Episode 397: Kathleen DuVal, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

The North American continent is approximately 160 million years old, yet in the United States, we tend to focus on what amounts to 3300 millionths of that history, which is the period between 1492 to the present.

Kathleen DuVal, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, asks us to widen our view of early North American history to at least 1,000 years. Using details from her book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, DuVal shows us that long before European colonists and enslaved Africans arrived on North American shores, Indigenous Americans built vibrant cities and civilizations, and adapted to a changing world and climate.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios.

Episode Summary

Kathleen DuVal, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, leads us on an exploration of Native Nations: A Millennium in North America. DuVal’s research shows us that long before European colonists and enslaved Africans arrived on North American shores, Indigenous Americans built vibrant cities and civilizations, and adapted to a changing world and a changing climate.

During our investigation of one thousand years of North American history, Kathleen reveals what Indigenous North America looked like one thousand years ago; How and why large Indigenous cities like Cahokia experienced depopulation and abandonment prior to the sixteenth century; And what the history of colonial North America looks like when we view it through Native American eyes.

What You’ll Discover

Why write about Native American history over 1,000 years
The recent trend of big books on Indigenous history
Indigenous North America one thousand years ago
Native cities and urban centers like Cahokia
How Indigenous urban centers may have operated
Historical sources for ancient Native cities
Depopulation of Native urban centers
O’odham societies and their formation
Keeping ancestral knowledge
Reciprocity in Indigenous societies and cultures
Reciprocity between the Quapaws and French
Information about the Quapaw and their homelands
Gender roles in 16th- and 17th-century Indigenous cultures
The story of westward expansion through Indigenous eyes
Perspectives on the end of the North American colonial period
Places to learn more about Indigenous history
Adding Indigenous perspectives to United States history

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what would Indigenous nations across North America look like today if the American revolutionaries had lost the American Revolution?