hope to eliminate the Spanish
and their Apalachee Indian allies as competitors in
the deerskin trade. During the next five years, many
unarmed mission Indians will be killed in these at-
tacks, and a large number of survivors will be taken
as slaves. The missions will continue in operation,
but their Indian populations will be drastically
reduced.1704Virginia officials destroy the Nansatico
tribe.
After receiving no help from the Virginia authori-
ties, warriors from the small Nansatico tribe in
northern Virginia attack whites who have been il-
legally moving onto their lands. When the Indians
kill a white family, Virginia arrests all 49 Nansatico.
Four men are hanged for the murders, and although
the others are not found guilty of any crime, they
are sent to the West Indies to live as slaves. Officials
then sell the Nansatico’s homeland, thus erasing any
trace of the tribe’s existence.