WEBVTT

00:00:00.506 --> 00:01:40.566
[ Music ]

00:01:41.066 --> 00:01:42.306
>> Hello I'm Kevin Costner.

00:01:42.936 --> 00:01:44.596
Welcome to 500 Nations.

00:01:45.436 --> 00:01:48.126
The settling of this country has
always been of interest to me.

00:01:48.976 --> 00:01:53.396
It's fired my imagination and shaped my
life both personally and professionally,

00:01:54.436 --> 00:01:57.396
but my knowledge of history has
been limited by what I was taught.

00:01:58.476 --> 00:02:02.296
As far as I was concerned, the history
of the continent started 500 years ago

00:02:02.296 --> 00:02:04.446
when Columbus discovered the New World.

00:02:05.416 --> 00:02:08.576
But we know that's not true,
there were people here.

00:02:09.556 --> 00:02:12.206
So how is it that we know
so little about this past?

00:02:12.966 --> 00:02:16.126
The human history of North
America, our own story?

00:02:17.316 --> 00:02:18.896
Could it be that we don't think it worthy

00:02:18.896 --> 00:02:22.366
of mention the way history has
remembered the ancient civilizations

00:02:22.366 --> 00:02:24.816
of Greece, Rome, Egypt or China?

00:02:26.026 --> 00:02:28.456
The truth is we have a story
worth talking about.

00:02:29.336 --> 00:02:31.066
We have a history we're celebrating.

00:02:32.496 --> 00:02:34.486
Long before the first Europeans arrived here,

00:02:34.486 --> 00:02:37.496
there were some 500 nations
already in North America.

00:02:38.506 --> 00:02:43.386
They blanketed the continent from coast to
coast, from Central America to the Arctic.

00:02:44.406 --> 00:02:48.626
There were tens of millions of people
here speaking over 300 languages.

00:02:49.496 --> 00:02:54.266
Many of them lived in beautiful cities, among
the largest and most advanced in the world.

00:02:55.676 --> 00:02:59.766
In the coming hours, 500 Nations
looks back on those ancient cultures,

00:03:00.506 --> 00:03:02.856
how they lived, and how many survived.

00:03:03.226 --> 00:03:08.096
[Background Music] We turned for guidance to
hundreds of Indian people across the continent.

00:03:08.096 --> 00:03:09.816
You'll meet many of them in our programs.

00:03:10.056 --> 00:03:14.396
To bring the past to life we
searched archives for the oldest

00:03:14.426 --> 00:03:16.636
and most authentic images of Indian people.

00:03:17.226 --> 00:03:20.996
We sought out rare books and
manuscripts for the actual words

00:03:21.256 --> 00:03:23.566
of participants and eye witnesses to history.

00:03:23.656 --> 00:03:29.236
Our camera crews travel throughout North
America to film at the actual places

00:03:29.236 --> 00:03:32.126
where important events in
Indian history occurred.

00:03:33.166 --> 00:03:35.946
We filmed incredible treasures
of Indian creativity

00:03:36.436 --> 00:03:39.586
from museums across North America and Europe.

00:03:39.966 --> 00:03:44.956
Historians and archeologists work with visual
artists and advance computer technology

00:03:44.956 --> 00:03:50.396
to allow us for the first time to walk through
virtual realities of ancient Indian worlds.

00:03:51.796 --> 00:03:56.316
What you're about to see is what happened.

00:03:57.216 --> 00:03:59.596
It's not all that happened
and it's not always pleasant.

00:03:59.596 --> 00:04:02.216
We can't change that.

00:04:02.216 --> 00:04:03.466
We can't turn back the clock.

00:04:03.736 --> 00:04:08.776
But we can open our eyes and give the
first nations of this land the recognition

00:04:08.776 --> 00:04:12.656
and respect they deserve, their rightful
place in the history of the world.

00:04:13.866 --> 00:04:16.596
With that in mind, we take you
first to where our story ends,

00:04:17.296 --> 00:04:19.856
on the great planes in the late 1800s.

00:04:22.516 --> 00:04:46.826
[ Music & Noise ]

00:04:47.326 --> 00:04:48.716
>> The rumor got about the school.

00:04:48.716 --> 00:04:51.156
The dead are to return.

00:04:51.156 --> 00:04:53.176
The buffalo are to return.

00:04:53.556 --> 00:04:58.626
The Lakota people will get
back their own way of life.

00:04:59.116 --> 00:05:02.776
That part about the dead
returning was what appealed to me,

00:05:02.776 --> 00:05:08.226
to think I should see my dear mother,
grandmother and brothers, and sisters again,

00:05:08.276 --> 00:05:12.876
but boy like I soon forgot about it.

00:05:14.346 --> 00:05:20.556
Until one night when I was rudely awake in
the dormitory, "Get up, put your clothes on

00:05:20.556 --> 00:05:22.706
and sleep downstairs we are running away".

00:05:22.706 --> 00:05:24.646
A boy was hissing into my ear.

00:05:24.646 --> 00:05:30.316
Soon, 50 of us little boys about 8
to 10 started out across country,

00:05:30.406 --> 00:05:33.226
over hills and valleys running all night.

00:05:33.226 --> 00:05:37.276
I know now that we ran almost 30 miles.

00:05:37.496 --> 00:05:42.676
There on the Porcupine Creek thousands
of Lakota people were in camp.

00:05:43.516 --> 00:05:49.706
[ Chanting ]

00:05:50.206 --> 00:05:54.806
>> By the late 1880s a message of
hope spread across the great planes.

00:05:55.846 --> 00:06:02.976
It was called the ghost dance, a dance to
restore the past, when Indian nations were free.

00:06:03.516 --> 00:06:25.546
[ Chanting & Noise ]

00:06:26.046 --> 00:06:28.526
They dance without rest, on and on.

00:06:29.256 --> 00:06:33.036
Occasionally, someone thoroughly
exhausted and dizzy fell unconscious

00:06:33.516 --> 00:06:39.746
into the center and laid their dead.

00:06:39.746 --> 00:06:44.496
The visions into the same way like a course
describing a great encampment of all the Lakotas

00:06:44.496 --> 00:06:48.096
who had ever died, where there
was no sorrow but only joy,

00:06:48.166 --> 00:06:51.066
where relatives strong out with happy laughter.

00:06:51.066 --> 00:06:55.276
The people went on and on and could not stop.

00:06:55.276 --> 00:06:59.116
And so, I suppose the authorities
did think they were crazy,

00:06:59.146 --> 00:07:07.386
but they weren't, they were
only terribly unhappy.

00:07:07.386 --> 00:07:13.506
>> Driven off their lands Indian nations were
confined to desolate reservations dependent

00:07:13.566 --> 00:07:20.306
on corrupt government agencies
for food and supplies.

00:07:20.306 --> 00:07:22.686
>> [Background Music] The people
were desperate from starvation.

00:07:23.776 --> 00:07:26.316
We felt that we were mocked in our misery.

00:07:27.266 --> 00:07:33.496
We held our dying children and felt their
little bodies tremble as their souls went out

00:07:33.496 --> 00:07:41.356
and left only a dead wake in
our hands, Red Cloud, Oglala.

00:07:41.356 --> 00:07:45.706
>> The ghost dance hurt no one, but
as it spread white settlers panic.

00:07:45.706 --> 00:07:48.906
The United States government outlaw the dance.

00:07:48.906 --> 00:07:54.246
>> The white men were frightened
and called for soldiers.

00:07:54.776 --> 00:08:02.096
We had begged for life and the
white men thought we wanted theirs.

00:08:02.096 --> 00:08:11.536
>> On a mild day just after Christmas
of 1890, a band of [inaudible] Sioux

00:08:11.746 --> 00:08:16.916
under their leader Big Foot left the
Cheyenne River agency in South Dakota heading

00:08:16.916 --> 00:08:20.236
for a meeting at Pine Ridge with
the Oglala leader Red Cloud.

00:08:20.376 --> 00:08:26.566
Traveling with Big Foot were 106
men and 252 women and children.

00:08:28.016 --> 00:08:32.746
Among them was a boy, Dewey Beard,
who would later tell his children

00:08:32.746 --> 00:08:35.166
and grandchildren about that day.

00:08:35.166 --> 00:08:42.326
>> Grandpa Dewey Beard being the last
survivor, I would listen to what he had to say.

00:08:43.186 --> 00:08:49.836
In a way, it was sad and yet it's so
beautiful because it's bringing back history.

00:08:51.556 --> 00:08:56.846
One thing that he would say is that had the
soldiers had the government left them alone.

00:08:57.346 --> 00:09:02.616
In time, they would have looked outside
and seen how things were changing

00:09:02.616 --> 00:09:07.846
and the change would come
about from within the bands.

00:09:07.846 --> 00:09:11.796
>> [Background Music] Big Foot's band
was intercepted by the 7th Cavalry.

00:09:13.426 --> 00:09:19.636
The officer in charge found Big
Foot wrapped in heavy blankets dying

00:09:19.636 --> 00:09:26.406
from pneumonia in the back of a wagon.

00:09:26.406 --> 00:09:29.196
Big Foot was ordered to make
camp along Wounded Knee Creek.

00:09:30.336 --> 00:09:34.406
In the morning, his people would be stripped
of their weapons and escorted to Pine Ridge.

00:09:35.466 --> 00:09:42.476
Big Foot made assurances of his peaceful
intentions and the band made camp.

00:09:42.476 --> 00:09:43.786
>> He's a peaceful man.

00:09:43.966 --> 00:09:49.616
He's always say that think about the
elderly, think about the children

00:09:50.806 --> 00:09:55.266
and the women and don't start the trouble.

00:09:57.846 --> 00:10:00.276
>> Morning broke after a
sleepless night surrounded

00:10:00.316 --> 00:10:05.296
by soldiers [inaudible] witnesses
would later recall what happened next.

00:10:06.156 --> 00:10:12.356
>> Big Foot who was sick came up with a
flag of truce tied to a stick, Dewey Beard.

00:10:12.416 --> 00:10:16.276
>> As soldiers strained their guns on them,

00:10:16.786 --> 00:10:21.246
Big Foot and his men brought forth all their
weapons, placing them near the white flag

00:10:21.246 --> 00:10:27.286
of truce Big Foot had planted
in front of his lodge.

00:10:27.286 --> 00:10:29.786
The soldiers then searched
their tents and wagons for arms,

00:10:30.086 --> 00:10:32.486
even confiscating cooking and sewing tools.

00:10:33.516 --> 00:10:42.546
[ Music & Noise ]

00:10:43.046 --> 00:10:48.296
As Big Foot's people gathered around
the flag of truce outside his tent,

00:10:48.296 --> 00:10:55.226
four powerful Hotchkiss rapid repeating
guns were mounted above the camp.

00:10:56.326 --> 00:10:58.676
>> I noticed that they were
erecting cannons up here,

00:10:59.366 --> 00:11:01.646
also hauling up quite a lot
of ammunition for it.

00:11:02.386 --> 00:11:04.526
>> They encircled us like a band of sheep.

00:11:05.116 --> 00:11:08.776
>> I could see that there was
commotion amongst the soldiers and I saw

00:11:08.776 --> 00:11:12.056
and looking back they had their
guns in position ready to fire.

00:11:13.146 --> 00:11:16.056
>> Thomas Tibbles, a white
reporter who followed the troops

00:11:16.056 --> 00:11:18.476
to Wounded Knee recorded what happened next.

00:11:20.176 --> 00:11:23.776
>> Suddenly, I heard a single shot
from the direction of the troops.

00:11:23.906 --> 00:11:28.746
Then three or four, a few
more and immediately a volley.

00:11:30.186 --> 00:11:34.696
At once came a general rattle of
rifle firing then the Hotchkiss guns.

00:11:35.121 --> 00:11:37.121
[ Gun Shot ]

00:11:37.226 --> 00:11:40.216
>> An awful noise was heard.

00:11:40.216 --> 00:11:42.636
I thought I was paralyzed for a time.

00:11:43.856 --> 00:11:51.356
Then my head cleared and I saw nearly
all the people on the ground bleeding.

00:11:53.546 --> 00:12:06.846
My father, my mother, my grandmother, my older
brother and my younger brother were all killed.

00:12:10.286 --> 00:12:14.386
>> And he saw his mother walking toward him.

00:12:14.576 --> 00:12:16.866
She was walking along and she was shot.

00:12:17.126 --> 00:12:23.916
"Dewey" she said, "Keeping walking, my son."

00:12:23.916 --> 00:12:25.556
She said, "Keep going."

00:12:26.116 --> 00:12:27.386
She said, "I'm going to die."

00:12:27.526 --> 00:12:31.036
And that was the last time he saw his mother.

00:12:31.106 --> 00:12:36.876
>> The women as they were fleeing with their
babies were killed together, shot right through.

00:12:37.936 --> 00:12:43.876
And after most of them had been killed,
a cry was made that all those not killed

00:12:43.956 --> 00:12:47.556
or wounded should come forth
and they would be saved.

00:12:48.446 --> 00:12:52.916
Little boys came out of their places of
refuge and as soon as they came in sight,

00:12:53.306 --> 00:13:01.746
a number of soldiers surrounded them and
butchered them there, American horse Oglala.

00:13:01.746 --> 00:13:06.336
>> The firing continued for an hour or
two wherever a soldier saw a sign of life.

00:13:07.516 --> 00:13:17.986
[ Noise ]

00:13:18.486 --> 00:13:21.786
>> With the sunset, the weather
turned intensely cold.

00:13:21.786 --> 00:13:28.216
[Background Music] About 7 o'clock that night,
the 7th Cavalry brought in the long train

00:13:28.216 --> 00:13:35.176
of dead and wounded soldiers
and Indians from Wounded Knee.

00:13:35.236 --> 00:13:42.696
Forty-nine wounded Sioux women and
children had been piled into fueled wagons.

00:13:42.766 --> 00:13:49.406
>> The wounded Indian women and children
were eventually carried into an agency church

00:13:49.406 --> 00:13:53.236
where they lay in silence on the
floor beneath a pulpit decorated

00:13:53.236 --> 00:13:59.216
with a Christmas banner reading,
"Peace on Earth, goodwill to men."

00:13:59.216 --> 00:14:09.906
>> Nothing I have seen in my whole life
ever affected or depressed or haunted me

00:14:10.426 --> 00:14:12.686
like the scenes I saw that night in that church.

00:14:13.656 --> 00:14:17.616
One, unwounded old woman held a baby on her lap.

00:14:17.616 --> 00:14:21.836
I handed a couple of water to the old
woman telling her, "Give it to the child."

00:14:21.836 --> 00:14:24.576
Who grabbed as if parched with thirst.

00:14:24.986 --> 00:14:28.226
And she swallowed it hurriedly
I saw it gush right out again,

00:14:28.226 --> 00:14:32.546
a blood stain stream through a hole in her neck.

00:14:32.546 --> 00:14:35.066
Heartsick, I went to find a surgeon.

00:14:36.106 --> 00:14:39.846
For a moment he stood there near the
door looking over the massive suffering

00:14:39.846 --> 00:14:42.816
and dying women and children
and how the silence,

00:14:43.786 --> 00:14:46.856
the silence they kept was so
complete it was oppressive.

00:14:47.096 --> 00:14:51.236
And then to my amazement, I saw that
the surgeon who I knew had served

00:14:51.236 --> 00:14:56.596
in the Civil War attending the wounded
from [inaudible], it began to grow pale.

00:14:57.806 --> 00:14:59.936
This is the first time I've seen a lot of women

00:14:59.936 --> 00:15:03.726
and children shot the pieces,
he said, and I can't stand it.

00:15:03.786 --> 00:15:07.826
Thomas Tibbles, reporter.

00:15:08.276 --> 00:15:17.256
>> For three days, the frozen bodies
of the dead including Big Foot lay

00:15:17.256 --> 00:15:19.256
where they fell at Wounded Knee.

00:15:20.046 --> 00:15:24.416
Finally, the army dug a large
trench at the massacre site then

00:15:24.506 --> 00:15:27.696
as they collected the bodies,
a blanket was seen moving.

00:15:28.576 --> 00:15:32.886
Beneath it snuggled against her
dead mother was a baby girl.

00:15:33.516 --> 00:15:58.246
[ Music ]

00:15:58.746 --> 00:16:02.536
>> [Background Music] The official military
history's called Wounded Knee the last battle

00:16:02.536 --> 00:16:03.536
in the Indian wars.

00:16:03.536 --> 00:16:09.416
But the tenacious struggle for Indian survival
is symbolized by a child clinging to life

00:16:09.416 --> 00:16:12.616
for three days on a frozen
field continues to this day.

00:16:12.616 --> 00:16:17.606
500 nations will follow a path
that covers thousands of years

00:16:17.896 --> 00:16:20.426
and will bring us full circle to 1890.

00:16:21.506 --> 00:16:25.426
In this hour we will travel back in
time to three stunning civilizations

00:16:25.886 --> 00:16:28.496
that flourish long before
the arrival of Europeans.

00:16:29.336 --> 00:16:33.476
To the Anasazi of the southwest, the
mound builders of the Mississippi,

00:16:33.596 --> 00:16:36.026
and the great pyramid builders of the Maya.

00:16:37.316 --> 00:16:42.316
But when we return we'll go back
even farther to creation as seen

00:16:42.316 --> 00:16:43.676
through the eyes of Indian people.

00:16:46.516 --> 00:17:14.656
[ Music & Noise ]

00:17:15.156 --> 00:17:21.546
>> When earth was still young and giants still
roam the earth, a great sickness came upon them.

00:17:22.796 --> 00:17:26.146
All of them died except for a small boy.

00:17:27.626 --> 00:17:32.216
One day while he was playing, a snake bit him.

00:17:32.266 --> 00:17:33.776
The boy cried and cried.

00:17:35.506 --> 00:17:40.506
The blood came out and finally he died.

00:17:40.506 --> 00:17:45.806
With his tears our lakes became,
with his blood the red clay became,

00:17:45.806 --> 00:17:54.536
with his body our mountains became
and that was how earth became.

00:17:54.536 --> 00:17:55.466
Taos Pueblo.

00:17:55.846 --> 00:17:59.796
>> Pleasant it looked this newly creative world.

00:17:59.796 --> 00:18:06.656
Along the entire length and breadth of the earth
our grandmother extended a green reflection

00:18:06.656 --> 00:18:10.436
of her covering and the escaping
odors were pleasant to inhale.

00:18:10.436 --> 00:18:15.376
Winnebago.

00:18:15.376 --> 00:18:20.676
>> God created the Indian country and that
was the time this river started to run.

00:18:20.946 --> 00:18:27.346
Then God created fish in this river
and put deer in the mountains.

00:18:27.346 --> 00:18:30.966
Then the creator gave Indians life.

00:18:30.966 --> 00:18:37.936
We walked and as soon as we saw the game
and fish, we knew they were made for us.

00:18:37.936 --> 00:18:47.326
My strength, my blood is from the fish,
from the roots and berries and game.

00:18:47.416 --> 00:18:51.466
I did not come here.

00:18:51.466 --> 00:19:01.256
I was put here by the creator
Meninick Yakama [phonetic].

00:19:01.256 --> 00:19:04.426
>> In the Old Testament, Adam and
Eve were forced from the garden

00:19:04.426 --> 00:19:06.876
of creation and expelled to a cruel world.

00:19:07.516 --> 00:19:12.566
[ Noise ]

00:19:13.066 --> 00:19:19.026
>> For most North American Indian
nations, it was and is very different.

00:19:19.026 --> 00:19:22.126
They stayed in the garden,
the place of their creation,

00:19:22.756 --> 00:19:25.566
the single place on earth most perfect for them.

00:19:30.736 --> 00:19:32.496
>> The Crow Country is a good country.

00:19:33.496 --> 00:19:36.176
The creator has put it exactly
on the right place.

00:19:36.876 --> 00:19:40.466
While you are in it, you farewell,
whenever you go out of it,

00:19:40.466 --> 00:19:43.826
whichever way you travel, you fair worst.

00:19:43.826 --> 00:19:46.266
The Crow Country is exactly in the right place.

00:19:46.266 --> 00:19:48.056
Ealaapuash.

00:19:48.056 --> 00:20:00.696
>> There is a song in everything, [inaudible].

00:20:02.516 --> 00:20:12.546
[ Music ]

00:20:13.046 --> 00:20:17.056
>> Make my eyes ever behold
the red and purple sunset.

00:20:17.056 --> 00:20:23.486
Make me wise so that I may know the
things you have taught my people,

00:20:23.486 --> 00:20:27.196
the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

00:20:27.196 --> 00:20:35.306
Make me ever ready to come to you with clean
hands and straight eye so that when life fades

00:20:35.306 --> 00:20:45.296
as the fading sunset my spirit may come to
you without shame, Tom Whitecloud Ojibway.

00:20:47.516 --> 00:21:02.106
[ Music ]

00:21:02.606 --> 00:21:07.776
To the outsider, the sun beaten deserts
of the American southwest are a harsh

00:21:07.776 --> 00:21:17.866
and unforgiving land reluctant to support life.

00:21:17.866 --> 00:21:23.116
To the ancient people who live there, it was
a place where the creator provided everything.

00:21:23.116 --> 00:21:29.146
>> There is nothing there that you can see
even to this day with very little vegetation.

00:21:29.146 --> 00:21:31.276
We see a lot of rocks and we see a lot of sand.

00:21:32.106 --> 00:21:37.086
The Hopis are always maintaining that that's
a chosen place from who was chosen for them

00:21:37.086 --> 00:21:42.226
by the creator of the great
spirit for the Hopis.

00:21:42.226 --> 00:21:46.666
>> The ancient people of the desert were the
ancestors of all the modern Pueblo nations.

00:21:47.436 --> 00:21:50.596
To their Hopi descendants, they
are known as the Hisatsinom,

00:21:50.596 --> 00:21:55.366
but to most of the world they are
known by the Navajo name, Anasazi.

00:21:55.826 --> 00:22:04.056
Around 900 AD the Anasazi flourished in a
wide circle covering parts of modern day Utah,

00:22:04.056 --> 00:22:06.976
Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

00:22:07.516 --> 00:22:22.676
[ Noise ]

00:22:23.176 --> 00:22:27.326
The Anasazi found balance with their world.

00:22:27.326 --> 00:22:30.346
They learned where to find
water and how to harness it.

00:22:31.486 --> 00:22:34.476
Villages joined together
to build dams, reservoirs

00:22:34.476 --> 00:22:41.526
and irrigation canals turning deserts
into gardens of corn and squash.

00:22:41.526 --> 00:22:45.926
They were a people intimately
connected to their land.

00:22:45.926 --> 00:22:49.206
In a very real sense, they emerged from it.

00:22:49.206 --> 00:22:59.326
Generations before the time of Christ, the
Anasazi lived in subterranean pit houses,

00:22:59.686 --> 00:23:05.376
sunken homes with stone worked walls and
broad strong roofs, formidable protection

00:23:05.666 --> 00:23:11.046
against the searing sun and
bitter cold of the desert.

00:23:11.046 --> 00:23:15.296
With time, they adopted their above
ground storage houses into living spaces

00:23:15.296 --> 00:23:18.316
but the underground pit houses
were not abandoned.

00:23:18.316 --> 00:23:26.556
They were retained as spiritual places of
teaching, the place of origin, the Kiva.

00:23:26.556 --> 00:23:35.896
100 years before the first gothic cathedrals
were built in Europe, the master architects

00:23:35.896 --> 00:23:46.456
and stone masons of the Anasazi were building
great Kivas that could hold 500 people.

00:23:46.496 --> 00:23:52.486
Around 900 AD the Anasazi leadership
embarked upon a bold and visionary plan,

00:23:52.486 --> 00:23:56.786
create a mecca for pilgrimages and a
focal point for trade at the very center

00:23:56.786 --> 00:24:03.306
of their land they chose the barren
treeless Chaco Canyon, 100 miles northwest

00:24:03.306 --> 00:24:06.296
of present day Albuquerque, New Mexico.

00:24:06.296 --> 00:24:10.396
It was a monumental undertaking.

00:24:10.396 --> 00:24:18.796
They built 400 miles of distinctive graded roads
and broad avenues all leading to the canyon.

00:24:21.606 --> 00:24:26.156
At distant points, signal stations were
constructed where fires blaze to communicate

00:24:26.156 --> 00:24:32.636
across the vastness of the dessert
and to guide travelers at night.

00:24:32.636 --> 00:24:35.816
Over 50,000 trees were cut down
in the surrounding mountains

00:24:36.056 --> 00:24:37.956
to build the towns of Chaco Canyon.

00:24:37.956 --> 00:24:43.186
Along with traders and pilgrims,
the roads carried resources

00:24:43.186 --> 00:24:45.086
to maintain dozens of communities.

00:24:46.046 --> 00:24:49.906
None compared with the largest single
complex the Anasazi ever built.

00:24:50.516 --> 00:25:02.676
[ Music ]

00:25:03.176 --> 00:25:05.956
Pueblo Bonito, the Wonder of Canyon.

00:25:06.516 --> 00:25:15.856
[ Music ]

00:25:16.356 --> 00:25:21.506
At its peak Pueblo Bonito's 800 rooms may
have housed over a thousand residents.

00:25:22.426 --> 00:25:26.826
Some sections overlooking the main plaza
loomed five stories above the canyon floor.

00:25:27.816 --> 00:25:29.606
The plaza pulsated with life.

00:25:30.296 --> 00:25:35.766
Women gathered the colored corn blanketing
the rooftops and melt and rose to grind it.

00:25:35.766 --> 00:25:40.226
Children played, men returning
from the fields gathered to talk.

00:25:41.516 --> 00:25:50.286
[ Music & Chanting ]

00:25:50.786 --> 00:25:58.346
37 sacred kivas scattered throughout the complex
speak to Pueblo Bonito's rich ceremonial life.

00:25:59.506 --> 00:26:03.916
During ceremonies the feet of dancers pounded
the ground smooth as spectators huddled

00:26:03.916 --> 00:26:06.556
against the buildings and
throng the roofs to watch.

00:26:09.626 --> 00:26:12.026
The Chaco Canyon was more
than the spiritual mecca.

00:26:12.746 --> 00:26:15.076
It was also a center of trade and commerce.

00:26:17.546 --> 00:26:23.106
And trade in one stone more valuable to Chaco's
Mexican trading partners than gold or jade,

00:26:23.686 --> 00:26:25.826
was the engine of the canyon's economic growth.

00:26:28.346 --> 00:26:28.946
Turquoise.

00:26:31.006 --> 00:26:39.856
Here, raw stone arrived from distant mines for
the craftsman of Pueblo Bonito to cut and shape

00:26:39.856 --> 00:26:43.216
into small tiles and beads
which would then traded south

00:26:43.216 --> 00:26:46.136
to merchant centers in the heart of Mexico.

00:26:46.136 --> 00:26:49.236
There they were transformed
into extraordinary creations.

00:26:53.126 --> 00:27:03.546
For 150 years trade fueled the Chaco economy but
the wealth and power of the canyon was fleeting.

00:27:03.546 --> 00:27:08.756
Chacos made your turquoise consumer to a
land in central Mexico fell to civil strife.

00:27:08.756 --> 00:27:14.656
Extended drought or hostilities also may have
contributed to the down fall of Chaco Canyon.

00:27:15.516 --> 00:27:25.546
[ Music ]

00:27:26.046 --> 00:27:29.746
By 1150, it was in decline.

00:27:29.746 --> 00:27:33.776
The great turquoise road over the
Mexican high sierra abandoned.

00:27:33.776 --> 00:27:38.056
But the Anasazi world still flourished,

00:27:38.056 --> 00:27:42.246
the people of Chaco Canyon
simply moved to other locations.

00:27:42.246 --> 00:27:45.496
Many went north to Mesa Verde which at

00:27:45.496 --> 00:27:48.566
that time was reaching its
cultural and architectural height.

00:27:48.566 --> 00:27:54.496
There under the shelter of the pines
studded mazes of Southern Colorado,

00:27:54.496 --> 00:28:05.436
the architects of Chaco Canyon would help create
some of the most stunning buildings of all time.

00:28:05.436 --> 00:28:10.886
The largest of this is known as Cliff
Palace, though it is a palace in name only.

00:28:11.956 --> 00:28:16.666
These beautiful stone buildings of
Anasazi were home to common families.

00:28:16.666 --> 00:28:20.086
It was a society based on equality.

00:28:20.086 --> 00:28:25.536
Men rotated service on public
works, women plastered houses.

00:28:25.536 --> 00:28:28.906
The men who farmed also carved.

00:28:28.906 --> 00:28:31.276
Spiritual leaders tiled the fields.

00:28:31.276 --> 00:28:40.706
>> Each time when I see and visit
any ancient drawling I feel close

00:28:40.706 --> 00:28:45.816
because these are my ancestors,
my forefathers for centuries.

00:28:45.816 --> 00:28:54.916
I feel on meditation looking at their drawlings
within few minutes half hour I get refreshed.

00:28:55.516 --> 00:29:01.746
[ Music ]

00:29:02.246 --> 00:29:08.486
>> The people of Mesa Verde and many
other Anasazi towns relocated around 1300.

00:29:08.486 --> 00:29:18.946
The period of the ancestors came to an end
and the modern day Pueblo world took shape.

00:29:18.946 --> 00:29:25.516
Traditions that lived today in the American
Southwest the way of life, the architecture,

00:29:25.516 --> 00:29:31.976
the religion are the resonants of a
heritage reaching back thousands of years.

00:29:32.516 --> 00:29:59.606
[ Music ]

00:30:00.106 --> 00:30:06.326
>> We [inaudible] wanted to send a prayer to
the sun so we called on his friend the bear

00:30:06.686 --> 00:30:13.086
and the bear came and he said I'm honored to
be asked to do this but I can only take it

00:30:13.656 --> 00:30:18.546
to the top of the highest tree
but I know someone who can.

00:30:18.546 --> 00:30:24.526
So let's call eagle and so eagle was
called and eagle said "Yes, I can try."

00:30:24.876 --> 00:30:33.776
And so eagle flew and flew and flew up, up,
up and got to sun and delivered the prayer.

00:30:34.086 --> 00:30:39.626
And the sun was so taken with this and
said "Give me one of your feathers."

00:30:40.166 --> 00:30:44.236
And so the eagle plucked out a tail of feather
and gave it to the sun and the sun kissed

00:30:44.236 --> 00:30:48.386
that feather which is why, you know,
eagle feathers are black on the end

00:30:48.386 --> 00:30:50.596
and this is because the sun sings on there.

00:30:51.056 --> 00:30:58.906
So take this back and forever this will
be my recognition of my special people.

00:31:00.516 --> 00:31:07.276
[ Music ]

00:31:07.776 --> 00:31:10.456
>> Along the Mississippi river, six miles

00:31:10.456 --> 00:31:13.906
from present day Saint Louis
Missouri there stood a city

00:31:13.906 --> 00:31:16.326
that once dominated the heart of the continent.

00:31:16.376 --> 00:31:19.686
At its center was a powerful leader.

00:31:23.246 --> 00:31:24.216
>> [Background Music] A great number

00:31:24.216 --> 00:31:30.016
of years ago there appeared among
those a man who came down from the sun.

00:31:31.706 --> 00:31:38.626
This man told us that he had seen from on
high that we did not govern ourselves well,

00:31:40.216 --> 00:31:47.586
that we have no master that each of us had
presumption enough to think him self capable

00:31:47.586 --> 00:31:56.386
of governing others while he
could not even conduct himself.

00:31:56.386 --> 00:32:01.526
>> A thousand years ago the great
sun, a leader who was both king

00:32:01.876 --> 00:32:07.096
and Pope lived the top a man made
royal mountain 10 stories high,

00:32:07.936 --> 00:32:11.936
its 16 acres base larger
than any pyramid in Egypt.

00:32:13.256 --> 00:32:17.436
>> He told us that in order to live

00:32:17.436 --> 00:32:22.716
in piece among ourselves we must
observe the following points.

00:32:23.976 --> 00:32:28.016
We must never kill anyone but
in defense of our own lives.

00:32:28.016 --> 00:32:31.846
We must never know any woman besides our own.

00:32:32.926 --> 00:32:37.626
We must never take any things
that belong to another.

00:32:37.626 --> 00:32:43.866
We must never lie nor get drunk,
we must not be avaricious.

00:32:44.826 --> 00:32:50.746
We must give generously and with
joy and share our subsistence

00:32:51.196 --> 00:32:52.856
with those who are in need of it.

00:32:52.926 --> 00:33:01.876
>> From the heights of his royal state
the great sun mediated between the creator

00:33:01.876 --> 00:33:05.706
and the people between the sun and the earth.

00:33:06.826 --> 00:33:13.916
This is Cahokia city of the sun.

00:33:14.046 --> 00:33:18.016
The great sun ruled the thriving
center of a vast Mississippian culture.

00:33:18.186 --> 00:33:24.396
Outside the walled city communities of
farmers, hunters, and fisherman stretched

00:33:24.396 --> 00:33:27.126
from miles surrounded by fields of corn.

00:33:29.056 --> 00:33:36.066
With 20,000 residence, no city in the United
States would surpass Cahokia's historic size

00:33:36.106 --> 00:33:37.486
before 1800.

00:33:38.336 --> 00:33:43.936
Only then would Philadelphia's
population eclipse the ancient center.

00:33:46.426 --> 00:33:52.466
>> This people lived in the [inaudible] houses
on time the principal people did, the priest

00:33:52.466 --> 00:34:00.166
and the royalty, they lived in very
substantial houses not tipis, not tipis.

00:34:00.216 --> 00:34:02.816
Tipi is Western plains people.

00:34:03.806 --> 00:34:05.516
Down here they live in houses.

00:34:05.516 --> 00:34:11.436
They were sedentary, they were farmers, they
use the rivers and the miles and streams

00:34:11.735 --> 00:34:15.795
as a not only for commerce
but for sustenance as well.

00:34:17.036 --> 00:34:19.976
>> [Background Music] With the Mississippi
and other major rivers has its highways.

00:34:19.976 --> 00:34:25.716
Cahokia was linked by trade
to a third of a continent.

00:34:25.716 --> 00:34:29.255
Copper arrived from the great
lakes, obsidian from yellow stone,

00:34:29.886 --> 00:34:31.966
mica and crystal from the Appalachians,

00:34:32.485 --> 00:34:36.966
gold and silver form Canada,
shell from the Gulf of Mexico.

00:34:37.516 --> 00:34:57.726
[ Music ]

00:34:58.226 --> 00:35:05.866
>> Look at this old trees that
has seem so much asked by them,

00:35:05.866 --> 00:35:12.256
magnificently dressed Indian people coming
down that-- by that dug out, reading people,

00:35:12.256 --> 00:35:17.956
standing right here on this bunk of-- having
a good time 'cause they did, you know,

00:35:17.956 --> 00:35:21.286
Indian people are always
known how to have a good time.

00:35:22.006 --> 00:35:23.746
And there would be a feast prepared

00:35:24.316 --> 00:35:27.866
and the women would put the corn
together and they make sofkee.

00:35:28.446 --> 00:35:32.756
They would roast a deer, the
people would bring gifts.

00:35:32.756 --> 00:35:37.336
You never go to an Indian's house without
bringing something that was old as the sunrise.

00:35:38.516 --> 00:35:54.546
[ Music ]

00:35:55.046 --> 00:35:57.976
>> Cahokia was the pinnacle
of a mound building culture

00:35:58.336 --> 00:36:01.226
with traditions dating back to before 1,000 BC.

00:36:01.226 --> 00:36:11.036
Thousands of mounds still dock the landscape
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

00:36:11.086 --> 00:36:17.456
An average funeral mound in the
Ohio Valley was three stories tall.

00:36:17.456 --> 00:36:21.076
Construction could represent
200,000 man hours of labor

00:36:21.346 --> 00:36:24.956
or 100 men carrying the baskets
of earth for a year.

00:36:24.956 --> 00:36:32.166
But few mounds compare with the
religious effigy located 50 miles east

00:36:32.166 --> 00:36:35.346
of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Great Serpent Mound.

00:36:36.236 --> 00:36:45.756
The enormous snake stretches
over 400 yards in length.

00:36:45.756 --> 00:36:49.296
While their earthworks are the
mound builders most visible legacy,

00:36:49.296 --> 00:36:52.836
their smaller creations are
their most beautiful.

00:36:53.516 --> 00:37:00.546
[ Music ]

00:37:01.046 --> 00:37:07.216
Only glimpses remain of the people who changed
the course of life on the northern continent.

00:37:07.216 --> 00:37:12.346
Most of their material world, wooden
buildings, boats, baskets, woven textiles,

00:37:12.616 --> 00:37:16.446
leather footwear, and clothes
have long since turned to dust.

00:37:16.446 --> 00:37:27.046
>> An old [inaudible] relative of mine that
used to go outside and hold my hands up

00:37:27.386 --> 00:37:30.536
and bless my self with the
sun that's hot [phonetic].

00:37:30.636 --> 00:37:35.236
Well, I can't do that anymore because they
say we sun worshippers said we didn't worship

00:37:35.236 --> 00:37:35.756
the sun.

00:37:36.476 --> 00:37:39.936
We worship what was behind
it, the power behind it.

00:37:40.516 --> 00:37:49.516
[ Music ]

00:37:50.016 --> 00:38:15.000
[ Noise ]

00:38:15.046 --> 00:38:18.946
>> In the 19th century, 2,000
miles south of Cahokia,

00:38:19.696 --> 00:38:24.816
a group of European explorers carved their
way in the jungles of Southern Mexico.

00:38:28.896 --> 00:38:33.846
There, buried for centuries and
surrounded by massive pyramids,

00:38:33.846 --> 00:38:39.786
they came upon a royal palace splendid
with grand rooms, courts, and a tower.

00:38:39.786 --> 00:38:47.346
The Europeans recognized that by their own
standards, the site was a legacy of greatness.

00:38:47.346 --> 00:38:53.806
Standing in the middle of the largest
Indian nation in North America, the Maya,

00:38:53.906 --> 00:38:59.176
descendants of the pyramid builders,
the explorers could not imagine

00:38:59.176 --> 00:39:04.846
that the towering architecture
was the work of Indian people.

00:39:04.846 --> 00:39:08.366
Instead, they speculated wildly
about the lost civilization

00:39:08.366 --> 00:39:14.286
that could have built so grand in existence.

00:39:14.286 --> 00:39:18.516
Refugees from the sunken continent
of Atlantis, a lost tribe of Israel,

00:39:18.976 --> 00:39:22.106
seafarers from the Orient, even
beings from another planet.

00:39:22.106 --> 00:39:26.916
They considered everything but the obvious.

00:39:26.916 --> 00:39:38.826
In 1949, a Mexican archeologist came to the
same magnificent ruins now known as Palenque.

00:39:40.516 --> 00:39:44.626
[ Music ]

00:39:45.126 --> 00:39:49.546
He climbed the steps to the top of the largest
pyramid, the Temple of the Inscription.

00:39:52.546 --> 00:39:55.566
There he noticed holes in the
floor below the capstones.

00:39:57.616 --> 00:40:03.186
He removed the slacks and discovered a
rubble-filled passageway descending deep

00:40:03.246 --> 00:40:04.246
into the pyramid's heart.

00:40:04.456 --> 00:40:10.166
After three years of excavation,
the passage was clear.

00:40:11.876 --> 00:40:17.346
At the bottom was a tomb that had
been buried for over 1,200 years.

00:40:17.816 --> 00:40:24.786
It would unlock the history of Palenque and
help to reveal the past of the Mayan people,

00:40:24.786 --> 00:40:27.356
a past they left for the future to read.

00:40:27.356 --> 00:40:34.196
For centuries, Mayan glyphs were
considered complex picture stories

00:40:34.196 --> 00:40:35.726
like Egyptian hieroglyphics.

00:40:35.726 --> 00:40:42.586
Only in the 1980's that archaeologists
finally recognized that it was true writing.

00:40:42.586 --> 00:40:47.586
They were not looking at pictures to be
interpreted but symbols for sounds to be read.

00:40:47.586 --> 00:40:50.276
It was the Maya language.

00:40:50.276 --> 00:40:53.716
Instantly, a door was opened on the past.

00:40:53.716 --> 00:41:00.136
Beneath the five ton sarcophagus
cover at Palenque,

00:41:00.136 --> 00:41:06.696
late Pacal shield in the Maya language.

00:41:06.696 --> 00:41:13.366
He was born in 603 A.D. His head was
bound at birth to enlarge his forehead,

00:41:13.676 --> 00:41:16.666
a fashion that marked him as
a member of the royal elite.

00:41:17.856 --> 00:41:23.996
He wore a cosmetic bridge on his nose
and decorated his hair with water lilies.

00:41:23.996 --> 00:41:26.456
Pacal rose to power at the age of 12.

00:41:26.686 --> 00:41:36.766
He would build a holy city and rule for
nearly 70 years leading Palenque during a time

00:41:36.766 --> 00:41:38.976
of greatness and growth in the Mayan world.

00:41:39.516 --> 00:41:51.546
[ Music ]

00:41:52.046 --> 00:41:56.046
[Background Music] As the Maya
expanded, over 60 capital cities emerged.

00:41:56.696 --> 00:42:00.206
Their growth fueled by a
successful agricultural society.

00:42:01.516 --> 00:42:33.616
[ Music ]

00:42:34.116 --> 00:42:38.886
The roots of Mayan agriculture reached
back thousands of years and stretched

00:42:38.886 --> 00:42:41.336
across Mexico and into Central America.

00:42:41.336 --> 00:42:51.626
Now, friends and brothers listen to these
words of dreaming, spring rains give us life

00:42:51.626 --> 00:42:54.786
and bring forth the golden corn silk.

00:42:59.256 --> 00:43:02.996
By the time of Christ, there were
millions of people in the region

00:43:03.326 --> 00:43:07.976
with agriculture allowing
populations to settle and expand.

00:43:08.516 --> 00:43:25.596
[ Music & Noise ]

00:43:26.096 --> 00:43:35.476
Art, mathematics, astronomy, architecture,
priesthood and royalty, all flourished.

00:43:36.516 --> 00:44:01.316
[ Music ]

00:44:01.816 --> 00:44:10.546
By the mid '700s, at Palenque alone, the
sons of Pacal ruled over 200,000 Maya living

00:44:10.546 --> 00:44:16.486
in regional communities of farmers,
weavers, stone masons and feather-workers.

00:44:17.516 --> 00:44:22.226
[ Music ]

00:44:22.726 --> 00:44:27.216
At the golden age of building
and growth could be transformed

00:44:27.286 --> 00:44:29.976
by a new era of war and destruction.

00:44:31.506 --> 00:44:36.516
For reasons still locked in the past,
the Mayan world turned against itself.

00:44:37.836 --> 00:44:39.856
Farmers became soldiers.

00:44:40.516 --> 00:44:51.556
[ Music & Noise ]

00:44:52.056 --> 00:44:55.336
By 800 A.D., an era had ended.

00:44:55.336 --> 00:44:59.486
Most of the capitals that have
been among the living wonders

00:44:59.486 --> 00:45:05.976
of human creativity including Palenque
were deserted and reclaimed by the jungle.

00:45:06.516 --> 00:45:11.216
[ Music ]

00:45:11.716 --> 00:45:13.076
South of here there's a desert.

00:45:13.866 --> 00:45:16.426
It's a forbidding barrier
stretching hundreds of miles.

00:45:17.326 --> 00:45:19.846
On the other side of that dessert is Mexico.

00:45:20.996 --> 00:45:24.456
Over thousands of years, skilled
travelers managed to cross this barrier

00:45:25.216 --> 00:45:30.556
but widespread contact was impossible, and so
each side developed in their own unique way.

00:45:31.806 --> 00:45:37.546
In Mexico, millions of Indian people, 80 percent
of the continent's population created art

00:45:37.966 --> 00:45:42.126
and architecture that was unparalleled
and it's your size and physical ambition.

00:45:43.146 --> 00:45:45.286
They developed writing and astronomy.

00:45:46.286 --> 00:45:50.416
Their wars were wage between massive
armies even by contemporary standards.

00:45:51.526 --> 00:45:54.456
In this hour we follow an epic story told

00:45:54.456 --> 00:45:56.686
through the actual words of
those who took part in it.

00:45:57.456 --> 00:46:02.186
Along with eye witness illustrations of
events that occurred almost 500 years ago,

00:46:03.556 --> 00:46:08.106
we take you to the present day
site of Mexico City to the heart

00:46:08.106 --> 00:46:12.976
of the most powerful military empire
in the continent's history, the Aztec.

00:46:13.516 --> 00:46:38.586
[ Music ]

00:46:39.086 --> 00:46:46.436
>> Extended lies the city
lies Mexico spreading circles

00:46:46.436 --> 00:46:50.596
of emerald light radiating
splendor like a quetzal plume.

00:46:51.186 --> 00:46:58.536
[Background Music] Oh author
of life, your house is here.

00:46:58.536 --> 00:47:02.046
Your song is heard on earth.

00:47:02.046 --> 00:47:09.026
It spreads among the people, behold, Mexico.

00:47:10.396 --> 00:47:14.226
By the Aztec calendar, it was the year one read.

00:47:14.696 --> 00:47:20.636
And Motecuhzoma, emperor of the Aztec was
the most powerful man in the Americas,

00:47:21.646 --> 00:47:25.226
by many standards, the most
power man in the world.

00:47:27.576 --> 00:47:30.656
[Background Music] From his
capital, Tenochtitlan,

00:47:30.696 --> 00:47:35.526
Motecuhzoma ruled over 10 million subjects.

00:47:35.526 --> 00:47:40.706
For almost 90 years, his people had build
an empire with their armies and become rich

00:47:40.706 --> 00:47:42.436
from the tribute of defeated states.

00:47:42.436 --> 00:47:52.176
But Motecuhzoma was troubled,
prophetic nightmares disturbed his sleep

00:47:52.176 --> 00:47:55.476
and he had been reading ominous signs.

00:47:56.516 --> 00:48:03.426
[ Music and Noise ]

00:48:03.926 --> 00:48:07.456
A huge tongue of fire burning
in the night sky to the east,

00:48:07.636 --> 00:48:11.936
a major temple mysteriously destroyed by fire.

00:48:12.516 --> 00:48:15.906
[ Noise ]

00:48:16.406 --> 00:48:20.446
A comet blazing across the day time sky.

00:48:20.446 --> 00:48:24.086
Signs and dreams were vital to the Aztec.

00:48:24.086 --> 00:48:26.016
They guided decisions of state.

00:48:26.016 --> 00:48:33.046
>> Motecuhzoma thought as now
we'll do in our villages today

00:48:33.596 --> 00:48:37.446
that when important things
happen you will dream of it.

00:48:37.596 --> 00:48:42.076
They too saw things perhaps in
the night sky, a shooting star.

00:48:42.806 --> 00:48:47.256
Motecuhzoma and others at the time
would have thought I have seen it.

00:48:48.366 --> 00:48:58.226
>> Motecuhzoma could feel disaster approaching
but he did not know what threatened his empire.

00:48:58.226 --> 00:49:01.976
He did know that nations lived in
cycles like all things in nature,

00:49:02.576 --> 00:49:05.266
growth and fullness were followed by fall.

00:49:06.516 --> 00:49:18.546
[ Music and Bird Chirping ]

00:49:19.046 --> 00:49:24.346
The cycles of nations had been played
out many times in the valley of Mexico.

00:49:25.596 --> 00:49:29.326
Ruins of ancient cultures were
scattered across the region.

00:49:30.656 --> 00:49:36.616
Motecuhzoma had only to look 20 miles to the
east to the ruins of a long abandoned city

00:49:37.036 --> 00:49:41.156
so magnificent the Aztec
called it the Home of the Gods.

00:49:42.096 --> 00:49:46.976
In the cycle of nations, even
the Home of the Gods had fallen.

00:49:47.516 --> 00:49:56.456
[ Music ]

00:49:56.956 --> 00:50:08.796
900 years before Motecuhzoma, workers had come
from throughout Mexico to build Teotihuacan.

00:50:09.316 --> 00:50:13.636
The city among the grandest in the
world was a monumental work of art.

00:50:14.516 --> 00:50:21.846
[ Music ]

00:50:22.346 --> 00:50:29.766
Its largest building, the pyramid of the sun had
a base the size of the biggest pyramid in Egypt.

00:50:31.116 --> 00:50:40.006
Teotihuacan's military might
controlled Central Mexico for centuries.

00:50:40.666 --> 00:50:48.506
>> When I first saw this place Teotihuacan and
the pyramids, I thought this is truly beautiful

00:50:48.866 --> 00:50:52.496
that which our grandfathers,
our fathers before have done.

00:50:53.166 --> 00:50:58.356
And I thought when I looked at it again;
it is like having your father that died

00:50:58.676 --> 00:51:02.456
or your brother that died
and meeting them again here.

00:51:03.226 --> 00:51:08.346
You remember them and you see their greatness
when you contemplate what they left behind.

00:51:08.346 --> 00:51:14.036
>> [Background Music] With all it's
power Teotihuacan was still trapped

00:51:14.256 --> 00:51:15.646
in the cycle of nations.

00:51:16.966 --> 00:51:19.776
In one of history's great unsolved mysteries,

00:51:20.626 --> 00:51:24.706
the city was systematically burned
and abandoned at its height.

00:51:24.706 --> 00:51:32.326
With the dissolving of the empire,
Central Mexico turned to chaos

00:51:32.986 --> 00:51:37.096
with small rival kingdoms locked
in struggle for power and survival.

00:51:38.516 --> 00:51:48.456
[ Noise ]

00:51:48.956 --> 00:51:53.656
Elite warriors fought for kings on the field
of honor like knights in medieval Europe.

00:51:54.456 --> 00:51:58.016
It was a world of royal blood
line's betrayal and revenge.

00:52:02.296 --> 00:52:08.136
In Central Mexico, small kingdoms would struggle
for 200 years before the cycle would turn again

00:52:08.136 --> 00:52:11.236
and they would begin to unify
under the leadership

00:52:11.236 --> 00:52:14.286
of the Toltec people from
the city state of Tolan.

00:52:16.476 --> 00:52:22.736
Over 500 years before the rise of the
Aztec, the Toltec redefined leadership

00:52:22.836 --> 00:52:27.136
in Central Mexico enforcing
power not through military might

00:52:27.586 --> 00:52:29.746
but through the moral force of their teachings.

00:52:30.706 --> 00:52:35.136
They coordinated trade between
states and arbitrated disputes all

00:52:35.136 --> 00:52:37.026
within the framework of their religion.

00:52:37.026 --> 00:52:42.496
[Background Music] Their capital
functioned like Wall Street,

00:52:42.826 --> 00:52:45.736
the Vatican and the Supreme Court combined.

00:52:45.736 --> 00:52:55.086
It was also here in Tolan that a priest
who held the name of the god, Quetzalcoatl,

00:52:55.676 --> 00:53:01.586
the feathered serpent would be exiled,
eventually sailing into the Gulf

00:53:01.586 --> 00:53:06.536
of Mexico vowing to return in another
time as a savior for the people.

00:53:07.516 --> 00:53:16.776
[ Music ]

00:53:17.276 --> 00:53:23.236
After less than two centuries, Tolan like
Teotihuacan before it was violently destroyed.

00:53:23.296 --> 00:53:29.186
But while the city burned, the
sophisticated Toltec leadership escaped many

00:53:29.186 --> 00:53:31.916
of the elite families moving
to the valley of Mexico.

00:53:31.916 --> 00:53:40.326
For 150 years in the shadows of the ruins of
Teotihuacan, the Toltec established control

00:53:40.326 --> 00:53:41.756
over the city states of the valley.

00:53:42.956 --> 00:53:47.016
Their influence was so great that
their blood lines became the benchmark

00:53:47.016 --> 00:53:48.866
of nobility throughout the region.

00:53:51.696 --> 00:53:56.616
During the same time, a nomadic tribe
far to the west was in the midst

00:53:56.616 --> 00:53:58.216
of an epic search for a homeland.

00:53:59.156 --> 00:54:02.876
They were the Meshika, Motecuhzoma's ancestors.

00:54:03.516 --> 00:54:25.596
[ Music & Noise ]

00:54:26.096 --> 00:54:32.556
Behold, a new sun has risen, a new god is born,
new laws are written and new men are made.

00:54:32.736 --> 00:54:49.436
Around 1300 after nearly two centuries of
wandering, the Meshika people came to the valley

00:54:49.436 --> 00:54:52.896
of Mexico, a valley long
dominated by the Toltec.

00:54:56.696 --> 00:55:04.856
The Meshika with no Toltec blood were seen by
the refined city states as violent barbarians,

00:55:05.526 --> 00:55:07.316
a threat to the stability of the valley.

00:55:08.516 --> 00:55:11.276
[ Noise ]

00:55:11.776 --> 00:55:16.296
The local states attacked the Nomad nation,
killing many and driving the survivors

00:55:16.586 --> 00:55:23.466
to a rocky area covered with
cactus and infested with snakes.

00:55:23.686 --> 00:55:31.186
The exile was meant to destroy them but the
Meshika were used to adversity, they flourished.

00:55:32.906 --> 00:55:37.606
Soon the resilience and skills and warfare
impressed their sophisticated neighbors.

00:55:38.586 --> 00:55:41.046
They begun to sell their services as mercenaries

00:55:41.106 --> 00:55:45.386
and within a generation the Meshika
were accepted as part of the social

00:55:45.386 --> 00:55:47.736
and political fabric of the
lush mountain valley.

00:55:47.736 --> 00:55:58.206
In 1325 they asked the neighboring
Lord of Colhuacan to send his daughter

00:55:58.206 --> 00:56:00.066
to become the wife of a Meshika ruler.

00:56:01.326 --> 00:56:11.496
Flattered and seeing the opportunity for
unity the Lord of Colhuacan complied.

00:56:13.286 --> 00:56:18.196
Days later when he and the other lords
of the valley went to the Meshika town

00:56:18.196 --> 00:56:26.686
to honor the new princess, instead of seeing his
young child emerged a priest appeared dressed

00:56:26.686 --> 00:56:27.366
in her skin.

00:56:33.876 --> 00:56:37.676
Horrified, the Lord of Colhuacan
called for revenge.

00:56:39.766 --> 00:56:43.366
>> "Here, come here my vessels from Colhuacan.

00:56:44.386 --> 00:56:47.036
Come avenge the hideous crime
committed by this Meshika.

00:56:47.036 --> 00:56:51.906
Let them die, destroy them
such deprave man of evil.

00:56:53.106 --> 00:56:58.196
My vessels, we shall finish them off
and leave no trace on memory of them."

00:57:01.586 --> 00:57:06.786
>> Colhuacan and its allies attacked the
Meshika driving those they did not kill

00:57:07.176 --> 00:57:09.136
into a lake in center of the valley.

00:57:10.466 --> 00:57:13.926
Almost annihilate the Meshika
again prove resilient.

00:57:14.496 --> 00:57:19.496
As they gathered on a swampy island and
lake they saw an eagle perched on a cactus.

00:57:20.526 --> 00:57:25.416
The prophetic sign they were told they would
see when they reach the end on there long search

00:57:25.416 --> 00:57:36.656
for home land, the place that
would be called Tenochtitlan.

00:57:38.516 --> 00:57:48.546
[ Music ]

00:57:49.046 --> 00:57:53.126
Now we have found the land promised to us.

00:57:53.296 --> 00:57:55.916
We have found peace for the
weary Mexican people.

00:57:57.056 --> 00:58:01.846
Now we want them nothing be confident
children, brothers and sisters

00:58:02.426 --> 00:58:11.726
because we have obtain the promise of our God.

00:58:11.726 --> 00:58:16.206
[Background Music] For 100 years the
people of Tenochtitlan built up the island

00:58:16.206 --> 00:58:20.536
through great sacrifice they
reclaimed land from the swampy lake

00:58:20.776 --> 00:58:27.846
and erected stone temples public
buildings cause ways of hue

00:58:27.846 --> 00:58:30.916
and stone were constructed
to the North, South and West.

00:58:30.916 --> 00:58:36.606
An Aqueduct was built to bring in freshwater
from main land spring three miles away.

00:58:37.806 --> 00:58:42.716
Canals were dug throughout the
island to transport goods and people.

00:58:42.716 --> 00:58:47.056
They gained trade wealth and again hired
themselves out as mercenary soldiers

00:58:47.056 --> 00:58:50.406
for the powerful city states of the valley.

00:58:50.516 --> 00:58:58.696
Marriages were arranged that finally
brought them honored Toltec blood lines.

00:58:58.926 --> 00:59:01.316
Tenochtitlan was a city on the rise.

00:59:01.316 --> 00:59:10.416
The cycle of power was turning toward
the Meshika and when war again broke

00:59:10.416 --> 00:59:15.576
out in the valley the Meshika
and their allies prevailed.

00:59:15.576 --> 00:59:20.186
In victory they called themselves
the Aztec, after the Meshika place

00:59:20.186 --> 00:59:22.906
of origin Aztlan, land of herons.

00:59:23.516 --> 00:59:27.656
[ Music ]

00:59:28.156 --> 00:59:33.366
From this point Aztec prophecy
foretold a glorious future.

00:59:35.056 --> 00:59:38.876
The might of our powerful arms in
the spirit of heart shall be felt.

00:59:40.296 --> 00:59:43.956
Within we will conquer all
nations near and far rule

00:59:43.956 --> 00:59:46.616
over all villages in cities from sea to sea.

00:59:47.486 --> 00:59:52.806
Become lords of gold and silver, jewels
and precious stones, feathers and tributes

00:59:53.586 --> 00:59:58.686
and we shall become lords over them in their
lands and over their sons and their daughters

00:59:59.206 --> 01:00:01.486
who will serve us as our subjects.

01:00:04.736 --> 01:00:09.026
For over 80 years, the Aztec
launched far-reaching campaigns

01:00:09.026 --> 01:00:13.176
of conquest expanding their
domain from Gulf to Pacific.

01:00:13.886 --> 01:00:17.126
They fought epic battles with
city states throughout the region.

01:00:18.646 --> 01:00:23.336
Most were conquered and turned into
tributaries, forced to supply slave laborers

01:00:23.336 --> 01:00:26.736
for Aztec public works and
pay high taxes and goods.

01:00:26.736 --> 01:00:30.246
Aztec scribes recorded the taxes of many states.

01:00:32.516 --> 01:00:38.396
Bolts of fine clothe, discs of hammered
gold, exotic plants and feathers,

01:00:38.396 --> 01:00:42.056
precious stones, feathered military uniforms.

01:00:43.516 --> 01:00:50.396
[ Music ]

01:00:50.896 --> 01:00:54.366
[Background Music] Built on the backs of
the tributary states, the island capital

01:00:54.366 --> 01:00:57.116
of the Aztec grew into one
of the wonders of the world.

01:00:58.516 --> 01:01:05.476
[ Music ]

01:01:05.976 --> 01:01:11.236
>> [Background Music] When I first opened my
eyes in this world, I was born of this heritage.

01:01:11.986 --> 01:01:16.876
I have seen the beautiful festivals
we have in our villages, our dances,

01:01:16.876 --> 01:01:19.166
and it would've been like that there.

01:01:19.166 --> 01:01:27.656
They had many festivals in this place with many
beautiful dancers wearing many brilliant colors.

01:01:27.656 --> 01:01:31.006
I think it was even more
beautiful then, much more beautiful

01:01:31.006 --> 01:01:33.906
when our grandfathers lived
there and followed their ways.

01:01:33.906 --> 01:01:44.546
>> The two-story houses of the elite
were adorned with beautiful gardens.

01:01:44.546 --> 01:01:48.006
Royal aviaries housed thousands of rare birds

01:01:48.006 --> 01:01:50.396
and store houses swelled
with the wealth of empire.

01:01:50.616 --> 01:01:56.366
The city was cleaned daily
by thousands of sweepers.

01:01:56.366 --> 01:01:59.646
Its refuse [phonetic] collected
and shipped away on barges.

01:02:00.516 --> 01:02:03.586
[ Noise ]

01:02:04.086 --> 01:02:09.036
The central markets thronged with
professional traders whose travels took them

01:02:09.036 --> 01:02:12.876
to far distant locations,
men who spoke many languages

01:02:13.076 --> 01:02:15.196
and often carried with them news of the world.

01:02:16.516 --> 01:02:41.546
[ Music & Noise ]

01:02:42.046 --> 01:02:46.526
[Background Music] The center of
Tenochtitlan was dominated by the great temple.

01:02:47.246 --> 01:02:51.686
Its twin pyramids representing deities
who embodied the conflict at the heart

01:02:51.686 --> 01:02:58.676
of Aztec society, the eternal struggle
between life and death, fertility and war.

01:03:03.676 --> 01:03:07.396
Their private rituals which on special
occasions included the sacrifice

01:03:07.396 --> 01:03:10.256
of human prisoners incorporated this duality.

01:03:11.216 --> 01:03:16.166
Life required death to exist
and death required life.

01:03:16.166 --> 01:03:24.866
Tenochtitlan became a city of hundreds
of thousands, a bustling metropolis ruled

01:03:24.866 --> 01:03:28.086
by the Aztec emperor from
the grand imperial palace.

01:03:28.086 --> 01:03:37.466
But in the year 1 reed, the Christian
year 1519, Motecuhzoma could feel a shadow

01:03:37.466 --> 01:03:44.296
across his empire and he could not forget that
the prophecy of Aztec greatness had a dark side.

01:03:44.936 --> 01:03:48.456
A prophecy long held in their oral tradition.

01:03:50.556 --> 01:03:56.056
I shall make war against all provinces and
cities, towns and settlements and make all

01:03:56.056 --> 01:03:58.256
of them my subjects, my servants.

01:03:59.526 --> 01:04:06.576
But just as I will subjugate them, so too will
they be snatched from me and turned against me

01:04:07.436 --> 01:04:10.756
by strangers who would drive
me out of this land.

01:04:11.516 --> 01:04:28.546
[ Music ]

01:04:29.046 --> 01:04:32.986
>> [Background Music] Ever since
their years as a wandering tribe,

01:04:33.716 --> 01:04:37.986
the Aztec believed their
destiny was to rule the world.

01:04:37.986 --> 01:04:48.306
Now, at the height of empire, Motecuhzoma
listened to his dreams and saw the signs.

01:04:49.456 --> 01:04:51.146
They foretold disaster.

01:04:56.576 --> 01:04:59.456
Then, word came of strange
happenings in the east,

01:05:00.136 --> 01:05:02.676
boats and men landing on the Mexican coast.

01:05:03.886 --> 01:05:09.116
Men unlike any they had encountered
before, their bodies sheath in metal.

01:05:10.516 --> 01:05:15.756
[ Music & Noise ]

01:05:16.256 --> 01:05:21.766
Motecuhzoma sent scouts to the coast to
find out more about the new arrivals.

01:05:23.156 --> 01:05:26.846
They were very white, their
eyes were like chalk,

01:05:27.876 --> 01:05:31.056
their hair on some it was
yellow and on some it was black.

01:05:32.516 --> 01:05:38.546
They wore long beards, they were yellow too.

01:05:38.596 --> 01:05:43.456
The strangers had landed on the gulf coast,
that was also disturbing information.

01:05:43.456 --> 01:05:48.086
Centuries earlier, the banished priest
from the cult of the feathered serpent,

01:05:48.086 --> 01:05:54.296
Quetzalcoatl had left Mexico from the
same coast promising one day to return.

01:05:54.916 --> 01:05:57.566
[Background Music] Another prophecy
that threatened Motecuhzoma.

01:05:59.516 --> 01:06:04.926
If he comes in the year 1
reed, he strikes at kings.

01:06:06.736 --> 01:06:09.266
It was now the Aztec year 1 reed.

01:06:09.266 --> 01:06:14.956
Whether Motecuhzoma believed the
prophecy or not was of little importance.

01:06:14.956 --> 01:06:19.176
He knew that many subjugated people
throughout the empire embraced the story

01:06:19.176 --> 01:06:22.936
of the feathered serpent and awaited his return.

01:06:24.686 --> 01:06:26.216
For it was in their heart that he would come

01:06:27.256 --> 01:06:29.606
that he would come to land
to reclaim his kingdom.

01:06:30.326 --> 01:06:38.046
Whoever these invaders were, whether they
represented Quetzalcoatl or a foreign power,

01:06:38.836 --> 01:06:45.456
Motecuhzoma could feel the threat to his empire.

01:06:45.456 --> 01:06:48.066
And his fears were justified.

01:06:48.066 --> 01:06:53.136
Spanish conquistador Hernando
Cortes had landed in Mexico.

01:06:54.456 --> 01:07:01.176
>> It was said that first he dreamt
that Quetzalcoatl would return.

01:07:01.176 --> 01:07:06.346
After that when he saw Hernando Cortes
and the others, he thought, he has come.

01:07:06.506 --> 01:07:08.486
Quetzalcoatl has come.

01:07:09.316 --> 01:07:16.206
Only, he was wrong, another had come, someone
with evil intentions because Cortes did not come

01:07:16.206 --> 01:07:18.826
with religious faith or to do good things.

01:07:19.506 --> 01:07:22.436
He came to commit terrible
crimes against the Meshika.

01:07:25.056 --> 01:07:30.646
>> As a diplomatic gesture, Motecuhzoma sent
emissaries carrying the costume of Quetzalcoatl

01:07:31.396 --> 01:07:33.966
which they presented to Cortes aboard his ship.

01:07:34.026 --> 01:07:37.316
Cortes responded with a display of force.

01:07:37.706 --> 01:07:43.676
He ordered the Aztec delegation shackled and
forced to watch as his men fired a Lombard canon

01:07:43.936 --> 01:07:48.216
and a thunderous hail of fire and
smoke blowing apart a tree on shore.

01:07:49.266 --> 01:07:53.556
The astonished emissaries were released
and they raced back to Tenochtitlan.

01:07:54.106 --> 01:07:57.416
Motecuhzoma received the news with alarm.

01:07:59.606 --> 01:08:03.656
Spanish weapons and armor were
formidable and it would be only a matter

01:08:03.656 --> 01:08:07.086
of time before tributary
states chafing under the yoke

01:08:07.086 --> 01:08:09.796
of Aztec oppression would join the conquistador.

01:08:10.926 --> 01:08:13.936
They would lead him to the wealth
that lay at the center of the empire

01:08:14.866 --> 01:08:18.966
to the one thing Spanish
conquistadors crave above all else.

01:08:21.756 --> 01:08:28.666
>> We Spanish suffer from a disease
of a heart which only gold can cure.

01:08:29.576 --> 01:08:34.046
>> Cortes ordered his 450 men army inland.

01:08:34.496 --> 01:08:38.136
When some of his men resisted,
he sank his ships.

01:08:38.966 --> 01:08:40.595
There would be no turning back.

01:08:41.515 --> 01:08:54.006
[ Music & Noise ]

01:08:54.506 --> 01:08:57.036
[Background Music] The army moved
relentlessly toward the valley of Mexico.

01:09:00.296 --> 01:09:04.555
As Motecuhzoma had anticipated,
Cortes formed alliances along the way

01:09:04.946 --> 01:09:06.395
with rebellious city states.

01:09:07.185 --> 01:09:09.856
One tributary leader spoke
for the fears of many.

01:09:10.746 --> 01:09:14.376
>> Motecuhzoma and the Meshika
had given us much pain.

01:09:14.906 --> 01:09:18.716
They have imposed a tribute upon
us, they have become our rulers.

01:09:19.515 --> 01:09:24.305
If the Spaniard should abandon
us in haste, if they should go,

01:09:25.265 --> 01:09:28.166
so perverse are the Meshika
that they will kill us.

01:09:29.515 --> 01:09:31.645
[ Music & Noise ]

01:09:32.145 --> 01:09:36.696
>> [Background Music] While many nations lived
in fear of the Aztec, one city state less

01:09:36.756 --> 01:09:43.345
than 50 miles east of Tenochtitlan had
never fallen to the empire, Tlaxcala.

01:09:44.836 --> 01:09:54.756
There, Cortes forged his key alliance,
6,000 Tlaxcalan troops joined the Spaniards.

01:09:56.516 --> 01:10:01.346
[ Music & Noise ]

01:10:01.846 --> 01:10:06.546
As reports reached the Aztec capital,
some of Motecuhzoma's advisers argued

01:10:06.606 --> 01:10:09.086
for a decisive military campaign.

01:10:09.226 --> 01:10:14.726
But Motecuhzoma held his armies in check
unwilling to leave the capital unprotected

01:10:14.876 --> 01:10:18.006
or risk setting off a general rebellion.

01:10:18.006 --> 01:10:24.296
Stalling for time, he sent emissaries to protest
Cortes' advance and had a wall of trees planted

01:10:24.296 --> 01:10:27.316
across the road to disguise
the route to Tenochtitlan.

01:10:28.446 --> 01:10:32.576
Paralyzed with doubt, the emperor
was fast becoming only a player

01:10:32.706 --> 01:10:37.736
in a prophecy being fulfilled.

01:10:37.736 --> 01:10:42.436
>> And he must have thought,
these men, why have they come?

01:10:42.436 --> 01:10:43.326
What do they want?

01:10:43.666 --> 01:10:47.056
Maybe we can attack and kill
some of them but not all of them.

01:10:47.356 --> 01:10:50.406
For that reason, some did not want to fight.

01:10:50.406 --> 01:10:53.296
They had seen that if they shot
arrows at them, they did not fall.

01:10:53.426 --> 01:10:56.866
They made a clanging sound as
they bounced off their armor.

01:10:56.866 --> 01:11:02.636
Even if they fired at the horses, they
did not die because the horses had armor.

01:11:03.786 --> 01:11:07.446
>> Cortes and the Tlaxcalan army
turned first to a city state

01:11:07.486 --> 01:11:10.326
that remained loyal to the
Aztec emperor, Cholula.

01:11:11.796 --> 01:11:13.356
Eyewitness accounts were recorded.

01:11:14.776 --> 01:11:20.496
>> The mira [phonetic] rose from the Spaniards
[inaudible], summoning all the noblemen, lords,

01:11:20.766 --> 01:11:23.256
war leaders, warriors and common folk.

01:11:24.716 --> 01:11:29.256
And when they got crowded into the
temple courtyard, then the Spaniards

01:11:29.256 --> 01:11:32.196
and their allies blocked the
entrances and every exit.

01:11:33.566 --> 01:11:40.856
There followed a butchery of stabbing, beating,
killing of the unsuspecting Cholulans armed

01:11:40.856 --> 01:11:44.136
with no bows and arrows,
protected by no shields.

01:11:45.166 --> 01:11:49.566
With no warning, they were
treacherously, deceitfully slain.

01:11:52.166 --> 01:11:55.936
>> 6,000 Cholulan citizens
lay dead in the streets.

01:11:57.516 --> 01:12:02.546
[ Music ]

01:12:03.046 --> 01:12:07.726
Tenochtitlan received the news
of the massacre and shock.

01:12:07.726 --> 01:12:10.996
An Aztec eyewitness later recalled.

01:12:15.866 --> 01:12:21.506
The city rose into molt [phonetic],
alarmed as if by an earthquake,

01:12:21.506 --> 01:12:24.446
as if there were a constant
reeling of the face of the earth.

01:12:24.446 --> 01:12:31.976
Motecuhzoma's worst nightmare
was about to reveal itself.

01:12:32.016 --> 01:12:33.046
[ Music ]

01:12:33.046 --> 01:12:38.356
Do the former rulers know what
is happening in their absence?

01:12:38.356 --> 01:12:46.636
Oh, that any of them might see might
wonder at what has befallen me.

01:12:46.636 --> 01:12:52.976
That what I am seeing now that they
have gone for I cannot be dreaming.

01:12:53.516 --> 01:13:13.546
[ Music ]

01:13:14.046 --> 01:13:20.386
>> Proudly stands the city
of Mexico, Tenochtitlan.

01:13:20.766 --> 01:13:23.076
Here, no one fears to die in war.

01:13:23.156 --> 01:13:26.316
Keep this in mind, oh princes.

01:13:27.386 --> 01:13:30.796
Who could attack Tenochtitlan?

01:13:30.886 --> 01:13:33.656
Who could shake the foundations of heaven?

01:13:34.516 --> 01:13:37.506
[ Noise ]

01:13:38.006 --> 01:13:47.196
>> On November 8, 1519, in the Aztec year 1
reed, Hernando Cortes arrived at the gates

01:13:47.296 --> 01:13:52.966
to the imperial city of the
Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan.

01:13:52.966 --> 01:14:00.186
An Aztec eyewitness later
recalled, Mexico lay stunned silent.

01:14:00.226 --> 01:14:05.226
None went out of doors, mothers
kept their children in.

01:14:06.276 --> 01:14:10.516
The roads were deserted as
if it were early morning.

01:14:11.516 --> 01:14:16.556
[ Music ]

01:14:17.056 --> 01:14:21.346
Motecuhzoma walked out onto the grand causeway.

01:14:21.346 --> 01:14:28.476
Coming face to face with Cortes, the emperor
offered his hospitality leading the Spaniards

01:14:28.476 --> 01:14:31.006
through the city gates to his imperial palace.

01:14:33.296 --> 01:14:38.936
[Background Music] The people of Tenochtitlan
watched and their words were remembered.

01:14:40.336 --> 01:14:43.766
The iron of their lances glistened from afar.

01:14:44.676 --> 01:14:48.146
The shimmer of their swords was
as of a sinuous watercourse.

01:14:49.126 --> 01:14:53.636
Their iron breast and back
pieces, their helmets clanked.

01:14:55.426 --> 01:15:00.336
Some came completely encased
in iron as if turned to iron.

01:15:01.296 --> 01:15:07.436
And ahead of them ran their dogs panting with
foam continually dripping from their muzzles.

01:15:09.146 --> 01:15:12.686
>> The Spanish soldiers were
themselves struck with awe [phonetic].

01:15:13.896 --> 01:15:14.806
>> We were astounded.

01:15:14.806 --> 01:15:21.486
The majestic towers and houses, all of massive
stone and rising out of the waters were

01:15:21.486 --> 01:15:26.846
like enchanted castles we had read of in books.

01:15:26.846 --> 01:15:33.126
Indeed, some of our men even asked
if what we saw was not a dream.

01:15:33.126 --> 01:15:35.866
>> Even Cortes was amazed.

01:15:35.866 --> 01:15:40.776
>> Considering that these people are barbarous,
lacking the knowledge of God and cut off

01:15:40.846 --> 01:15:46.706
from all civilized nations, it is truly
remarkable to see what they have achieved.

01:15:46.706 --> 01:15:55.206
>> Once they reached the palace,
Motecuhzoma's diplomatic plans were shattered.

01:15:56.366 --> 01:15:59.566
Cortes turned on his host
seizing the emperor hostage.

01:16:00.406 --> 01:16:03.156
>> What now my warriors?

01:16:03.156 --> 01:16:05.246
We have come to the end.

01:16:05.246 --> 01:16:09.276
We have taken our medicine.

01:16:09.276 --> 01:16:15.326
Is there anywhere a mountain
we can run away to and climb?

01:16:15.326 --> 01:16:23.156
>> Motecuhzoma was forced to
lead Cortes to the treasury.

01:16:23.156 --> 01:16:25.876
>> Motecuhzoma's own property
was then brought out.

01:16:26.066 --> 01:16:31.536
Precious things like necklaces with pendants,
armbands tufted with quetzal feathers,

01:16:32.416 --> 01:16:38.666
golden armbands, bracelets, golden
anklets with shells, turquoise items,

01:16:38.976 --> 01:16:41.956
turquoise nose rods, no end of treasure.

01:16:41.956 --> 01:16:52.286
They took all, seized everything
for themselves as if it were theirs.

01:16:52.286 --> 01:16:59.766
>> Cortes wrote to the king of Spain, "Your
highness, there is so much to describe

01:16:59.766 --> 01:17:04.516
that I do not know how to begin
even to recount some part of it.

01:17:04.516 --> 01:17:13.286
Motecuhzoma has all the things to be found
under the heavens fashioned in gold and silver."

01:17:13.286 --> 01:17:19.206
The Spaniards melted the
beautifully crafted gold into blocks.

01:17:19.206 --> 01:17:24.496
For five months, holding Motecuhzoma prisoner
in his own palace they lived in splendor

01:17:24.496 --> 01:17:28.536
and pillaged the city from within.

01:17:28.536 --> 01:17:33.256
>> I thought this isn't Quetzalcoatl.

01:17:33.786 --> 01:17:35.646
This isn't a God.

01:17:35.916 --> 01:17:39.076
They said, "Look at them,
how they eat just as we do.

01:17:39.946 --> 01:17:42.196
Look at them they go about just as we."

01:17:43.136 --> 01:17:47.686
When they saw him, they knew
he wasn't really Quetzalcoatl.

01:17:48.676 --> 01:17:53.896
They said among themselves to their
people, "Look brothers, this isn't a God.

01:17:54.256 --> 01:17:59.366
Our gods do good things and this
one, he wants to destroy us."

01:18:00.596 --> 01:18:05.256
>> Among the Aztec people, a resistance
began to organize under the direction

01:18:05.306 --> 01:18:09.666
of Motecuhzoma's brother, Cuitlahuac.

01:18:09.666 --> 01:18:13.036
In an effort to cripple the movement,
the Spaniards attacked the large,

01:18:13.036 --> 01:18:16.666
unarmed religious gathering in April of 1520.

01:18:17.516 --> 01:18:23.616
[ Noise ]

01:18:24.116 --> 01:18:30.406
One man who saved his life by
playing dead later recounted a scene.

01:18:30.886 --> 01:18:35.806
They charged the crowd with their iron
lances and hacked us with their iron swords.

01:18:36.856 --> 01:18:38.376
They slashed the backs of some.

01:18:40.126 --> 01:18:43.566
They hacked at the shoulders of
others splitting their bodies open.

01:18:44.346 --> 01:18:48.126
The blood of the young warriors ran
like water had gathered in pools.

01:18:48.276 --> 01:18:52.816
And the Spaniards began to hunt them
out of the administrative buildings,

01:18:53.636 --> 01:18:56.886
dragging and killing anyone
they could find even starting

01:18:56.926 --> 01:18:59.046
to take those buildings to
pieces as they searched.

01:19:00.516 --> 01:19:07.536
[ Music & Noise ]

01:19:08.036 --> 01:19:11.136
>> [Background Music] The Aztec
counterattacked forcing the conquistadors

01:19:11.136 --> 01:19:13.566
to retreat behind the walls of the great palace.

01:19:14.716 --> 01:19:16.676
The Spaniards then brought Motecuhzoma

01:19:16.756 --> 01:19:20.576
out in chains before his people
to order them to stop fighting.

01:19:20.736 --> 01:19:24.456
But the emperor could not
bring himself to speak.

01:19:25.606 --> 01:19:28.306
He stood by while another
hostage delivered his message.

01:19:29.766 --> 01:19:39.006
"Mexicans, men of Tenochtitlan, your ruler,
the lord of men, Motecuhzoma implores you.

01:19:40.136 --> 01:19:46.096
He says, Listen Mexicans, we
are not equal to the Spaniards.

01:19:47.316 --> 01:19:58.316
Abandon the battle, still your arrows, hold back
your shields, otherwise, evil will be the fate

01:19:58.396 --> 01:20:06.026
of the miserable old men and women of the
people, of babes in arms, of the toddlers,

01:20:06.706 --> 01:20:10.366
of the infants crawling on the
ground or still in the cradle."

01:20:12.816 --> 01:20:15.166
>> But the Aztec were not
of people to be subjugated.

01:20:16.146 --> 01:20:19.396
They reformed their government
and elected Motecuhzoma's brother,

01:20:19.516 --> 01:20:21.806
Cuitlahuac as the 10th emperor.

01:20:23.346 --> 01:20:27.126
Under his direction, the Aztec
continued the siege of the palace.

01:20:28.516 --> 01:20:46.346
[ Music & Noise ]

01:20:46.846 --> 01:20:53.676
[Background Music] After 30
days, Motecuhzoma was killed.

01:20:53.676 --> 01:20:56.246
The Aztec accused the Spaniards
of strangling him

01:20:56.246 --> 01:21:00.526
and hurling his body from the top of the palace.

01:21:00.526 --> 01:21:03.916
The Spaniards claimed he was
stoned to death by his own people.

01:21:04.516 --> 01:21:15.946
[ Music ]

01:21:16.446 --> 01:21:26.166
One of the most powerful men on earth
had fallen, trapped in a play of destiny.

01:21:26.166 --> 01:21:31.426
Prophecy had become reality.

01:21:31.426 --> 01:21:35.966
Days later, the Spaniards trapped in the
palace without food or water attempted

01:21:35.966 --> 01:21:37.906
to escape undercover of darkness.

01:21:37.906 --> 01:21:41.556
Aztec witnesses recounted the events.

01:21:42.416 --> 01:21:46.536
>> That night at midnight, the
enemy came out crowded together.

01:21:47.636 --> 01:21:52.236
The Spaniards in the lead,
Tlaxcalans following screened

01:21:52.236 --> 01:21:55.596
by a fine drizzle, a fine sprinkle of rain.

01:21:56.946 --> 01:21:59.736
They were able undetected to cross the canals.

01:22:01.066 --> 01:22:02.866
Just as they were crossing the canal,

01:22:03.366 --> 01:22:08.406
a woman drawing water saw them,
"Meshikas, come all of you.

01:22:09.196 --> 01:22:10.246
They are already leaving.

01:22:10.526 --> 01:22:12.206
They are already secretly getting out."

01:22:13.316 --> 01:22:15.616
Then a watcher at the top
of the temple also shouted

01:22:16.056 --> 01:22:18.046
and his cries pervaded the entire cities.

01:22:19.256 --> 01:22:22.986
"Brave warriors, Meshikas,
your enemy already leaves.

01:22:23.166 --> 01:22:25.206
Hurry with the shield boats and along the road.

01:22:25.876 --> 01:22:30.106
>> [Background Music] As the Spaniards moved out
onto one of the main causeways over the lake,

01:22:30.766 --> 01:22:33.276
canoe after canoe full of Aztec soldiers

01:22:33.616 --> 01:22:37.126
under Cuitlahuac's direction
showered them with spears and arrows.

01:22:37.976 --> 01:22:42.776
Many Spaniards waited down with gold
stolen from the palace fell into the water

01:22:43.096 --> 01:22:45.466
and drowned carried to the bottom by the weight.

01:22:50.046 --> 01:22:53.046
The canal was filled, crammed with them.

01:22:54.756 --> 01:22:57.736
Those who came along behind walked on corpses.

01:22:57.786 --> 01:23:01.726
It was as if a mountain of
men had been laid down.

01:23:03.056 --> 01:23:09.856
They have pressed against one
another, smothered one another.

01:23:11.606 --> 01:23:15.496
>> Three quarters of the Spanish army never
reached the outskirts of Tenochtitlan.

01:23:16.626 --> 01:23:19.756
Cortes and the rest of the survivors
escaped into the countryside.

01:23:20.976 --> 01:23:23.456
For a moment, the great city was free.

01:23:25.806 --> 01:23:27.966
And when the Spaniards thus disappeared,

01:23:29.346 --> 01:23:33.896
we thought they had gone for
good never more to return.

01:23:38.056 --> 01:23:47.646
Once again, the temples could be swept out, the
dirt removed, it could be adorned, ornamented.

01:23:52.826 --> 01:23:59.116
But the fleeing Spaniards left behind
another enemy, an Aztec survivor remembered.

01:24:01.486 --> 01:24:04.226
At about the time that the
Spaniards have fled from the city,

01:24:04.226 --> 01:24:09.146
there came a great sickness,
a pestilence, the smallpox.

01:24:10.296 --> 01:24:12.876
It's spread over the people
with great destruction of men.

01:24:13.536 --> 01:24:14.786
It caused great misery.

01:24:16.226 --> 01:24:20.756
The brave Meshika warriors
were indeed weakened by it.

01:24:23.216 --> 01:24:25.536
Even the new emperor died of the disease.

01:24:26.836 --> 01:24:33.916
>> It was after all this had
happened that the Spaniards came back.

01:24:34.516 --> 01:24:37.496
[ Music & Noise ]

01:24:37.996 --> 01:24:41.716
>> Cortes and his men had healed
their wounds and rebuilt their army.

01:24:42.836 --> 01:24:43.916
New alliances were made.

01:24:44.666 --> 01:24:50.986
The Spaniards and 75,000 Tlaxcalan and allied
Indian soldiers set siege to Tenochtitlan.

01:24:52.316 --> 01:24:54.316
[ Music & Noise ]

01:24:54.616 --> 01:24:57.646
The entire population rose to defend their city.

01:24:57.646 --> 01:25:03.026
Aztec witnesses would remember the struggle.

01:25:04.126 --> 01:25:05.016
Fighting continued.

01:25:06.536 --> 01:25:08.116
Both sides took captives.

01:25:09.236 --> 01:25:10.736
On both sides, there were deaths.

01:25:12.256 --> 01:25:14.266
Great became the suffering of the common folk.

01:25:15.856 --> 01:25:18.706
There was hunger, many died of famine.

01:25:19.336 --> 01:25:22.086
There was no more good pure water to drink.

01:25:23.266 --> 01:25:25.266
Many died of it.

01:25:25.506 --> 01:25:30.476
The people ate anything, lizards, barn
swallows, corn leaves, salt grass,

01:25:31.626 --> 01:25:34.876
never had such suffering been seen.

01:25:34.876 --> 01:25:36.826
The enemy pressed about us like a wall.

01:25:37.756 --> 01:25:38.456
They herded us.

01:25:39.696 --> 01:25:42.676
The brave warriors were still
hopelessly resisting.

01:25:44.516 --> 01:25:47.566
[ Music & Noise ]

01:25:48.066 --> 01:25:49.856
>> After two and a half long months,

01:25:50.556 --> 01:25:55.536
the Spaniards with their overwhelming
numbers brought Tenochtitlan to its knees.

01:25:56.516 --> 01:26:01.546
[ Music ]

01:26:02.046 --> 01:26:06.696
>> Finally, the battle just quietly ended.

01:26:06.696 --> 01:26:07.916
Silence reigned.

01:26:07.916 --> 01:26:10.926
Nothing happened.

01:26:11.796 --> 01:26:14.686
All was quiet and nothing more took place.

01:26:14.686 --> 01:26:19.986
Night fell, and the next
day nothing happened either.

01:26:20.126 --> 01:26:24.026
No one spoke aloud.

01:26:24.836 --> 01:26:26.516
The people were crushed.

01:26:27.516 --> 01:26:32.576
[ Music ]

01:26:33.076 --> 01:26:37.536
[Background Music] Great
was the stench of the dead.

01:26:37.536 --> 01:26:45.936
Your grandfathers died and with them died the
son of the king and his brothers and kinsmen.

01:26:45.936 --> 01:26:48.406
So it was that we became orphans oh my sons.

01:26:48.406 --> 01:26:52.716
So we became when we were young.

01:26:52.716 --> 01:26:58.976
All of us with us, we were born to die.

01:26:59.516 --> 01:27:04.546
[ Music ]

01:27:05.046 --> 01:27:07.386
Tenochtitlan was leveled.

01:27:08.216 --> 01:27:15.056
The magnificent gardens, the marvel of their
world were destroyed, the rivers and canals

01:27:15.056 --> 01:27:18.266
that so amazed the Spaniards were filled in.

01:27:19.586 --> 01:27:22.286
Then Cortes set fire to the aviaries.

01:27:22.286 --> 01:27:28.016
Thousands of birds, vermilion flycatchers,
iridescent hummingbirds, scarlet tanagers,

01:27:28.346 --> 01:27:33.916
green and blue macaws, the beauty
that was Mexico was turned to ashes.

01:27:34.516 --> 01:27:37.586
[ Foreign Language ]

01:27:38.086 --> 01:27:42.006
>> [Background Music] Some say
the Meshika came to an end.

01:27:42.006 --> 01:27:43.406
It's gone, finished.

01:27:43.406 --> 01:27:46.396
We're still here.

01:27:46.396 --> 01:27:52.436
We, the people who ignorant outsiders
insult by calling us Indians, we are here.

01:27:52.436 --> 01:27:55.236
This culture was not finished off.

01:27:55.236 --> 01:28:01.626
The culture is gone as an empire, as a
social political religious structure.

01:28:02.096 --> 01:28:06.386
But what remains is what the people have.

01:28:06.386 --> 01:28:07.506
We weren't finished off.

01:28:08.516 --> 01:28:22.546
[ Music & Noise ]

01:28:23.046 --> 01:28:28.236
>> Proudly stands the city
of Mexico, Tenochtitlan.

01:28:28.236 --> 01:28:30.956
Here, no one fears to die in war.

01:28:30.956 --> 01:28:32.256
Keep this in mind, oh princes.

01:28:32.256 --> 01:28:40.196
Who could attack Tenochtitlan?

01:28:40.196 --> 01:28:44.886
Who could shake the foundations of heaven?

01:28:46.516 --> 01:29:02.546
[ Music ]

01:29:03.046 --> 01:29:10.956
>> Our next program will begin far to the east
of Mexico on a Caribbean island where a meeting

01:29:10.956 --> 01:29:16.146
between Spanish and Indian people appeared
at first glance to be merely an encounter

01:29:16.146 --> 01:29:18.216
between two potential trading partners.

01:29:19.256 --> 01:29:25.656
But that first encounter between Christopher
Columbus and the Taino people in 1492 was

01:29:25.656 --> 01:29:27.666
in reality, a world shattering event.

01:29:28.756 --> 01:29:32.526
Please join us for 500 Nations,
a Clash of Cultures.

01:29:33.516 --> 01:34:02.036
[ Music ]

01:34:02.536 --> 01:34:03.726
>> Hello. I'm Kevin Costner.

01:34:04.356 --> 01:34:06.016
Welcome back to 500 Nations.

01:34:06.016 --> 01:34:11.676
First encounters between Europeans and
Indian people are some of the most famous

01:34:11.766 --> 01:34:13.366
and important events in world history.

01:34:14.616 --> 01:34:18.316
Most of us can recite the names
of Christopher Columbus' ships.

01:34:18.316 --> 01:34:20.086
The year he first landed in the new world

01:34:20.146 --> 01:34:24.036
and how he mistakenly called the
people the encountered there Indians.

01:34:24.926 --> 01:34:27.656
But few of us know the names of
the people who greeted Columbus

01:34:28.196 --> 01:34:29.746
or much about the lives they lived.

01:34:30.756 --> 01:34:32.316
How did they greet the strangers?

01:34:33.026 --> 01:34:34.356
Were they treated like gods?

01:34:34.916 --> 01:34:35.726
Were they feared?

01:34:36.496 --> 01:34:41.936
Were they attacked or were they treated as
a new and exotic trading partner by people

01:34:41.936 --> 01:34:45.026
who had a long history of dealing
with other seafaring cultures?

01:34:45.026 --> 01:34:51.466
The first meeting between European and American
worlds would bring two very different cultures

01:34:51.466 --> 01:34:52.206
into conflict.

01:34:53.286 --> 01:34:57.336
We'll take you now to the Caribbean
where the rough road of contact begins.

01:34:57.336 --> 01:35:02.066
500 Nations continues with a Clash of Cultures.

01:35:03.516 --> 01:35:16.206
[ Music ]

01:35:16.706 --> 01:35:17.646
>> [Background Music] How much damage?

01:35:18.446 --> 01:35:23.656
How many calamities, disruptions and
devastations of kingdoms had there been?

01:35:26.216 --> 01:35:31.516
How many souls have perished in the
Indies over the years and how unjustly?

01:35:33.316 --> 01:35:36.126
How many unforgivable sins had been committed?

01:35:37.686 --> 01:35:38.776
Bartolome de Las Casas.

01:35:39.316 --> 01:35:41.316
[ Music ]

01:35:41.616 --> 01:35:45.646
>> In December of 1492, three
ships under the command

01:35:45.646 --> 01:35:49.396
of Christopher Columbus approached the
second largest island in the Caribbean.

01:35:53.886 --> 01:35:58.616
For eight weeks, Columbus had traveled from
the Bahamas to Cuba finally reaching the site

01:35:58.616 --> 01:36:00.936
of modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

01:36:01.666 --> 01:36:04.366
The island he would name Hispaniola.

01:36:07.756 --> 01:36:13.006
The island was then populated
by people known as the Taino.

01:36:13.006 --> 01:36:16.976
One region was controlled by the
paramount chief, Guacanagari.

01:36:17.516 --> 01:36:25.246
[ Noise ]

01:36:25.746 --> 01:36:32.346
On Christmas Eve while coasting along the shore,
Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria ran aground.

01:36:35.036 --> 01:36:42.106
>> When Guacanagari learnt the news, he sent all
his people from the town with many large canoes

01:36:42.106 --> 01:36:44.146
to unload everything from the ship.

01:36:46.476 --> 01:36:50.476
So great was the care and
diligence which that came exercised.

01:36:51.176 --> 01:36:57.016
And he himself was as diligent unloading the
ship as in guarding what was taken to land

01:36:57.586 --> 01:37:00.206
in order that everything
would be well cared for.

01:37:03.266 --> 01:37:10.916
>> Grateful for the island leader's help,
Columbus accepted his invitation to come ashore.

01:37:10.916 --> 01:37:15.556
>> The admiral left to dine on shore and
arrived at the time when five kings had come.

01:37:16.256 --> 01:37:19.766
All subject to the one who
is called Guacanagari.

01:37:20.266 --> 01:37:26.506
Guacanagari came to receive the admiral as soon
as he had reached land and took him by the arm.

01:37:26.906 --> 01:37:37.426
>> Columbus was immediately struck
by the beauty of Taino life.

01:37:37.646 --> 01:37:41.396
>> The king observes that very wonderful state

01:37:41.396 --> 01:37:47.296
in such a dignified manner
that it is a pleasure to see.

01:37:47.296 --> 01:37:50.536
Neither that of people nor land can there be.

01:37:50.536 --> 01:37:53.066
The houses and the villagers are so pretty.

01:37:54.156 --> 01:37:56.236
They love their neighbors as themselves.

01:37:57.326 --> 01:38:03.406
And they have the sweetest beach in the world
and they're gentle and they are always laughing.

01:38:04.956 --> 01:38:06.626
Christopher Columbus.

01:38:07.016 --> 01:38:16.006
As a token of gratitude for the rescue of his
men and supplies, Columbus presented Guacanagari

01:38:16.006 --> 01:38:20.006
with a red cape, a prestigious
item among the Taino elite.

01:38:20.006 --> 01:38:28.406
In return, Guacanagari gave Columbus
a golden tiara he wore on his head.

01:38:28.406 --> 01:38:33.686
To Guacanagari, it was a fair exchange, a
gesture of mutual respect and recognition.

01:38:34.016 --> 01:38:36.936
The opening of trade between equals.

01:38:38.466 --> 01:38:42.296
To Columbus, it was a crown,
a symbol of authority.

01:38:43.086 --> 01:38:47.246
Guacanagari was surrendering
his lands and people to Spain.

01:38:49.706 --> 01:38:52.246
But Columbus was not simply
looking to rule people.

01:38:53.076 --> 01:38:55.626
He saw something much more
valuable to his future.

01:38:57.426 --> 01:38:58.176
He saw gold.

01:38:59.246 --> 01:39:02.326
The price he could take back
to his sponsors in Europe.

01:39:03.686 --> 01:39:06.696
There was wealth to be had.

01:39:07.306 --> 01:39:11.736
And to the Europeans of that time wealth
belong to those strong enough to take it.

01:39:12.516 --> 01:39:19.816
[ Music ]

01:39:20.316 --> 01:39:23.796
Now, I have ordered my men
to build a tower and a fort.

01:39:24.846 --> 01:39:30.356
Not that I believe it to be necessary for it
is obvious that with these men that I bring,

01:39:31.026 --> 01:39:36.096
I could subdue all of this island, seize
the people and make and without arms.

01:39:38.026 --> 01:39:44.576
But it is right that this tower be made so
that with love and fear, they will obey.

01:39:45.516 --> 01:39:59.226
[ Music ]

01:39:59.726 --> 01:40:03.176
Leaving behind a contingent of men
and a fort built from the timbers

01:40:03.176 --> 01:40:06.786
of the Santa Maria, Columbus
set sail for Europe.

01:40:08.316 --> 01:40:15.096
With him, he would carry the news of a
new world, gold and dazzle island natives.

01:40:15.096 --> 01:40:19.196
Guacanagari and the Taino had
no way of knowing what was

01:40:19.196 --> 01:40:21.456
about to happen to their ancient way of life.

01:40:25.226 --> 01:40:28.526
The Taino's ancestors were part
of the series of migrations

01:40:28.526 --> 01:40:32.766
of South American-Indian people
dating back over 2,000 years.

01:40:36.186 --> 01:40:39.056
They farmed the land and
harvested the wealth of the sea.

01:40:41.376 --> 01:40:50.546
Taino traders traveled in huge, ocean-going
canoes capable of carrying up to 150 men,

01:40:50.686 --> 01:41:00.566
boats laden with feathers, gold, wood, pottery,
beautiful birds, cotton fabric, and food.

01:41:00.866 --> 01:41:04.556
Island nations were woven together by trade.

01:41:04.976 --> 01:41:08.826
Trade was the communication system
by which nations knew one another.

01:41:08.826 --> 01:41:10.016
It maintained peace.

01:41:10.476 --> 01:41:15.176
Some trading partners even exchanged their names

01:41:15.396 --> 01:41:18.136
to create lasting bonds between
their communities.

01:41:19.516 --> 01:41:27.716
[ Music & Chanting ]

01:41:28.216 --> 01:41:34.786
By the time of contact, there were well over
a million people living in the Caribbean.

01:41:35.336 --> 01:41:39.756
Local community leaders were subject to
powerful regional leaders like Guacanagari,

01:41:39.756 --> 01:41:44.806
who controlled trade with large personal
fleets and warehouses of commodities.

01:41:45.516 --> 01:41:48.676
[ Music & Noise ]

01:41:49.176 --> 01:41:56.236
Into this world, Columbus returned in November
1493 with a military flotilla of 17 ships.

01:41:58.406 --> 01:42:03.646
Under his command were armor-clad soldiers,
mounted cavalry, attack dogs, and guns.

01:42:06.216 --> 01:42:08.986
The Spanish conquest of the Caribbean began.

01:42:13.856 --> 01:42:18.606
Gold mines were opened and the Taino
were enslaved, forced to mine the ore.

01:42:21.906 --> 01:42:28.346
A Spanish priest, Bartolome de Las Casas who
accompanied Columbus on his second voyage spoke

01:42:28.346 --> 01:42:30.746
out against the cruel treatment
of the Taino people.

01:42:32.386 --> 01:42:38.016
>> It is not possible to recount the hundredth
part of what I have seen with my own eyes.

01:42:39.546 --> 01:42:43.916
A man have need to have a body of
iron to undergo the labor they endure

01:42:43.986 --> 01:42:46.096
in getting gold out of the mines.

01:42:48.706 --> 01:42:53.786
They must delve and search 100 times
over in the inner parts of the mountains

01:42:54.706 --> 01:42:58.006
until they dig them down from top to bottom.

01:42:59.296 --> 01:43:05.326
They must work the very rocks
hollow, Bartolome de Las Casas.

01:43:06.516 --> 01:43:08.586
[ Music ]

01:43:09.086 --> 01:43:12.696
>> [Background Music] Epidemics
and famine swept the island.

01:43:15.716 --> 01:43:18.096
Yet the Spanish continued to demand

01:43:18.096 --> 01:43:21.796
that the beleaguered Taino supply
them with both food and labor.

01:43:22.776 --> 01:43:29.666
Garrisons were strung across the
island to fortify the gold fields.

01:43:32.156 --> 01:43:35.266
When resistance sprang up,
Columbus sent out military units

01:43:35.586 --> 01:43:37.406
to terrorize towns into submission.

01:43:38.516 --> 01:43:58.546
[ Music & Noise ]

01:43:59.046 --> 01:44:05.346
>> They were so relentlessly persecuted
and pursued with their wives and children

01:44:05.346 --> 01:44:10.226
up into the hills so tired,
hungry, and harassed.

01:44:13.316 --> 01:44:15.926
And there went with them disease, death,

01:44:15.926 --> 01:44:21.346
and misery just as if they
had been killed in the wars.

01:44:24.686 --> 01:44:27.996
They died of hunger and sickness
that surrounded them

01:44:27.996 --> 01:44:30.326
and the fatigue and oppression that followed.

01:44:30.326 --> 01:44:41.226
After 1496, no more than a third remained of
the multitudes that had been on the island.

01:44:41.226 --> 01:44:46.856
>> Taino suffering was so severe that thousands
took their own lives rather than submit.

01:44:46.856 --> 01:44:53.276
>> Where so many went to the
woods and there hanged themselves,

01:44:53.276 --> 01:45:00.556
after having killed their children saying it
was far better to die than to live so miserably.

01:45:02.196 --> 01:45:07.176
Some threw themselves from the high cliffs
down precipices, others jumped into the sea,

01:45:07.286 --> 01:45:09.936
and others starved themselves to death.

01:45:11.616 --> 01:45:13.896
Benzoni, soldier for Spain.

01:45:14.466 --> 01:45:19.526
>> Some escaped into the
mountains including Guacanagari,

01:45:19.996 --> 01:45:22.846
the paramount chief who had befriended Columbus.

01:45:23.476 --> 01:45:30.426
He soon died a homeless wanderer.

01:45:30.426 --> 01:45:37.006
By 1503, 11 years after Columbus' first voyage,
only a few packets of resistance remained.

01:45:39.826 --> 01:45:43.676
[Background Music] In the mountainous
region of Xaragua, Taino people ruled

01:45:43.726 --> 01:45:48.356
by a woman named Anacaona, successfully
evaded Spanish demands for labor.

01:45:50.386 --> 01:45:55.886
Determined to break the resistance, the Spanish
governor requested a diplomatic meeting.

01:45:57.176 --> 01:46:03.206
Anacaona agreed and summoned 80 regional sub
chiefs to her statehouse for the meeting.

01:46:08.276 --> 01:46:12.316
When the 80 leaders were gathered
inside, the governor gave a signal

01:46:12.816 --> 01:46:16.136
and that statehouse was set on fire.

01:46:20.716 --> 01:46:23.026
Soldiers lined up outside with swords,

01:46:23.896 --> 01:46:27.496
Taino leaders who did not burn
were killed as they fled the place.

01:46:30.986 --> 01:46:35.326
Anacaona was spared only to
be later executed by hanging.

01:46:35.326 --> 01:46:44.286
In the aftermath of the bloody carnage,
a little boy stood among the ashes

01:46:44.286 --> 01:46:48.286
and smoke beside the charred
remains of his father.

01:46:48.286 --> 01:46:53.076
A boy whose name, the Spanish would
come to remember well, Enrique.

01:46:54.516 --> 01:46:57.516
[ Pause ]

01:46:58.016 --> 01:47:05.000
[ Music ]

01:47:06.156 --> 01:47:10.096
[Background Music] The child who witnessed the
murder of his father and the other Taino leaders

01:47:10.136 --> 01:47:14.876
in Xaragua was taken away from the
killing field by a Spanish priest.

01:47:16.276 --> 01:47:20.086
He was placed in the care of
missionaries and baptized Enrique.

01:47:21.906 --> 01:47:27.806
Although raised by Spaniards, he never forgot
his own identity, heir to the chiefdom,

01:47:27.806 --> 01:47:30.396
the Bahoruco region of the island.

01:47:31.516 --> 01:47:38.926
[ Music & Noise ]

01:47:39.426 --> 01:47:44.376
>> Enrique was a tall and graceful
man with a well-proportioned body.

01:47:44.526 --> 01:47:53.666
His face was neither handsome nor ugly,
but that of a serious and stern man.

01:47:53.966 --> 01:47:59.866
He married a native, a woman of excellent
and noble lineage named Dona Lucia.

01:47:59.946 --> 01:48:02.636
Bartolome de Las Casas.

01:48:02.636 --> 01:48:08.386
The Spanish government created
a labor grant system

01:48:08.766 --> 01:48:14.366
under which individual Spanish landholders were
given village populations to use as force labor.

01:48:16.216 --> 01:48:19.146
Enrique, his wife, and his people were turned

01:48:19.146 --> 01:48:22.086
over to a debauched [phonetic]
young Spaniard named Valenzuela.

01:48:23.726 --> 01:48:24.656
They were at his mercy.

01:48:27.026 --> 01:48:29.146
The priest, Las Casas protested.

01:48:30.746 --> 01:48:34.096
>> In a more just world, Enrique
would have been the master.

01:48:35.486 --> 01:48:40.956
Valenzuela viewed Enriquillo as a slave and
valued him less than manure in the street.

01:48:42.006 --> 01:48:47.666
>> Enrique complied with Valenzuela's
tyrannical demands for which he was rewarded

01:48:47.666 --> 01:48:51.336
with regular beatings and robbed
of his last remaining possessions.

01:48:52.716 --> 01:48:58.316
His many appeals to Spanish
authorities fell on deaf ears.

01:48:58.316 --> 01:49:05.006
When Valenzuela raped his wife,
Enrique reached his breaking point.

01:49:08.016 --> 01:49:12.926
He and his followers escaped to their home
lands in the lofty Bahoruco mountains.

01:49:13.516 --> 01:49:19.156
[ Music ]

01:49:19.656 --> 01:49:24.236
>> [Background Music] The Spanish came
to call him the "Rebel Enrique" and those

01:49:24.236 --> 01:49:27.976
who followed him were termed
rebels and insurgents,

01:49:29.266 --> 01:49:34.046
although in truth they were not rebelling
but only fleeing from their cruel enemies

01:49:34.586 --> 01:49:40.576
who are misusing and destroying
them just as a cow or an ox tries

01:49:40.606 --> 01:49:42.496
to escape from the slaughterhouse.

01:49:43.946 --> 01:49:44.996
Bartolome de Las Casas.

01:49:47.676 --> 01:49:49.336
>> Enrique organized his people.

01:49:50.786 --> 01:49:54.656
Women, children, and elderly were
sent into caves high in the mountains

01:49:54.696 --> 01:49:58.506
where they raised chickens and cultivated
gardens to feed the resistance army.

01:50:01.046 --> 01:50:08.566
Scouts were posted on every crag and pass, heavy
boulders rolled into place above the footpaths.

01:50:08.936 --> 01:50:14.606
Enrique instructed his men to fight only in self
defense to kill Spaniards only in the course

01:50:14.606 --> 01:50:18.056
of battle and otherwise to simply
deprive them of their arms.

01:50:20.586 --> 01:50:25.556
At first, the Spanish army was confident they
would quickly crush the Taino resistance.

01:50:26.516 --> 01:50:28.606
[ Music & Noise ]

01:50:29.106 --> 01:50:33.476
But Enrique's people armed only
with spears, iron spikes, fishbone,

01:50:33.476 --> 01:50:36.926
and bows and arrows fought
with fierce determination

01:50:37.066 --> 01:50:42.156
against the Spanish and their
sophisticated arms.

01:50:42.386 --> 01:50:48.136
Time after time, they forced
the enemy to retreat.

01:50:48.666 --> 01:50:52.206
During one fierce battle,
Valenzuela himself was captured.

01:50:53.446 --> 01:50:56.396
But even this mortal enemy's
life would be spared.

01:50:56.396 --> 01:50:58.766
Enrique ordered him released.

01:51:01.356 --> 01:51:06.686
As word of Enrique's victory spread across
the island, many Taino fled to his refuge

01:51:06.936 --> 01:51:08.356
and joined the fight for freedom.

01:51:08.356 --> 01:51:11.046
His legend grew.

01:51:11.206 --> 01:51:15.486
It was said that Enrique never slept at night,

01:51:15.486 --> 01:51:18.496
that he himself patrolled
the village until dawn.

01:51:20.496 --> 01:51:23.286
For over a decade, he fought
Spain to a standstill.

01:51:24.986 --> 01:51:29.646
Finally unable to defeat the guerillas
on their own territory, an exhausted

01:51:29.646 --> 01:51:32.776
and humiliated Spanish government
made overtures of peace.

01:51:32.776 --> 01:51:43.386
>> I know the Spanish very well because
they killed my father and grandfather

01:51:43.386 --> 01:51:48.826
and all the people of the kingdom of Xaragua,
and reduced the population of the entire island

01:51:48.826 --> 01:51:54.566
of Hispaniola, I have fled to my
own land where neither I nor any

01:51:54.566 --> 01:51:58.726
of my followers are harming anyone
but are simply defending ourselves

01:51:58.726 --> 01:52:03.066
against those who came to capture and kill us.

01:52:03.066 --> 01:52:06.526
I need not talk to another Spaniard.

01:52:06.526 --> 01:52:08.176
Enrique, Taino.

01:52:09.466 --> 01:52:14.846
>> But there was one Spaniard to whom Enrique
would still talk, the priest, Las Casas.

01:52:16.216 --> 01:52:22.536
After many years spent demanding the king act
to stop Spanish atrocities in the new world,

01:52:23.126 --> 01:52:26.596
Las Casas had been officially
designated protector of the Indians.

01:52:27.486 --> 01:52:30.276
He now sought out Enrique
in his mountain stronghold.

01:52:31.196 --> 01:52:38.646
Two months later, Las Casas and Enrique
appeared before Spanish authorities

01:52:39.006 --> 01:52:40.436
and negotiated a truce.

01:52:40.856 --> 01:52:51.626
14 years after it began, the rebellion came
to an end but only after the Spanish agreed

01:52:51.666 --> 01:52:57.176
to guarantee freedom for Enrique's people.

01:52:57.176 --> 01:53:04.346
At the base of the Abajo mountains,
Enrique settled with his 4,000 followers,

01:53:05.126 --> 01:53:08.206
the last members of a culture
that had flourished for millennia.

01:53:10.996 --> 01:53:15.296
By the end of the century, the Taino
population that Las Casas had estimated

01:53:15.296 --> 01:53:19.326
at two million was officially reported extinct.

01:53:20.516 --> 01:53:28.836
[ Music ]

01:53:29.336 --> 01:53:31.256
>> What does the name de Soto mean to me?

01:53:31.256 --> 01:53:37.516
It means, the personification of evil.

01:53:38.516 --> 01:53:45.516
[ Music ]

01:53:46.016 --> 01:53:56.000
[ Music & Foreign Language ]

01:53:57.386 --> 01:54:02.086
>> [Background Music] In the late spring
of 1539, less than 50 years after Columbus,

01:54:02.876 --> 01:54:05.996
less than 20 years after the
fall of the Aztec empire,

01:54:07.496 --> 01:54:10.496
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto landed

01:54:10.496 --> 01:54:13.916
on the west Florida coast north
of present day, Tampa Bay.

01:54:15.516 --> 01:54:21.046
[ Music & Noise ]

01:54:21.546 --> 01:54:25.406
He rode at the head of a
600 man army, 200 mounted.

01:54:27.386 --> 01:54:30.936
They were supported by 100
servants, herds of horses,

01:54:31.286 --> 01:54:36.806
pack animals, swine, and trained attack dogs.

01:54:37.546 --> 01:54:41.546
Unable to carry the quantity of food
needed to support the massive expedition,

01:54:43.016 --> 01:54:48.236
de Soto would feed his men and animals
on the bounty of the towns they entered.

01:54:49.736 --> 01:54:53.846
The invaders came prepared to
take their provisions by force.

01:54:55.516 --> 01:55:01.776
[ Music ]

01:55:02.276 --> 01:55:06.066
In July, de Soto struck north into
the lands of the Timucua people.

01:55:06.866 --> 01:55:11.976
Chiefdoms of fishermen and farmers scattered
across the northern Florida peninsula.

01:55:12.516 --> 01:55:42.806
[ Music & Noise ]

01:55:43.306 --> 01:55:46.316
[Background Music] One by one, villages
were plundered by the marauding army.

01:55:47.516 --> 01:55:58.506
[ Music & Noise ]

01:55:59.006 --> 01:56:02.586
Indian people were enslaved as
burden bearers chained together

01:56:02.586 --> 01:56:04.886
with iron neck collars in groups of 30.

01:56:09.166 --> 01:56:13.976
>> If they were men of virtue, they
would not have left their own country.

01:56:15.016 --> 01:56:19.686
They have made high women,
adulterous and murderers of themselves

01:56:20.656 --> 01:56:24.576
without shame of men or fear of any god.

01:56:26.106 --> 01:56:26.866
Timucua.

01:56:28.236 --> 01:56:33.546
>> But the Timucua were people
who also knew of war.

01:56:33.546 --> 01:56:42.036
As the Spanish army advanced, news
reached one leader, Urutina who was secure

01:56:42.036 --> 01:56:47.236
in a military strength that
had never failed him.

01:56:47.366 --> 01:56:55.516
As the Spanish force neared Urutina's
town, de Soto sent a messenger ahead

01:56:55.516 --> 01:56:58.376
with a warning to submit or be destroyed.

01:57:00.046 --> 01:57:03.556
Urutina responded.

01:57:06.196 --> 01:57:07.796
>> "I am king in my land.

01:57:07.796 --> 01:57:13.946
I and all of my people have
vowed to die a hundred deaths

01:57:13.946 --> 01:57:16.376
to maintain the freedom of our land.

01:57:18.306 --> 01:57:24.146
This is our answer both for
the present and forevermore."

01:57:26.366 --> 01:57:29.896
>> De Soto Urutina's town with
his army in battle formation.

01:57:30.796 --> 01:57:32.966
But oddly, they met no resistance.

01:57:34.956 --> 01:57:39.136
The chief who had promised such defiance
seemed to have completely submitted.

01:57:40.286 --> 01:57:42.646
But the surface belied the reality.

01:57:44.486 --> 01:57:47.226
While the Spaniards gorged
upon the town's food stores,

01:57:48.166 --> 01:57:51.636
Urutina secretly summoned fighting
men from throughout the region.

01:57:53.646 --> 01:57:58.126
Then playing out a military chess
game, the young chief invited de Soto

01:57:58.366 --> 01:58:05.656
to witness Timucua military maneuvers in
a large field, his plan, to amass his army

01:58:05.656 --> 01:58:08.456
and launch a surprise attack
on the Spanish force.

01:58:09.386 --> 01:58:12.846
But de Soto had been forewarned by a spy.

01:58:13.266 --> 01:58:18.736
Matching the Indian leader move
for move, he brought his army

01:58:18.736 --> 01:58:20.346
to the field in battle formation.

01:58:20.476 --> 01:58:30.476
To the rear of the Timucua force were
two lakes, to their flanks were forest,

01:58:31.206 --> 01:58:34.706
and in front of them, the Spanish army.

01:58:35.106 --> 01:58:38.136
Suddenly, de Soto gave a signal.

01:58:38.136 --> 01:58:40.796
Urutina was seized and the Spaniards attacked.

01:58:40.856 --> 01:58:45.576
The Spanish cavalry thundered forward.

01:58:46.456 --> 01:58:49.336
Their horses hoofs driving
into the Timucuan ranks.

01:58:50.516 --> 01:58:53.966
[ Noise ]

01:58:54.466 --> 01:58:56.576
Outmatched, the Indian force fell back.

01:58:57.516 --> 01:59:01.826
[ Music & Noise ]

01:59:02.326 --> 01:59:04.006
Some ran towards the shelter of the trees.

01:59:08.656 --> 01:59:12.636
Hundreds more plunged into
the lake nearby swimming

01:59:12.636 --> 01:59:15.416
out into the deep water to evade their pursuers.

01:59:16.846 --> 01:59:21.246
The Spaniards fired into the lake trying
to force the Timucua to surrender.

01:59:22.516 --> 01:59:25.066
[ Music & Noise ]

01:59:25.566 --> 01:59:31.316
Indian resistors had to tread water constantly,
but by nightfall not a single man had yielded.

01:59:31.946 --> 01:59:35.236
A Spanish chronicler observed
the agonizing struggle.

01:59:36.956 --> 01:59:40.336
>> And now, they continued
to torment the Indians.

01:59:41.006 --> 01:59:45.746
Never once letting them set foot on the
shore hoping that they would become exhausted

01:59:45.746 --> 01:59:49.376
by the swimming and as a
result, give up more quickly.

01:59:50.296 --> 01:59:54.066
Alas, they threatened with death
those who would not surrender.

01:59:55.976 --> 02:00:01.226
Regardless of how much the Castilians afflicted
them they could not do enough to keep them

02:00:01.226 --> 02:00:03.666
from showing their spirit and strength.

02:00:06.116 --> 02:00:11.006
For even though these men realized that
they were without hope of in the hardships

02:00:11.006 --> 02:00:18.686
and danger they were experiencing,
some chose death as a lesser evil.

02:00:19.516 --> 02:00:31.936
It was not until late the following morning,
the 200 survivors surrendered in a body.

02:00:32.866 --> 02:00:38.366
>> They had been swimming 24 hours and
it was a great pity to see them emerged

02:00:38.366 --> 02:00:46.586
from the lagoon half drowned, and swollen,
and transfixed by the toil, hunger, fatigue,

02:00:46.586 --> 02:00:50.786
and lack of sleep they had suffered.

02:00:50.786 --> 02:00:53.506
Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish chronicler.

02:00:54.246 --> 02:00:57.786
[Background Music] The remaining
seven were dragged

02:00:57.786 --> 02:01:00.336
out of the water at knife
point by de Soto's men.

02:01:01.221 --> 02:01:03.221
[ Music & Foreign Language ]

02:01:03.426 --> 02:01:05.496
>> The Timucuan prisoners were chained

02:01:05.536 --> 02:01:08.346
and distributed among the
Spanish soldiers as slaves.

02:01:08.566 --> 02:01:14.036
Urutina was imprisoned inside his statehouse.

02:01:14.216 --> 02:01:17.836
He would make one last act of defiance.

02:01:19.276 --> 02:01:24.316
Pretending to have possibly accepted his
defeat, he lured de Soto within his reach.

02:01:24.446 --> 02:01:29.976
Suddenly, he launched at the Spanish
leader smashing his face with chained fist.

02:01:30.461 --> 02:01:32.461
[ Music & Noise ]

02:01:32.906 --> 02:01:39.076
The chief gave up such a tremendous roar that he
could be heard for a quarter of a league around.

02:01:39.076 --> 02:01:43.496
The blow was so fierce that de Soto was
unconscious for more than half an hour

02:01:43.646 --> 02:01:48.296
and he bled through the eyes, nose, and mouth.

02:01:48.296 --> 02:01:54.246
Simultaneously, Urutina was
gored by 12 swordsmen.

02:01:54.246 --> 02:01:59.696
Outside, the Timucua who fell upon
their captors fighting with stones,

02:01:59.886 --> 02:02:05.906
pots of boiling food, anything at hand.

02:02:05.906 --> 02:02:11.846
The Spaniards turned upon them
killing and discriminating.

02:02:11.846 --> 02:02:13.916
They were valiant and spirited people

02:02:14.636 --> 02:02:18.956
and had they found themselves
free would have done more harm.

02:02:20.316 --> 02:02:25.946
With all that imprisoned as they were,
they tried to do everything they could.

02:02:26.256 --> 02:02:29.396
And for this reason, the Spaniards killed each

02:02:29.496 --> 02:02:35.526
of them not permitting a single
one to live which was a great pity.

02:02:36.516 --> 02:03:04.546
[ Music ]

02:03:05.046 --> 02:03:11.376
>> In a certain way, I feel like
the land has a memory its own.

02:03:11.776 --> 02:03:16.736
And the memory of the suffering can still
be felt in the Southeastern United States.

02:03:17.166 --> 02:03:21.916
You can go in the sites where Indian
villages and even reminds a cities once where

02:03:22.286 --> 02:03:25.736
and you can see the ruins, you can see
the mounds where people were buried

02:03:26.056 --> 02:03:29.646
and you don't see the people and you
know immediately there was a great

02:03:29.646 --> 02:03:30.956
and tragic story there.

02:03:31.396 --> 02:03:34.456
So I think that the story
still lives even if it's not

02:03:34.456 --> 02:03:37.206
in our history books, it's in the land itself.

02:03:38.516 --> 02:03:44.926
[ Music ]

02:03:45.426 --> 02:03:49.706
>> Having led ways to the Timucua,
de Soto marched his army north.

02:03:52.136 --> 02:03:57.736
In the spring of 1540, he approached the town
in a present day Columbia, South Carolina,

02:03:58.486 --> 02:04:02.366
Cofitachequi, a farming community
with a religious

02:04:02.366 --> 02:04:05.766
and socia heritage reaching back
to the ancient mound builders

02:04:06.516 --> 02:04:15.096
[ Music & Noise ]

02:04:15.596 --> 02:04:18.646
[Background Music] The armies approach was
monitored by the people of Cofitachequi.

02:04:21.266 --> 02:04:25.756
They hit what they could of their food
stores and sent their elderly chieftess away

02:04:25.806 --> 02:04:27.796
to a town removed from de Soto's path.

02:04:28.516 --> 02:04:31.486
[ Music & Noise ]

02:04:31.986 --> 02:04:34.556
When de Soto reached the
bank of the watery river,

02:04:35.636 --> 02:04:38.046
the niece of the old chieftess
cross the river to meet him.

02:04:40.446 --> 02:04:43.256
Relying on diplomacy rather than military force,

02:04:43.766 --> 02:04:48.876
she hoped to persuade the
Spaniard to spare her people.

02:04:49.996 --> 02:04:53.906
The mistress of her town men, eight
of her ladies embarked in a canoe

02:04:54.806 --> 02:04:57.916
which have been covered with a great
canopy and adorned with ornaments,

02:04:57.916 --> 02:05:03.426
it was told by a second one which bore
six principle Indians and many oarsmen.

02:05:04.516 --> 02:05:07.336
In this manner, they all cross the river.

02:05:09.066 --> 02:05:13.836
The mistress of Cofitachequi came before
de Soto and after paying her respects,

02:05:14.386 --> 02:05:17.906
seated herself upon a chair which
her subjects had brought for her.

02:05:19.656 --> 02:05:21.386
She alone spoke with the governor.

02:05:23.796 --> 02:05:31.006
>> "Excellent lord, although my possibility does
not equal my wishes for goodwill is more worthy

02:05:31.526 --> 02:05:37.476
than all the treasures of the world which
maybe offered without it, with very sincere

02:05:37.606 --> 02:05:45.456
and open goodwill I offer you my person, my
lands, my vessels, and these for service."

02:05:48.286 --> 02:05:55.216
>> Unwrapping a great strand of pearls from
her neck, she presented them to de Soto.

02:05:55.216 --> 02:06:02.386
Struck with admiration, de Soto called her,
The Lady of Cofitachequi, but her generosity

02:06:02.526 --> 02:06:05.756
and graciousness would not
prevent the plunder of her town.

02:06:06.596 --> 02:06:11.786
The Spaniards feasted on 600 bushels of corn.

02:06:13.616 --> 02:06:16.066
They looted the graves and temples for pearls.

02:06:16.066 --> 02:06:22.806
Then de Soto demanded the old chieftess be
summoned from hiding to gain her submission.

02:06:25.886 --> 02:06:28.226
Finally, a 21 year old, adopted son

02:06:28.226 --> 02:06:32.496
of the chieftess was pressed
in to leading the army to her.

02:06:33.326 --> 02:06:38.536
The Spaniards marched out of town behind
the young guide stopping sometime later

02:06:38.536 --> 02:06:39.596
in the forest to eat.

02:06:43.816 --> 02:06:49.946
>> He begun to grow morose and to sit
contemplatively with his hand on his cheek.

02:06:49.946 --> 02:06:51.856
He gave some long and profound sighs.

02:06:51.856 --> 02:06:57.656
Then as he sat in the midst of the Spaniards,

02:06:58.166 --> 02:07:04.516
he began to remove his arrows
one at a time and very slowly.

02:07:04.516 --> 02:07:10.086
Observing that the Castilians were not
watching him, he struck himself in the gullet

02:07:10.086 --> 02:07:18.976
in such a way as to inflict a mortal
wound and thus died instantly.

02:07:18.976 --> 02:07:23.306
When the Indian bearers were asked why the
boy had taken his life, they explained.

02:07:23.306 --> 02:07:29.516
He realized that the act of guiding these people

02:07:29.516 --> 02:07:39.416
to his mother's present location was
unworthy of the love she bore him.

02:07:39.416 --> 02:07:41.746
>> The elderly chieftess remained undiscovered.

02:07:41.746 --> 02:07:46.196
But before resuming his march,
de Soto took her young niece,

02:07:46.456 --> 02:07:51.636
the Lady of Cofitachequi, as his hostage.

02:07:51.636 --> 02:07:54.346
After days of traveling west, she managed

02:07:54.346 --> 02:07:57.976
that daring escape even recovering
some of the plundered pearls.

02:07:58.516 --> 02:08:01.316
[ Music & Noise ]

02:08:01.816 --> 02:08:03.226
De Soto would not pursue her.

02:08:03.956 --> 02:08:06.696
He moved on crossing the Appalachian Mountains.

02:08:09.076 --> 02:08:12.606
In July, he traveled down a
broad river into the territory

02:08:12.606 --> 02:08:15.646
of the Coosa, what is now Northern Alabama.

02:08:16.826 --> 02:08:21.206
The Spaniard were amazed by the
size and wealth of the Coosa nation

02:08:21.206 --> 02:08:27.756
where a single day is march took him through 12
towns, each surrounded by vast fields of crops.

02:08:27.756 --> 02:08:32.256
When they reached the Coosa
capital, they were met on the road

02:08:32.486 --> 02:08:35.556
by a thousand men wearing
great feathered head dresses

02:08:35.856 --> 02:08:40.366
and bearing their young chief on a liter.

02:08:41.246 --> 02:08:46.366
After replenishing their supplies de Soto and
his men departed without serious incident.

02:08:47.946 --> 02:08:52.386
With them they would take stories of the Coosa
wealth that would become legendary in Spain.

02:08:54.436 --> 02:08:58.296
As the army headed west, they left
behind one man too sick to travel,

02:08:59.226 --> 02:09:04.186
a decision that would that
shutter the Coosa world.

02:09:05.696 --> 02:09:11.316
[Background Music] On October 18, 1540,
de Soto arrived at the 45 town of Mabila

02:09:11.376 --> 02:09:14.986
in the territory of the powerful Mobile nation.

02:09:15.396 --> 02:09:18.626
The Mobile had been preparing for this moment.

02:09:19.936 --> 02:09:25.036
Inside a strong defensive wall replete
with towers, a war council was in progress.

02:09:26.566 --> 02:09:28.196
Upon the arrival of the Spaniards,

02:09:28.626 --> 02:09:33.826
a man described as a "Captain
General" was sent out to confront them.

02:09:34.526 --> 02:09:38.186
>> "Who are these thieves and
vagabonds who keep shouting?

02:09:38.576 --> 02:09:39.416
Come forth.

02:09:39.886 --> 02:09:40.666
Come forth.

02:09:41.336 --> 02:09:47.036
With as little consideration as if they were
talking with some such person as themselves,

02:09:48.456 --> 02:09:55.816
no one can endure longer the insolence of
these demons and it is therefore only right

02:09:55.816 --> 02:10:00.606
that they die today, torn
into pieces for their infamy.

02:10:01.356 --> 02:10:06.456
And that in this way an end be given
to their wickedness and tyranny.

02:10:06.456 --> 02:10:12.906
>> As he finished speaking, the captain
general was struck down with a Spanish sword.

02:10:14.916 --> 02:10:19.146
Instantly, thousands of Mobile fighters
spilled out driving back the Spaniards,

02:10:19.856 --> 02:10:23.746
fighting so fiercely, the even grabbed
the caviler's lances by the blades.

02:10:25.356 --> 02:10:29.346
>> The Indians fought with so great
spirit that they drove us outside again

02:10:29.346 --> 02:10:32.146
and again Elvas, Spanish chronicle.

02:10:33.516 --> 02:10:37.706
[ Music & Noise ]

02:10:38.206 --> 02:10:41.836
But the Spanish soldiers broke to the
town's fortifications with battle axes

02:10:42.016 --> 02:10:44.076
and drove the Mobile inside their homes.

02:10:45.516 --> 02:10:50.866
[ Music & Noise ]

02:10:51.366 --> 02:10:58.216
De Soto ordered the houses set on fire,
wind funned the flames engulfing the town

02:10:58.216 --> 02:11:03.076
in thick smoke while de Soto kept
trumpets, pipes and drums flaring,

02:11:06.026 --> 02:11:07.946
and yet the Mobile battled
ever more desperately.

02:11:08.516 --> 02:11:12.196
[ Music & Noise]

02:11:12.696 --> 02:11:16.836
Women fought frantically beside the
men prompting one Spanish soldier

02:11:16.906 --> 02:11:19.796
to say, they fought the desire to die.

02:11:20.516 --> 02:11:28.086
[ Music ]

02:11:28.586 --> 02:11:34.516
Finally at sunset, after nine
hours of battle it ended.

02:11:35.946 --> 02:11:40.146
Eyewitness estimates of the
Mobile dead range up to 11,000.

02:11:40.146 --> 02:11:49.196
Bodies littered the streets between
the charred remains of buildings,

02:11:49.196 --> 02:11:50.986
even the Spaniards reeled in shock.

02:11:50.986 --> 02:11:56.626
One soldier emerged from the
silence of the aftermath frozen

02:11:56.626 --> 02:12:00.136
like a wooden statue until he died.

02:12:00.136 --> 02:12:05.426
A Mobile fighting men hanged himself by himself

02:12:05.526 --> 02:12:12.856
by his bowstring rather than
be left to survive alone.

02:12:12.856 --> 02:12:19.596
82 of de Soto's men died, and every one of
his soldiers was wounded, many seriously.

02:12:19.596 --> 02:12:22.326
For a month, the army was
forced to stop and recover.

02:12:22.326 --> 02:12:30.676
Then as the surrounding Indian nations
watch in horror, de Soto renewed his march.

02:12:30.966 --> 02:12:33.266
But his army had been weakened.

02:12:33.896 --> 02:12:38.846
The tide was beginning to turn.

02:12:39.656 --> 02:12:43.586
In April of 1541, the invaders
reached the Mississippi river.

02:12:45.416 --> 02:12:51.066
There, de Soto heard stories
of the powerful Natchez nation,

02:12:52.096 --> 02:12:54.646
direct inheritors of the
grand Mississippian culture.

02:12:54.646 --> 02:13:02.296
Natchez influence both economic and military
spread in all directions along the Mississippi.

02:13:04.166 --> 02:13:11.086
Their temple pyramids rose majestically
along the banks of the rivers.

02:13:11.086 --> 02:13:16.186
The Natchez paramount chief, Quigualtam
was heir to the tradition of the great sons

02:13:16.186 --> 02:13:19.796
and spiritual head of a powerful
religious aristocracy.

02:13:20.116 --> 02:13:24.656
His title was "Son of the sun".

02:13:24.656 --> 02:13:28.666
He was carried on a liter so his
feet would never touch the ground.

02:13:28.666 --> 02:13:35.536
His head was flattened according to
Natchez custom and tattoos of black red

02:13:35.536 --> 02:13:38.126
and blue design were [inaudible]
across his body.

02:13:38.126 --> 02:13:44.486
De Soto, claiming that he
too was a child of the sun,

02:13:44.486 --> 02:13:49.166
summoned the Natchez leader to the Spanish camp.

02:13:49.166 --> 02:13:54.336
Quigualtam sent back his reply.

02:13:54.436 --> 02:13:58.826
>> With respect to what DeSoto said
about being the "Son of the Sun",

02:13:59.746 --> 02:14:04.386
let him dry up the great
river and I will believe him.

02:14:04.386 --> 02:14:12.036
With respect to the rest, I am
not accustomed to visit anyone.

02:14:12.476 --> 02:14:18.906
On the contrary, all of whom
I have knowledge visit

02:14:18.906 --> 02:14:29.876
and serve me and obey me and pay me tribute.

02:14:29.946 --> 02:14:33.276
Quigualtam Natchez.

02:14:33.276 --> 02:14:38.486
>> De Soto would never meet Quigualtam
or see the wealth of the Natchez.

02:14:38.786 --> 02:14:41.976
On May 21st, 1542, he died.

02:14:42.816 --> 02:14:44.746
His body was buried in the Mississippi.

02:14:47.976 --> 02:14:51.386
Over the following year,
DeSoto's army ventured as far west

02:14:51.466 --> 02:14:53.676
of Texas before returning to the Mississippi.

02:14:55.206 --> 02:14:58.686
There they build a flotilla and headed
down river for the Gulf of Mexico.

02:15:00.516 --> 02:15:07.616
[ Music ]

02:15:08.116 --> 02:15:09.316
>> [Background Music] En route, they were met

02:15:09.406 --> 02:15:14.376
by 100 magnificently-painted Natchi
canoes arrayed in battle formation.

02:15:16.086 --> 02:15:21.436
Seated under canopies, fighting men dressed in
vivid colors and wearing large headdress plumes,

02:15:22.646 --> 02:15:28.246
drove the Spanish boats out of Natchi
territory and down river where one tribe

02:15:28.246 --> 02:15:30.086
after another picked up the pursuit.

02:15:31.411 --> 02:15:33.411
[ Music ]

02:15:33.806 --> 02:15:38.906
The Spaniards reached the Gulf
of Mexico on July 18th, 1543,

02:15:40.276 --> 02:15:43.056
setting sail for Spanish
outposts on the Mexican coast.

02:15:44.516 --> 02:15:47.286
[ Music ]

02:15:47.786 --> 02:15:53.246
For the American-Indian nations, de Soto's
expedition mercifully came to an end.

02:15:54.516 --> 02:16:01.126
[ Music ]

02:16:01.626 --> 02:16:05.246
But it would not be the end of de
Soto's influence on the continent.

02:16:07.086 --> 02:16:10.336
20 years later, another expedition
would enter South East.

02:16:10.776 --> 02:16:11.816
This time, to colonize.

02:16:14.146 --> 02:16:17.416
In Spain, the agricultural wealth
of the region had become legendary.

02:16:18.696 --> 02:16:22.026
But the new arrivals found few
people and could barely survive.

02:16:24.166 --> 02:16:28.036
[Background sound] In desperation, they
traveled North to the land of the Coosa

02:16:29.236 --> 02:16:33.536
where de Soto's army had passed through
12 thriving towns on a single day marched.

02:16:35.876 --> 02:16:43.066
But instead of the fabled towns, they found
ruins and temple mounds deserted and overgrown.

02:16:43.745 --> 02:16:48.956
And instead of populations of thousands,
they found only pockets of survivors.

02:16:50.786 --> 02:16:54.766
>> Our village had once been
very great and populous.

02:16:56.646 --> 02:17:07.325
When other men similar to you destroyed
it and forced us to run away in fear.

02:17:07.325 --> 02:17:08.486
[inaudible] Coosa.

02:17:08.486 --> 02:17:14.366
>> Unknown to de Soto, the sick men he had left

02:17:14.366 --> 02:17:18.335
with the Coosa carried a weapon
far more deadly than Spanish arms.

02:17:19.976 --> 02:17:23.096
While the army carved a path of
destruction through the South East,

02:17:23.096 --> 02:17:28.276
a hidden enemy that would take more
Indian lives than all the generals

02:17:28.316 --> 02:17:31.946
and conquistadors combined, was
secretly traveling among them.

02:17:33.656 --> 02:17:39.446
>> The Europeans had tremendous immunity and
resistance to the diseases that they had known

02:17:39.446 --> 02:17:43.566
for tens of thousands of
years, smallpox in the plague,

02:17:43.566 --> 02:17:46.096
chickenpox, whopping cough, measles, mumps.

02:17:46.436 --> 02:17:48.755
The Indians had no epidemic diseases.

02:17:48.755 --> 02:17:49.936
None of these were there.

02:17:50.146 --> 02:17:53.806
Consequently, they had no
immunities, absolutely no resistance.

02:17:53.915 --> 02:17:58.236
So, a disease as simple as mumps that we
think of today as a childhood disease,

02:17:58.406 --> 02:18:00.236
it would come in to an Indian community

02:18:00.585 --> 02:18:03.255
and quite possibly kill of
20 percent of the village.

02:18:03.456 --> 02:18:07.306
Then the next year, another disease could
come through such a smallpox and kill,

02:18:07.306 --> 02:18:08.736
perhaps 30 percent of the village.

02:18:09.085 --> 02:18:12.226
So the Indians were tremendously
weakened by disease.

02:18:12.226 --> 02:18:18.425
Knowledge was lost as elders died suddenly.

02:18:18.425 --> 02:18:20.656
Nations were thrown into upheaval.

02:18:20.656 --> 02:18:30.766
In less than 20 years, civilizations that had
flourished for centuries swirled into oblivion.

02:18:31.516 --> 02:18:37.536
[ Music ]

02:18:38.036 --> 02:18:41.696
>> Most Americans grew up with the story
of the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock

02:18:42.396 --> 02:18:46.316
and how they were the first to encounter
Indian people in untouched wilderness.

02:18:47.406 --> 02:18:51.636
But in fact, the arrival of English colonist
was by no means, the first encounter.

02:18:52.846 --> 02:18:56.376
By the time the pilgrims landed
at Plymouth, English slavers

02:18:56.376 --> 02:18:58.675
and traders had been working
the regions for decades.

02:18:59.745 --> 02:19:02.556
Two of the first Indian people
that pilgrims met spoke English.

02:19:03.376 --> 02:19:04.925
One of them had even been to England.

02:19:05.016 --> 02:19:10.976
It would've been easy for the Indian nations to
destroy the original settlement but they didn't.

02:19:11.866 --> 02:19:15.366
Instead, they welcomed them as
potential trading partners and allies.

02:19:15.966 --> 02:19:18.936
They gave them land and a
knowledge of how to survive on it.

02:19:19.936 --> 02:19:23.016
But nothing in the experience of
the Indian nations had prepared them

02:19:23.016 --> 02:19:24.995
for the European invasion that would follow.

02:19:26.276 --> 02:19:28.665
But before we look at the first colonist,

02:19:28.665 --> 02:19:33.196
we'll go north to a people the English
would never conquer, the Inuit.

02:19:34.276 --> 02:19:36.816
The people who most of us know is Eskimos.

02:19:37.766 --> 02:19:42.776
Welcome to part four of 500
Nations, Invasion of the Coast.

02:19:43.516 --> 02:19:49.546
[ Noise ]

02:19:50.046 --> 02:19:54.166
>> [Background Sound] And I think
over again, my small adventures when--

02:19:55.376 --> 02:19:59.976
with a sure win, I drifted out on my
kayak and I thought I was in danger.

02:20:00.086 --> 02:20:09.116
My fears, those I thought so big for all the
vital things I had to get and to reach and yet,

02:20:09.266 --> 02:20:17.596
there was only one great thing, the only thing
to live, to see and [inaudible] journeys,

02:20:17.676 --> 02:20:22.606
the great day that dawns and the
light fills the world, Inuit.

02:20:23.236 --> 02:20:30.776
>> In the northern reaches at the
continent, straddling the Arctic Circle,

02:20:30.776 --> 02:20:35.476
lies an island larger than
Great Britain, Baffinland.

02:20:35.556 --> 02:20:45.956
This was the world of the East Baffinland,
Inuit, people commonly known as Eskimo.

02:20:46.516 --> 02:20:54.716
[ Music ]

02:20:55.216 --> 02:21:01.946
For the Inuit, the spring thaw was
the time of euphoria and plenty.

02:21:02.516 --> 02:21:11.706
[ Noise ]

02:21:12.206 --> 02:21:16.396
Small bands would move to summer camp
along Baffinland's great southern bay.

02:21:19.656 --> 02:21:25.856
There they would hunt caribou along the coast
and seal and walrus's in the rich marine waters.

02:21:27.516 --> 02:22:04.806
[ Noise & Music ]

02:22:05.306 --> 02:22:08.166
>> The great sea has set me adrift.

02:22:09.156 --> 02:22:12.796
It moves me as a weed in the great river.

02:22:14.266 --> 02:22:22.206
Earth and the great weather moved me, had
carried away and moved my inward parts with joy.

02:22:22.206 --> 02:22:22.386
>> [inaudible] Inuit.

02:22:22.446 --> 02:22:33.396
>> The Summer of 1576 would
bring something different.

02:22:36.046 --> 02:22:42.646
That summer, English sea captain, Martin
Frobisher led an expedition and search

02:22:42.646 --> 02:22:44.476
of a northern passage to the Orient.

02:22:47.936 --> 02:22:51.116
In July, he passed between
masses of broken packed ice

02:22:51.536 --> 02:22:54.546
and through a mountainous channel
he named Frobisher Straits.

02:22:56.996 --> 02:22:59.056
As the English sailed into the bay,

02:22:59.456 --> 02:23:03.236
several Inuit launched their
kayaks and paddled toward the ship.

02:23:04.866 --> 02:23:06.726
Events were followed by the ships chronically.

02:23:07.096 --> 02:23:13.866
>> Our captain discovered a number of
small things fleeting in the sea far off

02:23:13.986 --> 02:23:19.296
which he supposed to be popped ices [phonetic]
or seals or some kind of strange fish.

02:23:19.456 --> 02:23:26.386
But coming nearer, he discovered them to
be men in small boats made of leather.

02:23:27.436 --> 02:23:32.406
>> The Inuit offered fish, seals
skin clothing and friendship.

02:23:32.976 --> 02:23:36.426
One man agreed to guide the
Europeans through the straits

02:23:36.906 --> 02:23:39.996
to a place Frobisher believed
to be the Pacific Ocean.

02:23:42.036 --> 02:23:46.836
Five sailors were dispatched in a small skiff
to row the Inuit guide to his kayak on shore.

02:23:47.886 --> 02:23:51.086
Then for reasons that may never be known,

02:23:51.086 --> 02:23:57.246
the English man disobeyed Frobisher's
orders not to row out of site of the ship.

02:23:57.246 --> 02:24:01.896
>> Contrary to his commandment, they rowed
further beyond that point of the land

02:24:01.946 --> 02:24:06.526
out of his sight, he could not
here nor see anything of them.

02:24:06.526 --> 02:24:11.136
And thereby, he judged they
were taken and kept by force.

02:24:11.216 --> 02:24:16.086
>> Although, Inuit continued
to approach the ship for trade,

02:24:16.766 --> 02:24:20.936
Frobisher was convinced of treachery.

02:24:20.936 --> 02:24:25.636
Preparing to weigh anchor, he decided to
take a price back to his patrons in England.

02:24:25.636 --> 02:24:32.686
>> The captain was oppressed with sorrow that
he should return again back to his country

02:24:32.976 --> 02:24:37.396
without bringing any evidence
or token of any place whereby

02:24:37.396 --> 02:24:43.426
to certify to the world where he had been.

02:24:43.426 --> 02:24:48.066
>> Frobisher held out a bell toward an Inuit
trader whose kayak had drawn near the ship.

02:24:50.486 --> 02:24:52.806
Reaching toward the hand
outstretched in friendship,

02:24:53.446 --> 02:24:55.706
Frobisher seized the man dragging him aboard.

02:24:58.076 --> 02:25:03.196
He then set sail for England,
leaving behind his five missing men.

02:25:05.796 --> 02:25:08.946
But Frobisher would be denied his living trophy,

02:25:09.886 --> 02:25:15.816
aboard ship the captain Inuit defiantly
beat his tongue in half and later died.

02:25:17.096 --> 02:25:24.076
Soon after Frobisher left Baffinland,
the winter ice flows closed the bay

02:25:24.786 --> 02:25:27.966
and the Inuit returned to their winter lives.

02:25:28.516 --> 02:25:53.526
[ Music ]

02:25:54.026 --> 02:25:56.756
The following summer Frobisher
returned to Baffinland.

02:25:58.956 --> 02:26:04.556
On July 31st, one of his ships put
ashore at a point some 150 miles

02:26:04.586 --> 02:26:07.536
from where his five men had
disappeared the previous year.

02:26:12.226 --> 02:26:17.856
Stumbling upon a vacant Inuit summer camp,
they found articles of European clothing.

02:26:21.686 --> 02:26:28.316
>> In this tents, they beheld a doublet of
canvas made after the English fashion, a shirt,

02:26:28.766 --> 02:26:35.526
a girdle, three shoes for contrary feet and
of unequal bigness, which they well conjecture

02:26:35.576 --> 02:26:38.386
to be the apparel of our five poor countrymen.

02:26:39.956 --> 02:26:46.476
>> The next day, Frobisher sent
40 soldiers back to the area

02:26:46.606 --> 02:26:51.196
where they surprised 18 Inuit
men, women and children.

02:26:52.516 --> 02:26:55.546
[ Music ]

02:26:56.046 --> 02:27:00.526
[Background Music] As the Inuit fled
they're tents, the English open fire

02:27:01.516 --> 02:27:06.266
[ Noise ]

02:27:06.766 --> 02:27:09.256
[Background Sound] Dodging bullets,
the Inuit ran for the shore.

02:27:10.656 --> 02:27:14.856
Launching a large boat called an Umiac,
they tried to escape to open water

02:27:15.256 --> 02:27:19.886
but English boats forced them
back against the rocky coast.

02:27:21.126 --> 02:27:23.616
Frantically, they climbed up
the crags above the waves.

02:27:25.536 --> 02:27:27.886
Soldiers surrounded them from land and sea.

02:27:29.446 --> 02:27:36.986
While women and children huddled against the
rocks, the Inuit men fought for their lives.

02:27:37.056 --> 02:27:39.026
>> Desperately returning
[phonetic] upon our men,

02:27:39.026 --> 02:27:42.646
resisted them manfully so
long as their arrows lasted.

02:27:42.736 --> 02:27:50.046
And after gathering up those arrows which our
men shot at them, yey, and plucking our arrows

02:27:50.176 --> 02:27:57.636
out of their bodies maintained there cause
until both weapons and life utterly failed them.

02:27:57.636 --> 02:27:59.976
And when they found they we're mortally wounded,

02:28:00.676 --> 02:28:06.206
with deadly fury they cast themselves
head long from of the rocks into the sea.

02:28:06.456 --> 02:28:10.986
Less perhaps, their enemies
should receive glory.

02:28:12.516 --> 02:28:17.426
[ Noise ]

02:28:17.926 --> 02:28:23.736
>> Some Inuit scrambled over the rocks, slippery
with blood and the wash of the sea and escaped.

02:28:23.736 --> 02:28:29.396
A women and her wounded child
were less fortunate.

02:28:29.396 --> 02:28:33.416
Frobisher took them captive.

02:28:33.416 --> 02:28:41.836
Along with a man he had captures days before,
he had now collected a set of Inuit people.

02:28:41.836 --> 02:28:46.306
As his ship sailed for England,
Frobisher displayed little compassion

02:28:46.376 --> 02:28:51.326
for the kidnap victims torn away
from their homes and families.

02:28:51.686 --> 02:28:56.236
They we're confined together, the
English crew allowed to watch them

02:28:56.236 --> 02:28:59.196
for entertainment, hoping to see them mate.

02:29:00.186 --> 02:29:07.046
>> Having now got woman captive for the comfort
of our man, we brought them both together

02:29:07.796 --> 02:29:17.906
and every man with silence, desired to behold
the manner of their meeting and entertainment.

02:29:19.236 --> 02:29:22.356
>> The crew was to be disappointed
by the couple's dignity.

02:29:24.156 --> 02:29:29.716
>> Although they live continually together,
yet did they never use as man and wife

02:29:30.176 --> 02:29:38.916
and they both was most shamefaced, least
any of their private parts be discovered.

02:29:38.916 --> 02:29:44.916
>> Upon arrival in England, artist
John White painted these portraits.

02:29:44.916 --> 02:29:50.136
Soon after, the Inuit man, woman
and child all died of illness.

02:29:51.606 --> 02:29:58.406
The following spring, Frobisher sailed
on his final voyage to the Inuit world.

02:30:00.096 --> 02:30:02.516
This time, no one came forward
to greet the ship.

02:30:02.786 --> 02:30:08.916
The Inuit held themselves
aloof refusing contact.

02:30:09.106 --> 02:30:14.436
[Background Sound] The English never
solved the mystery of their missing men.

02:30:14.436 --> 02:30:20.046
But for centuries, the Inuit would tell the
story of the five white men Frobisher abandoned.

02:30:20.306 --> 02:30:31.166
It was said that after living peacefully among
them, one spring the five men outfitted an umiac

02:30:31.166 --> 02:30:36.956
with a masked and sails and
departed, never to be seen again.

02:30:37.516 --> 02:30:42.516
[ Music ]

02:30:43.016 --> 02:30:51.000
[ Pause ]

02:30:52.066 --> 02:30:57.236
In 1600, the Atlantic coast of North
America, the present day United States,

02:30:57.796 --> 02:31:00.646
was home to well over a 100 Indian Nations.

02:31:03.546 --> 02:31:08.136
Nations nourished by fertile farm land
and bountiful hunting and fishing.

02:31:09.486 --> 02:31:13.276
[Background Music] Well-maintained
gardens produced corn,

02:31:13.676 --> 02:31:16.846
squash and a variety of other
fruits and vegetables.

02:31:18.706 --> 02:31:21.636
Summer fishing camps stretched
along the barrier islands.

02:31:23.746 --> 02:31:28.506
Sounds [phonetic] and estuaries swarmed
with fish harvested by traps and nets.

02:31:30.546 --> 02:31:36.306
Land, people and teachings had melded
into a rich sophisticated way of life.

02:31:37.516 --> 02:31:54.696
[ Music ]

02:31:55.196 --> 02:31:59.806
At the very center of the Atlantic seaboard,
south of present day Washington D.C.,

02:32:00.716 --> 02:32:07.196
30 small nations united in the early 1600s
to form the powerful Powhatan Confederacy.

02:32:09.726 --> 02:32:14.466
The Powhatan Confederacy was built
by a charismatic leader who traveled

02:32:14.466 --> 02:32:19.356
between his many subject towns with an
entourage of bodyguards and followers.

02:32:21.206 --> 02:32:23.236
His named was Wahunsunacawh.

02:32:23.236 --> 02:32:27.966
Through diplomacy, he held 30 nations together

02:32:28.436 --> 02:32:31.656
and through military strength,
he controlled the region.

02:32:31.926 --> 02:32:40.636
[Background Music] In 1607, an
English ship sailed up Chesapeake Bay

02:32:41.026 --> 02:32:44.806
and into the lands of a Powhatan.

02:32:45.326 --> 02:32:49.006
The ship was captained by a
soldier of fortune, John Smith.

02:32:51.696 --> 02:32:56.306
Hoping to be the first successful
English colony in North America,

02:32:56.906 --> 02:33:02.016
the small but well-armed expedition landed
at a place they would call Jamestown.

02:33:03.936 --> 02:33:11.056
As Jamestown took shape, Wahunsunacawh
carefully weighed his options.

02:33:13.146 --> 02:33:18.936
He could destroy the settlement, but he was well
aware of the power of European weapons and knew

02:33:18.936 --> 02:33:22.136
that an attack would be costly
in Powhatan lives.

02:33:22.266 --> 02:33:32.016
Wahunsunacawh also saw the advantage of
trade for European weapons and tools.

02:33:33.956 --> 02:33:39.296
He chose to watch and wait, monitoring the
progress of the settlement through the eyes

02:33:39.296 --> 02:33:43.576
of his most trusted ally,
his brother Opechancanough,

02:33:44.136 --> 02:33:47.676
chief of the most powerful
Powhatan nation, the Pamunkey.

02:33:48.286 --> 02:33:54.516
[Background Music] During their first winter,
the colonists we're barely able to provide

02:33:54.516 --> 02:33:56.806
for their basic needs and many died.

02:33:58.516 --> 02:34:01.246
[ Music ]

02:34:01.746 --> 02:34:06.316
Opechancanough reported that the desperate
English had begun entering Powhatan towns

02:34:06.316 --> 02:34:08.536
and taking food by force.

02:34:10.996 --> 02:34:17.316
Wahunsunacawh decided that he had to
bring the colony under his direct control.

02:34:17.316 --> 02:34:21.306
He ordered the capture of John Smith and
had the English captain brought before him.

02:34:21.306 --> 02:34:30.046
Present was Wahunsunacawh's
favorite daughter, Pocahontas.

02:34:30.046 --> 02:34:36.476
The romantic story of Pocahontas saving Smith

02:34:36.586 --> 02:34:40.976
from death was undoubtedly an
example of Smith's own creativity.

02:34:41.276 --> 02:34:47.886
His account of the incident written
immediately afterward said nothing

02:34:47.886 --> 02:34:49.226
of his life being threatened.

02:34:51.796 --> 02:34:56.006
Only his memoirs written 17
years later included the story.

02:34:56.556 --> 02:35:03.286
In fact, in his memoirs, he claimed to have
been saved from death at the last moment

02:35:03.576 --> 02:35:06.586
by a beautiful woman no less than three times.

02:35:09.836 --> 02:35:16.306
In reality, it is probable that Wahunsunacawh
cemented an alliance by proclaiming Smith leader

02:35:16.306 --> 02:35:19.896
of the Powhatan's newest
subject town, Jamestown.

02:35:19.896 --> 02:35:28.326
Having established his supremacy and English
submission, Wahunsunacawh released Smith.

02:35:28.326 --> 02:35:33.656
But as new people and supplies
arrived from England,

02:35:34.226 --> 02:35:38.766
the colony tried a new tact
to gain the upper hand.

02:35:38.766 --> 02:35:42.906
The English attempted to crown
Wahunsunacawh king of the Powhatan

02:35:43.466 --> 02:35:45.336
which would make him a subject king of England.

02:35:46.186 --> 02:35:48.826
B6ut the coronation turned into a farce.

02:35:51.386 --> 02:35:55.486
>> And a foul trouble there was to
make him kneel to receive his crown.

02:35:56.046 --> 02:36:01.436
He, neither knowing the majesty nor
meaning of a crown nor bending of the knee,

02:36:01.946 --> 02:36:07.736
endured so many persuasions, examples,
and instruction has tired them all.

02:36:07.736 --> 02:36:14.796
At last, by leaning hard on his
shoulders, he a little stooped

02:36:15.656 --> 02:36:19.826
and Captain Newport put the crown on his head.

02:36:19.826 --> 02:36:22.016
John Smith, English captain.

02:36:24.786 --> 02:36:29.056
>> The true balance of power was reflected
in the trade between the two nations.

02:36:29.146 --> 02:36:33.496
The English were forced to pay
extremely high prices in copper

02:36:33.536 --> 02:36:39.626
and trade goods for Powhatan food.

02:36:39.776 --> 02:36:42.796
New arrivals to the colony were
shocked at the exchange rate

02:36:43.186 --> 02:36:47.686
and the situation was an embarrassment
to John Smith and the English.

02:36:50.656 --> 02:36:56.256
Finally, emboldened by an infusion of
new weapons and men, Smith saw his chance

02:36:56.256 --> 02:36:58.586
to tilt the balance of power toward Jamestown.

02:37:01.116 --> 02:37:07.386
In January 1609, he took a military
contingent into a Pamunkey town

02:37:07.646 --> 02:37:11.446
and seized Opechancanough
and held him at gunpoint.

02:37:14.366 --> 02:37:21.576
His soldiers plundered the Pamunkey food
stores then demanded regular food tribute.

02:37:21.636 --> 02:37:27.126
If the Pamunkey did not comply, Smith promised
to load his ships with their dead carcasses.

02:37:27.236 --> 02:37:33.736
Despite the assault, Wahunsunacawh
strove to maintain the peace.

02:37:33.856 --> 02:37:40.526
>> Why will you take by force
what you may have quietly by love?

02:37:40.526 --> 02:37:44.736
Why will you destroy us who
supply you with food?

02:37:44.736 --> 02:37:47.926
What can you get by war?

02:37:47.926 --> 02:37:54.086
We are unarmed and willing to
give you what you ask if you come

02:37:54.086 --> 02:37:57.576
in a friendly manner, and
not with swords and guns.

02:37:58.016 --> 02:38:03.776
Wahunsunacawh, Powhatan.

02:38:04.896 --> 02:38:08.736
>> But the English allowed
for no diplomatic solution.

02:38:09.376 --> 02:38:14.136
No longer pretending to respect Powhatan
authority, they used their weapons

02:38:14.136 --> 02:38:17.186
to take what they wanted,
including Powhatan land.

02:38:18.516 --> 02:38:23.446
[ Music & Noise ]

02:38:23.946 --> 02:38:26.286
The survival of the Powhatan people at stake,

02:38:26.836 --> 02:38:30.726
Wahunsunacawh finally turned
to war in August of 1609.

02:38:31.516 --> 02:38:34.426
[ Noise ]

02:38:34.926 --> 02:38:37.326
It would continue unabated for four years.

02:38:38.516 --> 02:38:47.886
[ Noise & Music ]

02:38:48.386 --> 02:38:53.406
[Background Music] Then in April
1613, Pocahontas was kidnapped

02:38:53.406 --> 02:38:55.946
for the ransom of all English prisoners of war.

02:38:55.946 --> 02:39:04.126
The English captives were released,
but Pocahontas remained a hostage.

02:39:04.126 --> 02:39:12.096
While held, she was indoctrinated daily
in English customs and Anglican religion.

02:39:12.096 --> 02:39:17.286
Then the prisoner declared she had fallen
in love with one of her captors, John Rolfe.

02:39:17.286 --> 02:39:27.096
The weary Wahunsunacawh agreed to a
truce hoping to see his daughter again.

02:39:27.096 --> 02:39:33.496
>> I am not so simple as to not know that it is
much better to eat good meat, sleep comfortably,

02:39:33.496 --> 02:39:40.746
laugh and be merry with the English than to
run away from them and lie cold in the woods

02:39:40.826 --> 02:39:45.206
and to be so hunted that I
can neither eat nor sleep.

02:39:45.206 --> 02:39:51.606
Wahunsunacawh, Powhatan.

02:39:52.386 --> 02:39:55.176
>> Pocahontas was baptized Lady Rebecca

02:39:55.296 --> 02:39:59.746
and peace was sealed with
her marriage to John Rolfe.

02:40:01.236 --> 02:40:04.696
[Background Music] Two years later, with
their infant son, they sailed to England.

02:40:07.826 --> 02:40:10.356
Pocahontas was a sensation in London.

02:40:10.356 --> 02:40:13.046
She was shown in the best
circles and presented to the king.

02:40:13.046 --> 02:40:20.736
But the woman billed as the "right-thinking
savage" would not see her home again.

02:40:20.736 --> 02:40:28.536
She became ill, and in March of 1617, as she
prepared to sail for Jamestown, Pocahontas died.

02:40:28.536 --> 02:40:36.256
She was 22 years old.

02:40:36.256 --> 02:40:43.966
With his lands shrinking, the death of his
daughter finally broke Wahunsunacawh's heart.

02:40:43.966 --> 02:40:48.366
He relinquished power and
died the following year.

02:40:48.366 --> 02:40:54.656
For Wahunsunacawh's brother, Opechancanough,

02:40:54.756 --> 02:40:57.816
the struggle continued and
he faced a grave situation.

02:40:58.356 --> 02:41:03.616
The American practice of smoking
tobacco was taking hold in England.

02:41:03.616 --> 02:41:11.226
Demand for Virginia tobacco gave
Jamestown a cash crop and the need

02:41:11.226 --> 02:41:13.466
for more Powhatan land for cultivation.

02:41:13.466 --> 02:41:22.406
For the next 25 years, Opechancanough
would lead the Powhatan

02:41:22.636 --> 02:41:25.976
in wars for their land and sovereignty.

02:41:26.516 --> 02:41:30.556
[ Music ]

02:41:31.056 --> 02:41:37.246
But by 1645, the struggle was becoming hopeless.

02:41:37.246 --> 02:41:40.826
The aged Opechancanough was
carried into battle on a litter.

02:41:40.826 --> 02:41:43.586
He could not walk without help.

02:41:43.586 --> 02:41:52.336
He could not see without his
servants holding his eyelids open.

02:41:52.336 --> 02:41:56.976
The last Powhatan war ended with the
capture of the 90-year-old leader.

02:41:57.516 --> 02:42:07.546
[ Music ]

02:42:08.046 --> 02:42:15.976
Opechancanough was murdered, shot
in the back by an English guard.

02:42:16.516 --> 02:42:20.586
[ Music ]

02:42:21.086 --> 02:42:29.146
>> The powerful Powhatan empire had proved
unable to stem the tide of colonial expansion.

02:42:29.146 --> 02:42:36.086
On a little land that was left to
them, Powhatan people live to this day.

02:42:37.426 --> 02:42:41.406
Some, descendants of the two
brothers, who guided their people

02:42:41.406 --> 02:42:44.976
through the first generation of contact.

02:42:45.516 --> 02:42:51.516
[ Music ]

02:42:52.016 --> 02:43:00.000
[ Pause ]

02:43:01.626 --> 02:43:09.276
In 1619, a young Patuxet man named Tisquantum
returned to his Massachusetts Bay village.

02:43:12.276 --> 02:43:15.716
But no mother or father or wife
hurried to welcome him home.

02:43:17.566 --> 02:43:21.566
His village was deserted, the houses overgrown.

02:43:23.026 --> 02:43:27.206
And in the place of family and
friends, lay a field of bones.

02:43:28.516 --> 02:43:34.636
[ Music ]

02:43:35.136 --> 02:43:38.996
Five years earlier, Tisquantum had
been captured by Englishmen and taken

02:43:38.996 --> 02:43:40.986
to Spain to be sold into slavery.

02:43:43.626 --> 02:43:46.796
Freed by Spanish priests,
he made his way to England.

02:43:47.156 --> 02:43:52.026
From there, he worked his way
back to North America as a guide

02:43:52.066 --> 02:43:53.606
and interpreter on an English ship.

02:43:55.886 --> 02:43:59.286
Tisquantum's village had been
decimated by disease brought

02:43:59.336 --> 02:44:03.476
by the same English slavers
who had abducted him.

02:44:05.396 --> 02:44:07.816
Now, he stood in the shattered
remnants of his home.

02:44:07.816 --> 02:44:14.386
This year there would be no ceremony of
thanksgiving for the bounties of the earth

02:44:14.386 --> 02:44:21.306
and sea, no thanks for the corn, the
wild turkeys and geese, the lobsters,

02:44:21.396 --> 02:44:23.456
walnuts and berries that were so plentiful.

02:44:23.526 --> 02:44:30.536
Tisquantum's long journey
finally ended in Montaup capital

02:44:30.536 --> 02:44:34.926
of the neighboring Wampanoag
nation, themselves recovering

02:44:34.926 --> 02:44:37.116
from the ravages of European diseases.

02:44:42.046 --> 02:44:48.716
[Background Music] In December of the following
year, 1620, a small English ship, the Mayflower,

02:44:48.846 --> 02:44:56.196
sailed into the Patuxet Ba,y landing at
the site of Tisquantum's deserted village.

02:44:57.676 --> 02:45:00.976
The English renamed it "Plymouth".

02:45:01.516 --> 02:45:20.676
[ Music ]

02:45:21.176 --> 02:45:25.976
The pilgrims' first winter was a hard one.

02:45:26.516 --> 02:45:28.546
[ Music ]

02:45:29.046 --> 02:45:39.046
Sickness and starvation reduce
the 100 colonists by half.

02:45:39.046 --> 02:45:42.356
No Indian people came forward
and none could be found.

02:45:42.586 --> 02:45:52.176
With the coming of spring, the surviving
pilgrims were amazed by the appearance

02:45:52.176 --> 02:45:56.356
of one Indian man who greeted
them with the word welcome.

02:45:56.926 --> 02:45:59.776
His name was Samoset.

02:46:04.006 --> 02:46:08.866
>> He had learned some broken English among
the Englishman that came to fish at Munhegan.

02:46:09.856 --> 02:46:11.806
We questioned him of many things.

02:46:13.326 --> 02:46:20.196
He told us, the place where we now live is
called Patuxet and that about four years ago,

02:46:20.636 --> 02:46:23.566
all the inhabitants died
of an extraordinary plague

02:46:23.566 --> 02:46:28.036
and there is neither a man,
woman nor child remaining.

02:46:28.036 --> 02:46:30.066
As indeed, we have found none.

02:46:30.996 --> 02:46:35.126
So, that there is none to hinder
our possession or lay claim unto it.

02:46:36.686 --> 02:46:40.486
William Bradford, Plymouth Colony.

02:46:40.886 --> 02:46:45.806
>> Samoset left Plymouth and traveled to
Montaup to bring word of the fledgling colony

02:46:46.106 --> 02:46:48.716
to the Wampanoag leader, Massasoit.

02:46:50.176 --> 02:46:56.246
Within days, Massasoit and an
entourage set out on a trip to Plymouth.

02:46:57.596 --> 02:47:00.916
Samoset was sent ahead with someone
who's English was even better

02:47:00.916 --> 02:47:07.256
than his own, Tisquantum, the last Patuxet.

02:47:07.256 --> 02:47:10.226
The one person who could
truly call Plymouth home.

02:47:13.616 --> 02:47:17.306
Later that day, Massasoit arrived.

02:47:18.536 --> 02:47:21.316
>> He was a very robust man in his best years,

02:47:22.136 --> 02:47:25.966
grave [phonetic] of confidence
and spare of speech.

02:47:25.966 --> 02:47:31.636
His face was painted with a red, like
mulberry and he was oiled both head and face.

02:47:31.816 --> 02:47:37.356
William Bradford, Plymouth Colony.

02:47:37.356 --> 02:47:42.476
>> Using Samoset and Tisquantum as
interpreters, Massasoit negotiated a treaty

02:47:42.476 --> 02:47:45.286
with the pilgrims for peace
and mutual protection.

02:47:46.066 --> 02:47:50.356
Massasoit had reason to seek allies.

02:47:50.356 --> 02:47:55.816
The European epidemics had
wiped out a vast majority

02:47:55.876 --> 02:47:58.616
of the Wampanoag people and neighboring nations.

02:47:58.616 --> 02:48:04.656
However, they're powerful rivals to the
west, the Narrangansett were left untouched.

02:48:04.656 --> 02:48:11.126
An alliance with the pilgrims would help the
Wampanoag regain they're diplomatic strength.

02:48:12.616 --> 02:48:15.086
>> Why would they want to have two enemies?

02:48:15.996 --> 02:48:19.096
The Narrangansetts whom they could
probably consider to be their biggest threat

02:48:19.336 --> 02:48:22.976
or this not-like English people
that kept coming around the country

02:48:22.976 --> 02:48:24.836
but they never seem to stay before.

02:48:25.166 --> 02:48:28.196
Now, all of a sudden they got a
group of them that's building houses

02:48:28.196 --> 02:48:29.886
that have brought their, families, women.

02:48:29.886 --> 02:48:33.526
The first time Englishwomen have been in
New England, native logic would say, "Well,

02:48:33.526 --> 02:48:35.756
you don't bring your women
where you're going to make war.

02:48:35.966 --> 02:48:38.736
So, let's make peace with this
people, use them as allies.

02:48:38.926 --> 02:48:40.246
They got their strange weapons.

02:48:40.246 --> 02:48:45.066
If we make peace with them first before anybody
else does, then we'll have them on our side

02:48:45.066 --> 02:48:49.136
and we won't have to face their guns."

02:48:49.136 --> 02:48:54.656
>> While Massasoit and his entourage return to
Montaup, Tisquantum remained with the pilgrims

02:48:54.806 --> 02:49:00.126
on his beloved homeland and taught the new
arrivals how to plant and where to fish.

02:49:03.386 --> 02:49:11.416
In the fall, 20 acres of Indian corn
stood at Plymouth, ready for harvest.

02:49:11.416 --> 02:49:15.196
And just as Tisquantum taught the
pilgrims to plant, he must have told them

02:49:15.196 --> 02:49:18.916
of the annual ceremony of thanksgiving.

02:49:18.916 --> 02:49:27.646
A ceremony of thanks to celebrate
the gifts of their world.

02:49:27.646 --> 02:49:31.956
The pilgrims embraced the
event and invited Massasoit

02:49:32.026 --> 02:49:37.876
and his Wampanoag to share their bounty.

02:49:37.876 --> 02:49:42.466
The Indian leader arrived with 90 of
his people and five deer for the feast.

02:49:43.516 --> 02:49:51.546
[ Music ]

02:49:52.046 --> 02:49:56.336
For three days and nights,
the celebration continued.

02:49:56.336 --> 02:50:04.266
Prayers and dances, alternating with shooting
contest, wrestling matches and games.

02:50:04.416 --> 02:50:17.046
The Thanksgiving of 1621 would be
remembered as the pilgrims' first.

02:50:17.046 --> 02:50:21.896
But, for the Wampanoag, such a day of thanks
had occurred from the beginning of time.

02:50:25.346 --> 02:50:28.876
>> We believe that everything that was
given to us was a gift from the Creator.

02:50:29.346 --> 02:50:35.666
So, because it was a gift, we remember to give
thanks and we did that and all of the ways

02:50:35.666 --> 02:50:39.546
that we could and this was the
basis of our ceremonial life.

02:50:40.036 --> 02:50:44.466
And, because everything was a gift, we realize
there was an obligation that comes with a gift

02:50:44.466 --> 02:50:49.236
and that obligation was to share because
if we didn't share, there was no reason

02:50:49.236 --> 02:50:52.086
for the Creator to continue
to give us those gifts.

02:50:53.806 --> 02:51:00.066
>> At the end of the first thanksgiving,
the pilgrims and Wampanoag promised

02:51:00.066 --> 02:51:03.756
to make the feast an annual celebration
of their harvests and friendship.

02:51:03.756 --> 02:51:09.896
But the relationship between the
nations was destined to change.

02:51:10.516 --> 02:51:35.946
[ Music ]

02:51:36.446 --> 02:51:40.466
>> We gave them unconditional
acceptance and love and nurturement.

02:51:43.386 --> 02:51:46.426
That was-- otherwise, they would
have been massacred at the beach.

02:51:50.206 --> 02:51:56.476
>> When the English first came, my father was
a great man and the English, a little child.

02:51:57.346 --> 02:52:00.616
He constrained other Indians
from harming the English.

02:52:02.396 --> 02:52:06.636
He gave the English corn and
showed them how to plant.

02:52:06.636 --> 02:52:13.036
He let them have a 100 times more land
than now I have for my own people.

02:52:13.946 --> 02:52:19.826
King Philip, Wampanoag.

02:52:19.826 --> 02:52:26.706
>> For almost 40 years while the Plymouth Colony
rapidly expanded, Massasoit maintained peace

02:52:26.706 --> 02:52:28.896
between his Wampanoag and the English.

02:52:29.296 --> 02:52:39.276
>> Massasoit of the Wampanoag nation, he was
a magnificent peacekeeper and that 50 years

02:52:39.276 --> 02:52:47.536
of peace maintained between us and the
English was really due to his intelligence,

02:52:47.536 --> 02:52:50.596
integrity, and love for the people.

02:52:51.056 --> 02:53:00.136
>> By the time of Massasoit's death in 1660, a
new generation had risen to power in Plymouth.

02:53:00.526 --> 02:53:02.576
They had long forgotten his generosity.

02:53:04.526 --> 02:53:08.266
Leadership passed to Massasoit's
24 year old son, Philip.

02:53:08.456 --> 02:53:11.846
He would become known as King Philip.

02:53:11.846 --> 02:53:18.446
>> The time when Philip took over,
he was a different side of a person.

02:53:19.086 --> 02:53:22.786
He was going to fight to the end for his people.

02:53:22.786 --> 02:53:30.456
>> In 1662, when King Philip came to power,
the growing colonies held 50,000 residents.

02:53:30.456 --> 02:53:35.326
In New England, Indian nations
found themselves surrounded.

02:53:38.636 --> 02:53:40.276
Their agricultural land shrinking.

02:53:41.116 --> 02:53:43.996
Many Wampanoag were left with
little choice but to work

02:53:43.996 --> 02:53:46.086
for the English as laborers and servants.

02:53:46.086 --> 02:53:52.606
But it wasn't just land and liberty
they were losing, their culture

02:53:52.606 --> 02:53:54.436
and traditions were also under attack.

02:53:55.516 --> 02:54:01.856
>> The English, they thought of Wampanoag
as inferior from all the way around,

02:54:01.856 --> 02:54:07.216
from a standpoint-- especially their religion,
and then as a people, they were savages.

02:54:09.156 --> 02:54:14.846
>> Zales [phonetic] Puritans set out to convert
them, pressuring many to abandon their homes

02:54:14.846 --> 02:54:18.836
and beliefs and to move to
newly established praying towns.

02:54:21.356 --> 02:54:24.566
With little regard for the lost
of the sovereign Wampanoag nation,

02:54:25.886 --> 02:54:27.766
the English arrested King Philip's people

02:54:27.816 --> 02:54:31.606
for violating the Puritan
Code of Ethics, the blue laws.

02:54:35.246 --> 02:54:38.406
Individuals were prosecuted for
hunting and fishing on the Sabbath,

02:54:39.256 --> 02:54:44.046
for using Indian medicine and entering
into non-Christian marital unions.

02:54:45.946 --> 02:54:50.956
>> The women, when we went out for a moon
lodge and spent time alone or with our friends,

02:54:51.076 --> 02:54:54.186
who also had their moon at the
same time and we sit out there

02:54:54.186 --> 02:54:57.596
and with alone chatting and terrifying.

02:54:58.076 --> 02:55:00.006
They made laws against us
saying we couldn't do that.

02:55:00.366 --> 02:55:03.896
That we needed to be in the village, we needed
to be working except for on the Sabbath.

02:55:06.086 --> 02:55:08.596
>> [Background Music] In Plymouth,
Indian people were sentenced to death

02:55:08.826 --> 02:55:09.976
for denying the Christian religion.

02:55:10.146 --> 02:55:12.146
[ Gunshots ]

02:55:12.276 --> 02:55:14.626
>> Pray or be shot was the method of conversion.

02:55:15.256 --> 02:55:19.306
That's how the first Christian Indians
had Christianity bought to them.

02:55:21.266 --> 02:55:24.466
>> King Philip took an uncompromising
stand against the repression.

02:55:27.656 --> 02:55:31.656
>> "You see this vast country before us
which the creator gave to our fathers.

02:55:32.586 --> 02:55:35.426
You see these little ones,
our wives and children.

02:55:37.386 --> 02:55:39.076
And you now see the foe before you.

02:55:40.176 --> 02:55:42.076
They have grown insolent and bold.

02:55:43.586 --> 02:55:45.556
All our ancient customs are disregarded.

02:55:46.506 --> 02:55:48.846
Treaties made by our fathers are broken.

02:55:49.816 --> 02:55:51.816
Our brothers murdered before our eyes."

02:55:53.606 --> 02:55:55.756
King Philip, Wampanoag.

02:56:00.456 --> 02:56:06.126
>> Fifteen years after his father's death,
King Philip finally urged his people to war.

02:56:08.716 --> 02:56:11.816
>> Our ancestor's spirits
cried to us for revenge.

02:56:12.696 --> 02:56:17.346
These people from the unknown world will
cut down our groves, spoil our hunting

02:56:17.346 --> 02:56:22.156
and planting grounds and drive us and our
children from the graves of our fathers.

02:56:24.156 --> 02:56:30.836
>> King Philip had no other choice because
his land was being taken away, his people,

02:56:30.836 --> 02:56:33.516
the allegiance of his people was being eroded.

02:56:34.606 --> 02:56:37.456
The war itself was not only over land.

02:56:37.456 --> 02:56:41.946
It was also over the right to follow our
own traditions the Creator had given us.

02:56:42.516 --> 02:56:46.456
[ Music ]

02:56:46.956 --> 02:56:51.606
>> On June 24th 1675, King Philip's War began.

02:56:52.516 --> 02:57:00.096
[ Noise ]

02:57:00.596 --> 02:57:05.356
In a brilliantly orchestrated series of forays
several English towns were caught off-guard

02:57:05.356 --> 02:57:08.106
and burned to the ground by
the Wampanoag and their allies.

02:57:10.466 --> 02:57:14.416
>> An Indian never forgets a kindness,
but he never forgives a wrong,

02:57:14.986 --> 02:57:21.206
and because there had been so much kindness
shown during those good years between Massasoit,

02:57:21.486 --> 02:57:23.816
King Philip's father and
those settlers that came.

02:57:24.176 --> 02:57:28.226
King Philip never forgot any of those families
that had been close to he and his family.

02:57:28.816 --> 02:57:29.606
And he spared them.

02:57:29.606 --> 02:57:33.906
He actually even sent warnings to
some of those families during the war

02:57:34.416 --> 02:57:37.906
that their towns would be burned, so
they could escape with their families.

02:57:38.016 --> 02:57:39.526
[ Crowd Noise ]

02:57:39.526 --> 02:57:44.516
>> As Indian victories mounted,
hysteria gripped the settlements.

02:57:47.186 --> 02:57:51.146
It was reported that Indian troops hung
upon the fringes of the English towns

02:57:51.846 --> 02:57:54.706
like the lightning on the edge of clouds.

02:57:55.246 --> 02:57:58.616
On the side of a bridge over the Charles River,

02:57:59.396 --> 02:58:02.056
one of King Philip's men
posted a taunting message.

02:58:04.786 --> 02:58:09.406
>> "Know by this paper that the
Indians that you have provoked

02:58:09.666 --> 02:58:14.246
through wrath and anger will war if you will.

02:58:15.716 --> 02:58:16.906
There are many Indians yet.

02:58:17.696 --> 02:58:22.436
You must consider the Indians
lose nothing but their life.

02:58:24.116 --> 02:58:26.606
You must lose your fair houses and cattle."

02:58:28.636 --> 02:58:30.146
James, Nipmuc.

02:58:33.346 --> 02:58:37.456
>> Through the fall and winter,
fortune favored King Philip's forces.

02:58:37.456 --> 02:58:43.046
Then a series of defeats
demoralized some Wampanoag allies.

02:58:44.026 --> 02:58:50.516
>> The Great Swamp Massacre was where
over 300 Native American old women

02:58:50.516 --> 02:58:53.516
and children were all burnt alive

02:58:54.216 --> 02:59:00.366
in their wigwams just six days
before Christmas, December 19th 1675.

02:59:02.156 --> 02:59:09.386
And one historian recorded that the
smell of burning flesh so moved one

02:59:09.446 --> 02:59:13.016
of the Pilgrim soldiers that he later asked one

02:59:13.016 --> 02:59:17.216
of his superiors whether burning
their enemies alive was consistent

02:59:17.216 --> 02:59:19.616
with the benevolent principles of the Gospel.

02:59:23.596 --> 02:59:25.976
>> The fortunes of war were turning.

02:59:27.846 --> 02:59:31.966
With the coming of spring, their winter food
stores were depleted and they were unable

02:59:31.966 --> 02:59:33.976
to plant or replenish their supplies.

02:59:36.046 --> 02:59:37.596
King Philip's people were starving.

02:59:40.016 --> 02:59:43.176
And English troops hunted them as
though trailing a wounded animal.

02:59:44.516 --> 02:59:54.026
[ Music ]

02:59:54.526 --> 02:59:57.916
In May, the English attacked
an allied Indian force camped

02:59:57.916 --> 03:00:01.246
above the falls on the Connecticut River.

03:00:02.506 --> 03:00:04.146
300 Indian people were killed.

03:00:06.916 --> 03:00:12.736
Some managed to reach their canoes but
in their haste, left behind their paddles

03:00:13.556 --> 03:00:15.976
and were swept over the falls to their deaths.

03:00:16.516 --> 03:00:24.996
[ Water Gushing ]

03:00:25.496 --> 03:00:27.526
For the next two months, King Philip

03:00:27.656 --> 03:00:31.506
and his people evaded capture
but the noose was tightening.

03:00:32.281 --> 03:00:34.281
[ Battle Sound ]

03:00:34.546 --> 03:00:40.396
In August, English troops fell upon
his camp killing or capturing 173.

03:00:44.046 --> 03:00:52.756
King Philip narrowly escaped but among those
captured were his wife and 9-year-old son.

03:00:52.756 --> 03:00:56.576
[Background Music] In Plymouth,
the clergy decided their fate.

03:00:58.526 --> 03:01:01.646
They were sold into slavery in Bermuda.

03:01:01.646 --> 03:01:03.326
>> My heart breaks.

03:01:03.326 --> 03:01:06.966
Now, I am ready to die.

03:01:07.096 --> 03:01:16.306
>> He would choose where he would die.

03:01:20.236 --> 03:01:25.776
King Philip returned to his home at Montaup,
where his father, Massasoit had often fed

03:01:25.816 --> 03:01:27.966
and entertained the Pilgrims decades earlier.

03:01:28.516 --> 03:01:32.446
[ Music ]

03:01:32.946 --> 03:01:37.036
In the dawn light of August
12th, 1676, an English

03:01:37.036 --> 03:01:38.956
and Indian army surrounded the sleeping camp.

03:01:39.516 --> 03:01:43.516
[ Music ]

03:01:44.016 --> 03:01:48.000
[ Gunshot ]

03:01:48.516 --> 03:01:51.016
[ Music ]

03:01:51.516 --> 03:01:57.686
Moments later, King Philip was dead, shot
through the heart by an Indian mercenary.

03:02:02.486 --> 03:02:07.606
King Philip's head was put
on display in Plymouth

03:02:07.606 --> 03:02:10.976
where it remained for the next 20 years.

03:02:11.016 --> 03:02:13.016
[ Music ]

03:02:13.016 --> 03:02:18.000
[ Water Flowing & Music ]

03:02:18.186 --> 03:02:22.216
>> We all have a purpose, a
role in life, and the Creator,

03:02:22.846 --> 03:02:27.266
in all of his wisdom saw fit to spare us.

03:02:27.266 --> 03:02:29.686
We all could have been burned
alive in the Great Swamp.

03:02:29.686 --> 03:02:31.546
We all could have been slaughtered in that war.

03:02:31.656 --> 03:02:34.836
But we were left here for a reason.

03:02:34.836 --> 03:02:39.346
And I believe that part of that reason
is to be a conscience for this society

03:02:39.396 --> 03:02:46.286
to prevent those same kinds of mistakes from
continuing to be repeated over and over.

03:02:46.626 --> 03:02:53.036
That's what I see as my purpose, as the purpose
of all of our native people who will stand up

03:02:53.036 --> 03:02:57.606
and continue with that spirit that
King Philip, Pontiac, Geronimo,

03:02:57.896 --> 03:02:59.616
all of our great leaders have had.

03:03:00.516 --> 03:03:12.956
[ Music ]

03:03:13.456 --> 03:03:18.266
>> In our next program, we move to the
interior of the continent where the lands

03:03:18.266 --> 03:03:23.076
of the Indian Nations were turned into
battlefields as the French, the English,

03:03:23.076 --> 03:03:26.066
and the American colonists
all fought for supremacy.

03:03:27.226 --> 03:03:31.546
Please join us when 500 Nations
returns for "A Cauldron of War."

03:03:32.516 --> 03:07:55.566
[ Music ]

03:07:56.066 --> 03:07:57.416
Hello. I'm Kevin Costner.

03:07:58.166 --> 03:08:00.076
Welcome back to 500 Nations.

03:08:00.886 --> 03:08:05.526
Even before the colonies were established
in the East, the European entrepreneurs

03:08:05.526 --> 03:08:10.136
of the New World started pushing west
testing the boundaries of this rich new land.

03:08:11.186 --> 03:08:13.956
What they discovered was the
wealth of the Indian Nations

03:08:14.176 --> 03:08:16.936
and the staggering abundance
of their natural resources.

03:08:17.476 --> 03:08:20.846
The beautiful furs, the endless
supply of deerskins.

03:08:21.936 --> 03:08:26.396
Indian people, in turn, saw that the goods
the Europeans offered made life a lot easier.

03:08:27.106 --> 03:08:30.386
Metal axes, knives, copper kettles and guns.

03:08:31.236 --> 03:08:33.596
And for a time, this simple arrangement worked.

03:08:34.506 --> 03:08:38.896
But very quickly, North America became
an irresistible prize to the Europeans.

03:08:39.776 --> 03:08:41.586
They sent armies to fight for the control

03:08:41.586 --> 03:08:45.376
of the continent's resources the
way modern armies fight over oil.

03:08:46.616 --> 03:08:51.396
In this hour, we take you to the
heartland to a continent in turmoil.

03:08:52.366 --> 03:08:56.786
Welcome to Part Five of 500
Nations, A Cauldron of War.

03:08:58.516 --> 03:09:01.546
[ Music ]

03:09:02.046 --> 03:09:05.616
>> [Background Music] "When the
white man came here as stranger,

03:09:06.626 --> 03:09:09.426
he saw that the furs worn by
our nations were valuable.

03:09:09.566 --> 03:09:13.366
And he showed to our ancestors many
goods which he brought with him.

03:09:13.366 --> 03:09:19.346
And these were very tempting.

03:09:19.346 --> 03:09:24.196
The white man said "Will you not sell the
skins of your animals for the goods I bring?"

03:09:24.286 --> 03:09:31.596
Our ancestors replied "We will buy
your goods and you will buy our furs."

03:09:32.506 --> 03:09:34.596
The whites proposed nothing more.

03:09:34.596 --> 03:09:38.116
Our ancestors acceded to nothing else."

03:09:38.116 --> 03:09:40.166
Peau de Chat, Ojibway.

03:09:40.236 --> 03:09:47.056
>> In the 1600s, French and English
fur traders made deep inroads

03:09:47.056 --> 03:09:52.656
into the North American continent where
interior Indian Nations hunted beaver, mink,

03:09:53.106 --> 03:09:56.626
fox and other fur-bearing animals.

03:09:56.626 --> 03:10:01.476
[Background Music] For Northern Indian Nations,
trading with Europeans was merely an expansion

03:10:01.476 --> 03:10:05.976
of a seasonal round that had
been repeated for centuries.

03:10:07.376 --> 03:10:11.236
Winter was the traditional time for
villages to disperse into smaller groups

03:10:11.476 --> 03:10:13.466
to hunt and trap from winter camps.

03:10:13.466 --> 03:10:19.706
Spring was the season when they came
back together and resumed village life.

03:10:19.706 --> 03:10:29.296
Hunters returned home with their
winter's take of pelts and welcomed trade.

03:10:29.296 --> 03:10:33.506
At first, European traders conformed
to this cycle and the beautiful

03:10:33.506 --> 03:10:38.486
and exotic furs placed Indian traders
in a strong bargaining position.

03:10:39.596 --> 03:10:43.586
>> "I heard my host, a Montagnais
leader, say one day, jokingly,

03:10:43.586 --> 03:10:47.096
the beaver does everything perfectly well.

03:10:47.416 --> 03:10:52.396
It makes kettles, hatchets,
swords, knives, bread.

03:10:52.396 --> 03:10:55.826
In short, it makes everything.

03:10:55.826 --> 03:11:01.886
He was making sport of us Europeans who have
such a fondness for the skin of this animal."

03:11:01.886 --> 03:11:03.896
Nicholas d'onee, fur trader.

03:11:07.096 --> 03:11:10.116
>> Fur trade was becoming
central to the European economy.

03:11:10.266 --> 03:11:15.616
From beaver came felt, and when the
felt hat came into fashion in Europe,

03:11:16.186 --> 03:11:19.176
the North Atlantic trade
took on global proportions.

03:11:22.506 --> 03:11:26.156
>> It seemed like the European
way of trading was to--

03:11:26.156 --> 03:11:31.646
to go out and try to outdo one another
who was going to have the most.

03:11:32.086 --> 03:11:38.616
And so our people were not like that with
the other nations before the Europeans.

03:11:39.086 --> 03:11:44.036
But they soon caught on to-- to be
able to become wealthy that way.

03:11:45.776 --> 03:11:51.256
>> Increasing demand and higher prices forced
the fur trade to change and along with it,

03:11:51.716 --> 03:11:53.736
the very structure of Indian Nations.

03:11:55.266 --> 03:12:00.516
Many Indian people found it more lucrative to
trade than to pursue old economic activities.

03:12:01.846 --> 03:12:07.836
>> If you take a primitive tribe anywhere
and present them with something that's going

03:12:07.836 --> 03:12:14.116
to make them live faster, have an
easier life, they will take it.

03:12:15.546 --> 03:12:17.776
You know, the easy, easy way.

03:12:18.746 --> 03:12:22.716
And by using the easy way,
you're losing also your culture

03:12:22.816 --> 03:12:26.346
because keeping your culture is not always easy.

03:12:27.826 --> 03:12:31.056
>> [Background Music] Young men broke away
from their traditional community roles

03:12:31.416 --> 03:12:36.706
to pursue commercial hunting in order to obtain
goods that could only be gained through trade.

03:12:37.516 --> 03:12:41.936
[ Music ]

03:12:42.436 --> 03:12:44.356
Agricultural nations planted less.

03:12:45.136 --> 03:12:49.806
Fields lay fallow as pelts were used
to purchase food from European traders.

03:12:51.646 --> 03:12:56.606
Ancient cultural and religious values
came under attack as the relationships

03:12:56.606 --> 03:13:01.876
between Indian people, the land and
animals, changed through commercial hunting.

03:13:03.506 --> 03:13:06.206
Even European traders noted the transition.

03:13:07.626 --> 03:13:11.916
>> Before, they killed animals only in
proportion as they had need of them.

03:13:12.636 --> 03:13:19.936
They never made an accumulation of skins of
moose, otter, beaver or others but only so far

03:13:19.936 --> 03:13:22.006
as they needed them for personal use.

03:13:26.596 --> 03:13:32.446
>> Within decades, the animal populations of
entire regions were completely exterminated.

03:13:34.056 --> 03:13:39.356
>> In the past, there was none to barter with us
that would have tempted us to waste our animals

03:13:40.056 --> 03:13:42.866
as we did after the white
people came on this island.

03:13:46.646 --> 03:13:51.666
>> Nations who once traded in peace were
forced into competition, even hostility,

03:13:52.136 --> 03:13:54.446
as hunters encroached upon the lands of others.

03:13:57.886 --> 03:13:59.806
>> "The times are exceedingly altered.

03:14:00.796 --> 03:14:05.756
The times have turned everything upside down
chiefly by the help of the white people.

03:14:06.736 --> 03:14:11.396
In times past, our forefathers lived
in peace, love and great harmony

03:14:12.026 --> 03:14:13.516
and had everything in great plenty.

03:14:14.856 --> 03:14:17.286
But, alas, it is not so now.

03:14:18.086 --> 03:14:24.026
All our fishing, hunting and
fowling is entirely gone."

03:14:24.026 --> 03:14:28.046
Harry Quaduaquid, Mohegan.

03:14:28.336 --> 03:14:32.096
>> Adherence to traditional values
was further eroded by the greatest

03:14:32.096 --> 03:14:36.346
of all scourges that flowed from trade, alcohol.

03:14:37.156 --> 03:14:38.606
A British trader observed.

03:14:38.806 --> 03:14:42.836
>> They do not call it drinking
unless they become drunk.

03:14:42.836 --> 03:14:47.346
Immediately after taking everything
with which they can injure themselves

03:14:47.346 --> 03:14:50.606
from the houses the women
carry it into the woods

03:14:50.606 --> 03:14:54.896
where they go to hide with all their children.

03:14:54.896 --> 03:15:03.266
After that, the men have a fine time
beating, injuring, and killing one another.

03:15:03.266 --> 03:15:09.396
>> With each generation, alcohol cut deeper
into the social fabric of Indian nations.

03:15:09.396 --> 03:15:16.426
In 1803 alone, 21,000 gallons
of rum flowed into the interior.

03:15:16.666 --> 03:15:22.566
>> "We are meant to deliberate upon what?

03:15:23.066 --> 03:15:27.976
Upon no less as subject than whether
we shall or shall not be a people.

03:15:29.046 --> 03:15:33.396
The tyrant is no native to our
soil, but is the pernicious liquid

03:15:33.726 --> 03:15:39.826
which our pretended white friends artfully
introduced and so plentifully pours among us."

03:15:39.826 --> 03:15:40.596
Creek Speaker.

03:15:40.596 --> 03:15:46.756
>> Trade also brought a deadly killer that
went unrecognized until the 20th century.

03:15:47.646 --> 03:15:51.526
Indian nations had long traditions
in painting and paint making

03:15:51.526 --> 03:15:55.366
and few pigments were as
highly prized as red ocher.

03:15:55.366 --> 03:16:02.646
When European traders introduced brilliant
red vermilion paint it became widely used

03:16:02.646 --> 03:16:06.416
for facial and body decoration.

03:16:06.416 --> 03:16:08.936
But the paint was made from lead and mercury,

03:16:09.576 --> 03:16:12.696
hidden poisons that may have
struck down thousands.

03:16:13.016 --> 03:16:15.016
[ Music ]

03:16:15.016 --> 03:16:18.000
[ Howling ]

03:16:18.046 --> 03:16:23.966
>> Such was the agreement made by
my ancestors with the white man.

03:16:23.966 --> 03:16:27.996
They hunted for the white man and
before many years, the game grew scarce.

03:16:27.996 --> 03:16:33.216
And the benefits we derived
from this agreement are these.

03:16:33.216 --> 03:16:38.916
Instead of using a stone to
cut my wood, I used a sharp ax.

03:16:39.046 --> 03:16:43.876
Instead of being clothed in my
own warm, ancient clothing I used

03:16:43.876 --> 03:16:45.826
that which comes from across the big water.

03:16:46.556 --> 03:16:50.626
Instead of having plenty of
food, I am always hungry.

03:16:51.516 --> 03:17:00.506
[ Music ]

03:17:01.006 --> 03:17:04.556
And instead of being sober,
the Indians are drunk.

03:17:05.516 --> 03:17:08.516
[ Howling ]

03:17:09.016 --> 03:17:14.000
[ Water Flowing ]

03:17:15.896 --> 03:17:17.646
>> Along the South Atlantic coast,

03:17:18.176 --> 03:17:23.976
one small Indian nation would take their
economic destiny into their own hands.

03:17:25.436 --> 03:17:32.386
In 1670, the English founded Charleston on
land belonging to the Sewee, or Islanders.

03:17:38.336 --> 03:17:43.456
Charleston emerged as the economic heart of
the Southern colonies built on a thriving trade

03:17:43.506 --> 03:17:46.426
in deer hides with the Sewee
and neighboring nations.

03:17:48.206 --> 03:17:50.006
>> In the late 1600s, with the founding

03:17:50.006 --> 03:17:53.916
of Charleston the whole economy
revolved around the Indian trade.

03:17:54.306 --> 03:17:57.806
The men who lived along Goose Creek
became the big traders who would go

03:17:57.806 --> 03:18:00.456
into the interior, trading with the Indians.

03:18:00.726 --> 03:18:05.666
Trading all manner of manufactured goods
and beads but primarily to get deerskins

03:18:05.856 --> 03:18:07.856
which were being used for all kinds of purposes.

03:18:08.836 --> 03:18:13.386
>> [Background Music] The financial success
of the Charleston traders did not extend

03:18:13.386 --> 03:18:17.336
to their Indian suppliers, who
typically received only five percent

03:18:17.336 --> 03:18:20.136
of what buyers in England paid for their hides.

03:18:20.136 --> 03:18:23.816
The Sewee were determined to be treated fairly.

03:18:23.816 --> 03:18:27.146
An English observer reported.

03:18:27.146 --> 03:18:32.216
>> Seeing that the ships always came in
at one place made them very confident

03:18:32.256 --> 03:18:35.236
that that way was the exact road to England.

03:18:35.286 --> 03:18:40.656
And seeing so many ships come thence,
they believed it could not be far.

03:18:42.276 --> 03:18:46.626
John Lawson, surveyor general.

03:18:46.626 --> 03:18:50.546
>> The Sewee believed that by rowing
to the distant point on the horizon

03:18:50.546 --> 03:18:55.056
where ships first appeared they would
be able to find their way to England.

03:18:55.056 --> 03:19:02.716
Once there, they could establish direct
trade eliminating the expensive middlemen.

03:19:02.716 --> 03:19:05.026
Preparations were secretly begun.

03:19:05.026 --> 03:19:11.996
>> "It was agreed upon immediately to make an
addition of their fleet by building more canoes,

03:19:12.116 --> 03:19:19.996
and those to be of the best sort and biggest
size as fit for their intended discovery.

03:19:19.996 --> 03:19:24.646
Some Indians were employed about
making the canoes, others to hunting.

03:19:24.646 --> 03:19:28.846
Everyone to the post he was most fit for,

03:19:28.846 --> 03:19:34.936
all endeavors tending towards an
able fleet and cargo for Europe."

03:19:34.936 --> 03:19:39.596
John Lawson, surveyor general.

03:19:39.596 --> 03:19:43.576
>> After months of preparation,
the canoes were loaded with hides,

03:19:43.746 --> 03:19:46.886
pelts and the most valuable
possessions of the Sewee Nation.

03:19:46.886 --> 03:19:55.056
All able-bodied men and women
boarded the vessels and launched

03:19:55.056 --> 03:20:01.786
into the surf leaving behind only the
children, the sick and the very old.

03:20:04.776 --> 03:20:07.176
The Sewee Nation had become a flotilla.

03:20:07.316 --> 03:20:18.466
But as they entered Open Ocean, their
fragile endeavor turned disastrous.

03:20:18.466 --> 03:20:19.366
[Thunder] A gale blew up.

03:20:21.176 --> 03:20:23.656
High seas engulfed the Sewee canoes.

03:20:24.516 --> 03:20:30.156
[ Noise ]

03:20:30.656 --> 03:20:34.086
Those strong enough to survive
were not the fortunate ones.

03:20:36.596 --> 03:20:41.546
They were rescued by a passing English
slave ship, only to be delivered

03:20:41.606 --> 03:20:43.606
to the auction block in the West Indies.

03:20:43.606 --> 03:20:49.586
In an instant, the Sewee Nation ceased to exist.

03:20:49.726 --> 03:20:54.196
Its people had become a commodity.

03:20:54.196 --> 03:20:57.296
They were not alone.

03:21:00.086 --> 03:21:03.186
Indian slaves, along with deer hides and rum,

03:21:03.776 --> 03:21:06.346
formed the basis of the Southern
colonial economy.

03:21:07.496 --> 03:21:13.286
>> In Charleston, South Carolina, the slave
trade really started with the selling of Indians

03:21:13.286 --> 03:21:18.276
and everything that we see later with the
African-Americans who were sold there was going

03:21:18.276 --> 03:21:21.976
on in the 1600s and 1700s with the Indians.

03:21:21.976 --> 03:21:26.086
They would be brought into market, they'd be
put up on a block they would be auctioned off.

03:21:26.086 --> 03:21:33.046
>> Many Indian slaves were kept for the home
economy in the South or shipped to New England.

03:21:33.226 --> 03:21:35.876
Most were sent to Barbados, the Bahamas,

03:21:36.146 --> 03:21:40.326
Jamaica and other Caribbean outposts
to work the sugar plantations.

03:21:42.426 --> 03:21:50.016
Life in servitude was brutal and short and,
as Indian slaves succumbed to violence disease

03:21:50.016 --> 03:21:54.606
and harsh working conditions, African
slaves were imported to take their place.

03:21:55.426 --> 03:21:59.356
>> Africans and Indians were
basically being treated as animals.

03:21:59.646 --> 03:22:03.266
Even though the Catholic Church had
recognized the humanity of the Indians,

03:22:03.606 --> 03:22:07.316
most of the conquerors who came over
did not recognize them as human beings

03:22:07.596 --> 03:22:11.776
and they treated them the same way they
would wild horses or cows by branding them,

03:22:11.776 --> 03:22:16.046
by chaining them, by making them march
in long lines chained to one another,

03:22:16.046 --> 03:22:18.136
and then by selling them in an auction block.

03:22:18.506 --> 03:22:22.776
You could see an Indian being sold on an
auction block the same way you could see cows,

03:22:22.776 --> 03:22:24.426
or horses, or a mule being sold.

03:22:24.426 --> 03:22:33.536
>> As late as 1730, one-quarter of the slaves in
some Southern colonies were still Indian people.

03:22:35.726 --> 03:22:40.196
>> "They took a part of my tribe and
sold them to the Spaniards in Bermuda.

03:22:42.986 --> 03:22:47.836
But I would speak, and I could wish
it might be like the voice of thunder

03:22:48.786 --> 03:22:54.366
that it might be heard afar off,
even to the ends of the earth.

03:22:54.366 --> 03:23:02.206
He that will advocate slavery is worse than
a beast and he that will not set his face

03:23:02.206 --> 03:23:10.806
against its corrupt principles is a coward
and not worthy of being numbered among men."

03:23:10.996 --> 03:23:13.976
William Apess, Pequot.

03:23:14.516 --> 03:23:20.856
[ Music ]

03:23:21.356 --> 03:23:25.746
>> [Background Music] "You British and the
French are like the two edges of a pair

03:23:25.746 --> 03:23:33.616
of shears and we are the cloth which
is cut to pieces between them."

03:23:33.616 --> 03:23:34.036
Odawa.

03:23:36.166 --> 03:23:38.836
>> By the mid-1700s, the Indian nations

03:23:38.836 --> 03:23:42.256
of the Eastern interior were
surrounded by European powers.

03:23:43.036 --> 03:23:44.446
Spain controlled Florida.

03:23:45.306 --> 03:23:47.806
The English were pressing in
from their colonies in the East.

03:23:48.196 --> 03:23:52.806
And the French were aggressively moving across
the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi River.

03:23:54.286 --> 03:23:58.476
Spurred by the increasingly lucrative
fur trade, along with valuable farmlands,

03:23:59.196 --> 03:24:02.796
North America was seen by the
Europeans as a commercial prize.

03:24:05.396 --> 03:24:10.226
To win it, the French and English established
military outposts throughout the interior

03:24:10.496 --> 03:24:14.176
to support their trading ventures and
solidify their claims to the land.

03:24:15.356 --> 03:24:21.036
>> This idea of encroachment and land
ownership and [inaudible] were so foreign

03:24:21.036 --> 03:24:23.306
to us that we couldn't understand it.

03:24:23.306 --> 03:24:25.346
As individuals, we couldn't understand it.

03:24:25.526 --> 03:24:28.056
It was carving up our mother's breast.

03:24:28.186 --> 03:24:33.976
It was parceling out the land and the
air above it to individual ownership.

03:24:34.016 --> 03:24:35.446
[ Gunshots & Horse Neighing ]

03:24:35.446 --> 03:24:41.126
>> In 1754, France and England
clashed for control over the continent

03:24:41.486 --> 03:24:44.556
in what would become known
as the French and Indian War.

03:24:47.176 --> 03:24:52.046
From Europe, the American conflict was seen
as a distant chess match for territory,

03:24:52.416 --> 03:24:57.226
power and trade with Indian
nations mere fighting pawns.

03:25:00.046 --> 03:25:04.526
But in America, the interior Indian
nations saw their homelands turned

03:25:04.526 --> 03:25:05.806
into violent battlegrounds.

03:25:08.636 --> 03:25:12.326
>> "Why do not you and the French fight
in the old country and on the sea?

03:25:13.416 --> 03:25:15.456
Why do you come to fight in our land?"

03:25:16.766 --> 03:25:17.836
Shingas, Lenape.

03:25:19.556 --> 03:25:23.176
>> Most Indian nations joined the
war on the side of the French.

03:25:24.656 --> 03:25:29.766
>> We had a very close affinity
to the French people.

03:25:30.756 --> 03:25:36.876
The reason is because they had
no designs on our territory.

03:25:38.106 --> 03:25:40.106
They were not out to colonize.

03:25:40.106 --> 03:25:43.426
If they wanted to live with us
they married into the tribe,

03:25:43.786 --> 03:25:45.496
and they lived with us, and they were welcome.

03:25:46.456 --> 03:25:49.166
On the other hand, at the
other end of the scale,

03:25:49.386 --> 03:25:53.086
the English are notorious for being colonists.

03:25:53.516 --> 03:25:58.956
They don't want the sun to set on the British
Empire so they want colonies everywhere,

03:25:59.706 --> 03:26:01.856
and this New World was no different.

03:26:01.856 --> 03:26:03.806
That's why they came.

03:26:04.496 --> 03:26:11.546
>> In 1760, after six years of war, the French
shocked their Indian allies in the Ohio Valley

03:26:11.546 --> 03:26:16.366
and the Western Great Lakes by
abruptly withdrawing from the region.

03:26:16.666 --> 03:26:20.096
While the French continued to fight
for other parts of the continent here,

03:26:20.096 --> 03:26:23.476
the English army moved into
their abandoned forts unopposed.

03:26:24.856 --> 03:26:32.396
>> Englishmen, although you have conquered
the French, you have not yet conquered us.

03:26:32.396 --> 03:26:35.956
We are not your slaves.

03:26:36.576 --> 03:26:43.176
These lakes, these woods and mountains
were left to us by our ancestors.

03:26:43.176 --> 03:26:50.726
They are our inheritance and
we will part with them to none.

03:26:50.806 --> 03:26:55.336
>> One Odawa man, who had fought alongside
the French then watched them retreat,

03:26:55.896 --> 03:26:58.346
refused to abandon the struggle.

03:26:58.346 --> 03:27:00.116
His name was Pontiac.

03:27:00.356 --> 03:27:06.636
>> On the night he was born,
there was snow and rain and winds.

03:27:07.536 --> 03:27:11.466
There was lightning and thunder,
and there were shooting stars.

03:27:12.606 --> 03:27:16.596
And all of the phenomena that was
taking place that night the elders said

03:27:16.596 --> 03:27:18.486
that there was a great person being born.

03:27:19.466 --> 03:27:25.306
>> While many leaders saw the English as a
threat to their nations Pontiac saw the English

03:27:25.306 --> 03:27:27.786
as a threat to all Indian people.

03:27:28.516 --> 03:27:33.146
Nations had to put aside the
past and unite in common purpose.

03:27:34.366 --> 03:27:39.326
Pontiac's vision would change the
thinking of Indian leaders for generations.

03:27:40.776 --> 03:27:44.496
>> So, what he did was to
organize his own thoughts

03:27:44.566 --> 03:27:48.446
and then organize his own
people and then other tribes.

03:27:49.176 --> 03:27:54.066
Got them together, with what undoubtedly had
to be great oratory and great diplomatic moves

03:27:54.496 --> 03:28:01.676
and skills to get people, some of whom were
his bitter enemies, our tribe's bitter enemies.

03:28:01.676 --> 03:28:03.856
We fought the Hurons for hundreds of years.

03:28:04.226 --> 03:28:05.496
We fought the Shawnees.

03:28:05.496 --> 03:28:07.486
We fought many of these tribes.

03:28:07.486 --> 03:28:14.576
He went around and got them to become part
of what's known as Pontiac's Confederacy.

03:28:16.616 --> 03:28:21.226
>> "It is important for us, my
brothers, that we exterminate

03:28:21.286 --> 03:28:25.886
from our land this nation
which only seeks to kill us.

03:28:27.686 --> 03:28:32.876
When I go to the English chief to tell
him that some of our comrades are dead,

03:28:34.076 --> 03:28:38.716
instead of weeping, he makes
fun of me and of you.

03:28:38.716 --> 03:28:49.416
When I ask him for something for our sick, he
refuses and tells me that he has no need of us.

03:28:50.586 --> 03:28:53.996
There is no more time to lose.

03:28:54.806 --> 03:28:59.736
And when the English shall be
defeated we shall cut off the passage,

03:28:59.896 --> 03:29:02.126
so they cannot come back to our country."

03:29:02.176 --> 03:29:07.286
Pontiac, Odawa.

03:29:07.636 --> 03:29:12.266
>> Fighting men from the
Anishinabe, Miami, Seneca, Lenape,

03:29:12.746 --> 03:29:15.946
Shawnee and other nations,
responded to his call.

03:29:17.936 --> 03:29:23.596
In May of 1763, Pontiac's Rebellion
erupted with the siege of Fort Detroit.

03:29:26.266 --> 03:29:30.366
Over the next two months, nine of the
11 English forts in the region fell.

03:29:31.256 --> 03:29:37.486
Only Detroit and Fort Pitt remained in British
hands, both under siege by Pontiac's alliance.

03:29:38.336 --> 03:29:45.766
>> When he started taking the British forts, and
he took them one by one, cut off the security

03:29:45.766 --> 03:29:48.806
of the colonists, then they were on their own.

03:29:49.246 --> 03:29:54.286
Then his vision was that once we get the
last one, once we get Detroit we'll start

03:29:54.286 --> 03:29:57.056
and we'll just kind of herd
them ahead of us like ducks

03:29:57.056 --> 03:29:59.976
or geese right back to the Atlantic Ocean.

03:30:01.316 --> 03:30:03.516
>> Pontiac stood on the verge of total victory.

03:30:03.516 --> 03:30:07.266
With France still in control of Louisiana

03:30:07.266 --> 03:30:12.766
and the Mississippi local French residents
assured him that French forces would soon return

03:30:12.766 --> 03:30:16.356
to the region to help him drive
out the English once and for all.

03:30:17.456 --> 03:30:21.926
But unknown to Pontiac, France had
already signed a treaty of surrender

03:30:22.096 --> 03:30:27.276
in Paris ending all hostilities between
the two colonial powers in North America.

03:30:27.276 --> 03:30:32.456
Rumors of the accord reached Pontiac
in June at the height of his triumph.

03:30:32.856 --> 03:30:37.456
But he refused to believe that the French
would not respond to his victories.

03:30:38.016 --> 03:30:41.806
The British army, freed from campaigns

03:30:41.806 --> 03:30:45.646
against the French launched massive
expeditions against the Indian forces.

03:30:47.796 --> 03:30:49.596
But Pontiac's alliance held their ground.

03:30:50.516 --> 03:30:55.836
[ Shouting and Gunshot ]

03:30:56.336 --> 03:31:01.596
Increasingly desperate to prevail British
commander Jeffrey Amherst put a bounty

03:31:01.596 --> 03:31:06.426
on Pontiac's head then proposed
a sinister tactic, germ warfare.

03:31:08.426 --> 03:31:13.176
>> Could it not be contrived to send the
smallpox among those disaffected tribes

03:31:13.176 --> 03:31:13.736
of Indians?

03:31:14.126 --> 03:31:19.646
We must, on this occasion, use every
stratagem in our power to reduce them.

03:31:19.646 --> 03:31:24.036
You will do well to try to inoculate
the Indians by means of blankets to try

03:31:24.036 --> 03:31:26.406
to extirpate this execrable race.

03:31:28.516 --> 03:31:38.836
>> Shawnee, Lenape, and Odawa were crippled
by smallpox-infested blankets from Fort Pitt.

03:31:38.836 --> 03:31:41.486
>> Pretty soon, burst out a
terrible sickness among us.

03:31:42.506 --> 03:31:44.686
Lodge after lodge was totally vacated.

03:31:44.686 --> 03:31:52.536
Nothing but the dead bodies lying
here and there in their lodges.

03:31:52.536 --> 03:31:57.146
Entire families being swept off with
the ravages of this terrible disease.

03:31:58.056 --> 03:32:05.706
>> In October, confirmation of the French
surrender reached Pontiac and his allies.

03:32:06.786 --> 03:32:09.886
The news was a decisive blow to
the momentum of the rebellion.

03:32:11.116 --> 03:32:13.396
Now they knew that help would never come.

03:32:15.336 --> 03:32:23.416
Pontiac called off the siege of Detroit and
retired with his people to their winter camps.

03:32:24.546 --> 03:32:28.586
The next spring, he tried to rally forces
for another push against the English

03:32:29.416 --> 03:32:30.866
but his efforts were ineffective.

03:32:32.096 --> 03:32:35.476
Many Indian nations were
encouraged by English promises

03:32:35.566 --> 03:32:40.986
that settlements would never
be allowed on their land.

03:32:40.986 --> 03:32:45.706
They were also anxious to normalize
relations and to resume European trade.

03:32:46.516 --> 03:32:52.646
[ Music ]

03:32:53.146 --> 03:32:57.466
With the passage of another year,
Pontiac was a leader without a following.

03:32:58.776 --> 03:33:00.786
His moment had passed.

03:33:01.026 --> 03:33:03.386
The British forts were there to stay.

03:33:04.126 --> 03:33:13.746
In 1769, only six years after the incredible
success of his campaign against the British,

03:33:13.746 --> 03:33:19.896
Pontiac died murdered in the
ancient Indian center of Cahokia.

03:33:20.146 --> 03:33:22.246
But his life had not been in vain.

03:33:23.546 --> 03:33:27.556
His vision of united Indian nations would echo

03:33:27.626 --> 03:33:30.456
through the region and across
the coming decades.

03:33:31.516 --> 03:33:33.866
[ Music ]

03:33:34.366 --> 03:33:35.696
>> The idea didn't die.

03:33:36.966 --> 03:33:43.856
The idea that Pontiac had implanted with these
other leaders and these other tribes prevailed.

03:33:45.986 --> 03:33:51.336
>> Pontiac's life was a message to the future.

03:33:51.336 --> 03:33:55.156
But before the nations of the Great Lakes

03:33:55.156 --> 03:33:58.686
and Ohio Valley would rise again
the continent would be embroiled

03:33:58.686 --> 03:34:04.916
in another costly war this time, between
the American colonists and their king.

03:34:05.516 --> 03:34:10.606
[ Music ]

03:34:11.106 --> 03:34:14.626
>> "The Iroquois laugh when you
talk to them of obedience to kings

03:34:15.406 --> 03:34:21.286
for they cannot reconcile the idea of
submission with the dignity of man.

03:34:21.626 --> 03:34:27.446
Each individual is a sovereign in his own mind
and as he conceives he derives his freedom

03:34:27.446 --> 03:34:32.106
from the Creator alone he cannot be
induced to acknowledge any other power."

03:34:33.966 --> 03:34:35.526
John Long, fur trader.

03:34:35.526 --> 03:34:42.716
>> The Europeans, their point of view on
our people is that we didn't really exist

03:34:42.716 --> 03:34:46.996
as a people, as a structured
people until they came.

03:34:47.626 --> 03:34:54.806
You know, but, really, when you research
back into our history you're going to find

03:34:54.806 --> 03:35:01.736
that we were already structured
and with governments intact,

03:35:01.736 --> 03:35:07.406
and our way of life was already intact.

03:35:07.406 --> 03:35:12.536
>> The oldest democracy in North America
was created by five Indian nations.

03:35:12.536 --> 03:35:14.776
And what is today New York State.

03:35:14.776 --> 03:35:21.666
The Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk,
Seneca, and Cayuga,

03:35:23.886 --> 03:35:26.196
together they became known as the Iroquois.

03:35:27.366 --> 03:35:29.706
They called themselves the Haudenosaunee.

03:35:30.516 --> 03:35:32.736
[ Pause ]

03:35:33.236 --> 03:35:35.646
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy was born

03:35:35.646 --> 03:35:39.376
in a violent era centuries
before the French and Indian War.

03:35:40.866 --> 03:35:45.976
At that time, a vicious cycle
of war and revenge was running

03:35:46.006 --> 03:35:47.956
out of control among the five nations.

03:35:48.516 --> 03:35:52.546
[ Noise ]

03:35:53.046 --> 03:35:57.326
In the midst of the chaos, a visionary
man from the Huron nation appeared.

03:35:58.206 --> 03:36:02.216
Rather than a war club and
arrows, he carried teachings.

03:36:02.836 --> 03:36:04.316
He would be known as the Peacemaker.

03:36:04.546 --> 03:36:12.896
The Peacemaker proposed a
set of laws by which people

03:36:12.896 --> 03:36:15.316
and nations could live in peace and unity.

03:36:15.316 --> 03:36:21.706
A system of self-rule, guided by moral
principles known as the "Great Law."

03:36:21.706 --> 03:36:27.956
>> In all your acts, self-interest
shall be cast away.

03:36:28.876 --> 03:36:33.796
Look and listen for the welfare of
the whole people and have always

03:36:33.796 --> 03:36:39.036
in view not only the present
but also the coming generations.

03:36:39.496 --> 03:36:41.896
The unborn of the future nation.

03:36:43.616 --> 03:36:47.936
>> When the Great Peacemaker
designed the confederacy

03:36:48.036 --> 03:36:54.356
and its laws he brought together five
warring nations into one heart, one body,

03:36:54.356 --> 03:36:58.506
one mind and he symbolized
it by using five arrows

03:36:59.046 --> 03:37:03.166
when he bound it together
to make it a strong union.

03:37:04.436 --> 03:37:07.706
He said, "When you pull one
arrow out, it's easily broken."

03:37:07.706 --> 03:37:10.966
He broke one in half in front
of them, just to show them.

03:37:11.836 --> 03:37:15.976
So he told them, he said,
"If you all stick together

03:37:17.116 --> 03:37:19.906
in union then you will never be broken."

03:37:22.166 --> 03:37:26.306
>> [Background Music] The first wampum belt
was created to symbolize the Great Law.

03:37:26.396 --> 03:37:31.626
The image embodied the dream
that became a reality.

03:37:31.626 --> 03:37:39.316
Five nations, independent,
but joined together as one.

03:37:39.316 --> 03:37:46.086
The Great Law was both a set of moral teachings
and a concrete plan for a democratic union built

03:37:46.086 --> 03:37:48.296
around the social structures of the nations.

03:37:48.296 --> 03:37:55.576
Each nation had long been organized into
clans which served as extended families.

03:37:55.576 --> 03:38:03.246
Clans lived together in longhouses which
were owned by the women of the clans.

03:38:03.246 --> 03:38:08.596
Up to 200 feet in length, longhouses
sheltered as many as a dozen families

03:38:08.596 --> 03:38:11.426
with private areas and shared fires.

03:38:11.426 --> 03:38:17.466
They were a place of security, a
warm refuge against harsh winters.

03:38:17.526 --> 03:38:23.066
Clan membership passed from mother to child.

03:38:23.146 --> 03:38:27.186
When a child came of age, they
would marry into another clan.

03:38:27.186 --> 03:38:34.996
In this way, the entire nation
was woven into one greater family.

03:38:34.996 --> 03:38:40.016
From this clan structure the Haudenosaunee
built a representative democracy.

03:38:40.016 --> 03:38:46.046
The women of each clan would
appoint one man as clan chief.

03:38:46.816 --> 03:38:50.916
In this way, leadership would rise
through trust, rather than conquest.

03:38:50.916 --> 03:38:57.316
The clan chiefs of each of the five nations
gathered at the Haudenosaunee capital

03:38:57.316 --> 03:39:02.066
of Onondaga to form the Grand Council.

03:39:02.066 --> 03:39:07.376
Governing from the heart of their territory
the Grand Council envisioned all five nations

03:39:07.676 --> 03:39:12.466
as sheltered by a giant longhouse
stretching 250 miles.

03:39:13.416 --> 03:39:18.656
The longhouse's central aisle was the
Haudenosaunee trail, the principal line

03:39:18.656 --> 03:39:21.246
of communication between
the members of the league.

03:39:21.726 --> 03:39:25.836
The eastern door of the domain
was guarded by the Mohawk.

03:39:25.836 --> 03:39:28.726
The Seneca watched the door to the west.

03:39:28.726 --> 03:39:33.556
And the Onondaga were the
center, the keepers of the fire.

03:39:33.676 --> 03:39:40.356
The democratic confederacy envisioned by the
Peacemaker preserved peace for centuries.

03:39:40.356 --> 03:39:46.606
>> When the Europeans arrived in
the territory of the Haudenosaunee

03:39:46.606 --> 03:39:54.376
in the early 1600s the process or protocol that
the Peacemaker had given to us was in place.

03:39:54.776 --> 03:39:58.726
So we were able to deal with those
Europeans on a political basis.

03:39:59.156 --> 03:40:04.166
>> In 1754, Benjamin Franklin
attended a conference

03:40:04.166 --> 03:40:06.756
with the Haudenosaunee in Albany, New York.

03:40:07.686 --> 03:40:13.856
He came away inspired by the successful model of
independent states united under one rule of law.

03:40:13.906 --> 03:40:18.386
Soon after he would propose
a similar union of colonies.

03:40:18.386 --> 03:40:26.696
[Background Music] Twenty-two years later these
united states would declared their independence

03:40:26.696 --> 03:40:27.176
from England.

03:40:31.036 --> 03:40:36.486
In that year, 1776, events swirled
toward the American Revolution.

03:40:36.526 --> 03:40:45.086
10,000 strong and strategically located
between the colonies and the British

03:40:45.086 --> 03:40:48.746
in Canada the Haudenosaunee
were seen as a key to victory.

03:40:50.716 --> 03:40:55.846
British and American diplomats met repeatedly
with representatives of the Grand Council trying

03:40:55.846 --> 03:41:02.306
to pull the Indian nations to their side, but
the Grand Council guided by the principles

03:41:02.306 --> 03:41:06.586
of peace laid down by the Great
Law declared their neutrality.

03:41:09.656 --> 03:41:13.646
Although they would not ally with
either power in a diplomatic gesture,

03:41:13.946 --> 03:41:17.306
a deligation from the Grand
Council traveled to Philadelphia.

03:41:18.306 --> 03:41:21.956
There the Haudenosaunee, the
oldest democracy in North America,

03:41:22.346 --> 03:41:26.886
officially recognized the
fledgling American government.

03:41:27.256 --> 03:41:32.546
The deligation had been lodged Independence Hall
above the chamber of the continental congress

03:41:32.946 --> 03:41:36.616
where representatives were drafting
the declaration of independence.

03:41:36.616 --> 03:41:40.586
[Background Music] During
that same critical summer

03:41:40.586 --> 03:41:50.156
of 1776 a young Mohawk named
Joseph Brant returned from England.

03:41:50.806 --> 03:41:54.896
A protege of the British agent for
Indian affairs, sir William Johnson,

03:41:55.516 --> 03:41:58.666
Brant's family had long standing
ties to the British.

03:41:58.926 --> 03:42:06.046
Traveling among the Haudenosaunee nations
Brant passionately argued for an alliance

03:42:06.046 --> 03:42:11.556
with the British as their only hope to
prevent being overrun by the Americans.

03:42:11.556 --> 03:42:17.706
>> He started to go amongst the
nations of the Mohawks, the Oneidas,

03:42:17.706 --> 03:42:20.686
the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas.

03:42:21.696 --> 03:42:26.596
Trying to entice the young men
to go on the side of the British.

03:42:28.176 --> 03:42:31.336
>> In an act that threatened the
very existence of the confederacy,

03:42:31.946 --> 03:42:36.796
Joseph Brant in open defiance of the Grand
Council called a meeting in the summer

03:42:36.796 --> 03:42:40.006
of 1777 to argue the British case.

03:42:42.306 --> 03:42:47.566
Black Snake, a young Haudenosaunee man
from the Seneca nation listened closely.

03:42:49.216 --> 03:42:52.596
>> Brant came forward and
said "That if we did nothing

03:42:52.596 --> 03:42:55.616
for the British there would be no peace for us.

03:42:56.836 --> 03:42:59.916
Our throats would be cut by
the red coat man or by America.

03:43:00.746 --> 03:43:02.576
That we should go and join the Father.

03:43:04.066 --> 03:43:05.546
This is the way for us."

03:43:06.296 --> 03:43:11.646
>> Black Snake's uncle, a respected
Seneca leader named Cornplanter rose

03:43:11.646 --> 03:43:12.826
to challenge Brant.

03:43:13.856 --> 03:43:18.756
Cornplanter was a veteran of the French
and Indian Wars and had participated

03:43:19.046 --> 03:43:21.266
in the critical council decisions of his time.

03:43:22.106 --> 03:43:25.836
He wanted no part of a war
that was not his to fight.

03:43:27.826 --> 03:43:31.096
>> "You must all mark and
listen to what I have to say.

03:43:33.306 --> 03:43:40.566
War is war, death is death,
a fight is a hard business.

03:43:40.566 --> 03:43:45.876
Here America says not to lift
our hand against either party.

03:43:45.876 --> 03:43:50.556
I move therefore to wait a little while to
hear more consultation between the two parties.

03:43:50.556 --> 03:43:54.046
But the British say everything
he is going to say to us.

03:43:54.646 --> 03:43:59.396
We then can see clear where we
are going and not be deceived."

03:43:59.396 --> 03:44:02.146
Cornplanter, Seneca.

03:44:02.656 --> 03:44:08.416
>> In shocked disbelief, Black Snake and the
others watched as Brant rose to his feet.

03:44:09.356 --> 03:44:13.886
He ordered Cornplanter to stop
speaking then called him a coward.

03:44:14.076 --> 03:44:19.266
>> The men had a great deal of
controversy among themselves with some

03:44:19.336 --> 03:44:21.126
for Brant and some for Cornplanter.

03:44:21.736 --> 03:44:24.126
They begin to say that we
must fight for somebody

03:44:24.856 --> 03:44:27.266
because they could not bear
to be called cowards.

03:44:29.966 --> 03:44:33.796
>> The following day the gathering,
predominantly Mohawk and Seneca,

03:44:34.416 --> 03:44:38.186
broke with the Grand Council and
agreed to fight with the British.

03:44:40.096 --> 03:44:44.156
Cornplanter resigned himself to the
majority will and rallied his men.

03:44:45.806 --> 03:44:47.756
>> Every brave man show himself now.

03:44:49.676 --> 03:44:52.276
Hereafter we will find our many dangerous times.

03:44:53.766 --> 03:44:58.616
I therefore say to you, you must stand like
good soldiers against your own white brother.

03:44:59.796 --> 03:45:05.686
Because just as soon as he finds out that you
are against him, he will show no mercy on us.

03:45:10.676 --> 03:45:15.696
>> But as factions broke from the Grand
Council not all joined the British.

03:45:18.376 --> 03:45:23.826
The Oneida heavily influenced by American
missionaries were moving toward an outright

03:45:23.896 --> 03:45:25.236
alliance with the Americans.

03:45:28.606 --> 03:45:31.976
The horror of civil war loomed
over the confederacy.

03:45:32.516 --> 03:45:43.486
[ Music ]

03:45:43.986 --> 03:45:49.346
[Background Music] In the midst of the American
Revolution a Haudenosaunee's civil war began.

03:45:52.006 --> 03:45:59.706
On August 6th 1777, Oneida fighting men and
their American allies clashed at Oriskany Creek

03:46:00.026 --> 03:46:02.896
with British troops and their
Seneca and Mohawk allies.

03:46:03.516 --> 03:46:10.886
[ Gunshots and Shouts ]

03:46:11.386 --> 03:46:14.856
At day's end, [Background Music]
hundreds lay dead on the battlefield.

03:46:15.516 --> 03:46:17.546
[ Music ]

03:46:18.046 --> 03:46:21.976
[Background Music] As the war
raged across the eastern continent,

03:46:21.976 --> 03:46:25.896
Mohawk and Seneca forces allied
with the British wreaked havoc

03:46:25.896 --> 03:46:29.196
on frontier settlements draining
American economic

03:46:29.286 --> 03:46:33.996
and military resources away from the war effort.

03:46:34.276 --> 03:46:39.916
In retaliation, George Washington sent an army
against the Haudenosaunee capital at Onondaga,

03:46:40.016 --> 03:46:44.386
one nation still clinging
tenaciously to neutrality.

03:46:46.436 --> 03:46:51.866
After Washington's army ransacked the
capital, the Onondaga also plunged angrily

03:46:51.866 --> 03:46:53.846
into the war on the side of the British.

03:46:56.526 --> 03:46:59.566
>> You call George Washington
the father of your country.

03:47:00.096 --> 03:47:04.386
We call George Washington Hanadegaies,
which means "town destroyer".

03:47:05.626 --> 03:47:11.006
>> In August 1779, Washington
sent General John Sullivan

03:47:11.356 --> 03:47:14.336
into Haudenosaunee country with 5,000 men.

03:47:17.126 --> 03:47:22.616
Entering territory few white men had ever
even seen, Sullivan carved a chilling swath

03:47:22.676 --> 03:47:26.406
of destruction forcing those in
his path to flee their homes.

03:47:26.406 --> 03:47:32.576
Sullivan's soldiers could not
help but marvel at the prosperity

03:47:32.616 --> 03:47:36.796
of the deserted towns they were destroying.

03:47:37.446 --> 03:47:43.706
>> We reached the town which consisted of
128 houses, mostly very large and elegant.

03:47:43.846 --> 03:47:48.496
>> The Indians live much better than
most of the Mohawk River farmers.

03:47:49.016 --> 03:47:52.856
Their houses very well furnished with
all necessary household utensils,

03:47:53.306 --> 03:47:57.396
great plenty of grain, several
horses, cows and wagons.

03:47:58.916 --> 03:48:01.156
It appears to be a very old settlement.

03:48:01.936 --> 03:48:07.086
There are a great number of apple and peach
trees here, which we cut down and destroyed.

03:48:10.686 --> 03:48:14.286
>> A group of Haudenosaunee
mercenaries who guided Sullivan's army

03:48:14.286 --> 03:48:16.906
into the territory were captured by the Seneca.

03:48:18.206 --> 03:48:21.576
One man recognized his own
brother among the captives.

03:48:22.406 --> 03:48:24.376
>> Brother, you have merited death.

03:48:26.156 --> 03:48:31.106
When those rebels had drove us from the fields
of our fathers to seek out new homes it was you

03:48:31.106 --> 03:48:35.866
who would dare to step forth as their pilot
and conduct them to the doors of our homes

03:48:35.866 --> 03:48:37.826
to butcher our children and put us to death.

03:48:38.946 --> 03:48:40.246
No crime can be greater.

03:48:41.606 --> 03:48:44.176
But though you have merited death and shall die

03:48:44.216 --> 03:48:47.986
on this spot my hands shall not be
stained in the blood of a brother.

03:48:49.086 --> 03:48:49.796
Who will strike?

03:48:51.636 --> 03:48:54.356
>> A Seneca chief killed the prisoner instantly.

03:48:57.806 --> 03:49:01.716
But even the powerful Seneca could not
stand against Sullivan's massive army.

03:49:02.756 --> 03:49:07.016
Old and young grabbed what few
possessions they could carry and fled.

03:49:08.266 --> 03:49:11.856
>> "The part of our corn they burnt
and threw the remainder into the river.

03:49:12.686 --> 03:49:16.606
They burnt our houses, killed what
few cattle and horses they could find,

03:49:17.266 --> 03:49:20.676
destroyed our fruit trees and
left nothing but the bare soil.

03:49:20.726 --> 03:49:27.116
What were our feelings when we found
that there was not a mouthful of any kind

03:49:27.246 --> 03:49:33.696
of sustenance left, not even enough to keep
a child one day from perishing with hunger?"

03:49:33.966 --> 03:49:36.926
Dehgewanus, Seneca.

03:49:38.636 --> 03:49:44.796
>> In retaliation for the American destruction
of Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca and Cayuga villages.

03:49:45.436 --> 03:49:51.916
Joseph Brant attacked the Oneida and
neighboring Tuscarora, allies of the Americans.

03:49:51.916 --> 03:49:54.986
In the end, all of the five
nations were ravaged.

03:49:55.826 --> 03:50:01.906
Out of scores of Haudenosaunee
towns only two survived unscathed.

03:50:02.056 --> 03:50:07.416
And it was already fall with no
way to replace the lost crops.

03:50:09.266 --> 03:50:13.366
The tragedy heightened with
the coming of winter.

03:50:13.366 --> 03:50:16.856
It was the coldest in memory,
snow fell five feet deep.

03:50:16.856 --> 03:50:22.956
Many homeless Haudenosaunee died
of hunger, cold, and disease.

03:50:23.516 --> 03:50:30.546
[ Music ]

03:50:31.046 --> 03:50:38.586
Less than four years later in 1783, the British
government surrendered at the Treaty of Paris.

03:50:38.586 --> 03:50:41.366
With no concern for the sovereignty

03:50:41.366 --> 03:50:47.346
of Indian nations even their allies the British
ceded control of the continent as far west

03:50:47.346 --> 03:50:50.296
as the Mississippi to the new American nation.

03:50:51.786 --> 03:50:57.186
In post war treaties, the United States
government seized vast Haudenosaunee lands.

03:50:57.186 --> 03:51:03.436
Even those belonging to their allies, the
Oneida, whose women had brought life-saving corn

03:51:03.436 --> 03:51:07.666
and blankets to George Washington's
starving troops at Valley Forge.

03:51:07.726 --> 03:51:16.366
But the five nations of the Haudenosaunee would
heal the wounds of civil war and remain defiant.

03:51:16.366 --> 03:51:22.956
In 1790, they forced concessions from the
United States at the Treaty of Canandaigua

03:51:23.706 --> 03:51:27.456
which allowed them to keep their core homelands.

03:51:27.456 --> 03:51:33.966
The Haudenosaunee would survive and
rebuild, drawn together by the great law

03:51:33.966 --> 03:51:40.346
and their grand council, a
union that endures to this day.

03:51:43.726 --> 03:51:50.426
>> If the Haudenosaunee was destroyed at the
revolutionary war then why am I sitting here?

03:51:50.846 --> 03:51:59.326
If we were not destroyed, our council fire still
remained, our council's fire has remained all

03:51:59.326 --> 03:52:05.936
of these years and the history and the
culture of the Haudenosaunee, its political

03:52:05.936 --> 03:52:11.916
and spiritual structure is still intact
and we sit here traveling around the world

03:52:11.916 --> 03:52:16.176
on our own passports as sovereign people.

03:52:16.176 --> 03:52:24.296
We were not destroyed by the revolutionary war.

03:52:24.496 --> 03:52:29.496
>> No sooner had the United States come into
being than its people hungry for new land

03:52:29.496 --> 03:52:31.276
and opportunity poured west,

03:52:31.276 --> 03:52:34.556
across the Appalachian Mountains,
to open up the new frontier.

03:52:35.746 --> 03:52:38.686
But imagine the movement as the
Indian people must have seen it.

03:52:39.556 --> 03:52:45.136
This was their home where their ancestors were
buried, where they were raising their children.

03:52:46.106 --> 03:52:52.946
They had already experienced the disruptions of
trade, alcohol, missionaries, disease and war.

03:52:53.796 --> 03:52:55.396
Now, their lands were at stake.

03:52:56.576 --> 03:53:01.206
Indian people fought to preserve their freedom
and in their aggressive defense stories

03:53:01.206 --> 03:53:05.076
of frontier violence came to define
them as hostiles and savages.

03:53:06.226 --> 03:53:08.856
Armed with this distorted image, the same cycle

03:53:08.856 --> 03:53:13.026
that had dispossessed the Indian
nations of the East, was underway again.

03:53:14.196 --> 03:53:19.646
We begin part six in the Ohio River Valley
where on the atmosphere of frontier chaos,

03:53:19.646 --> 03:53:23.926
one of the great leaders of North America
would emerge with a message of hope.

03:53:24.866 --> 03:53:29.246
His name was Tecumseh and he would
try to change the course of history.

03:53:31.516 --> 03:53:35.556
[ Music ]

03:53:36.056 --> 03:53:43.126
>> "When we passed through the country between
Pittsburgh and our nations, lately Shawnee

03:53:43.206 --> 03:53:50.136
and Lenape hunting grounds, where we could
once see nothing but deer and buffalo,

03:53:50.136 --> 03:53:57.386
we found the country thickly
inhabited and the people under arms.

03:53:57.386 --> 03:54:08.246
We were compelled to make a detour of 300 miles.

03:54:08.246 --> 03:54:12.396
We saw large numbers of white
men in forts and fortifications

03:54:12.396 --> 03:54:17.276
around Salt Springs and buffalo grounds."

03:54:17.276 --> 03:54:19.296
Cornstock, Shawnee.

03:54:19.446 --> 03:54:24.836
>> In the aftermath of the American Revolution,

03:54:25.086 --> 03:54:28.646
the lands of the powerful
Haudenosaunee nations were shrunk

03:54:28.646 --> 03:54:30.876
to a little more than reservation islands.

03:54:31.546 --> 03:54:36.136
The front lines of the invasion moved
west to the nations of the Ohio Valley,

03:54:36.726 --> 03:54:40.356
the Lenape, Shawnee, Miami, and others.

03:54:43.176 --> 03:54:44.976
[Background Music] Settlers flooded west.

03:54:45.596 --> 03:54:49.266
Many of them revolutionary war
veterans paid with land grants

03:54:49.266 --> 03:54:51.426
by the government left bankrupt from the war.

03:54:54.026 --> 03:54:58.356
Supported by the new United States, they
came prepared to fight for the land.

03:54:59.516 --> 03:55:02.396
[ Horses Galloping and Neighing ]

03:55:02.896 --> 03:55:07.736
>> "The people of our frontier carry on
private expeditions against the Indians

03:55:07.736 --> 03:55:09.676
and kill them whenever they meet them.

03:55:10.406 --> 03:55:15.606
[Gunshots] And I do not believe there was a jury
in all Kentucky who would punish a man for it."

03:55:17.196 --> 03:55:19.366
John Hamtramck, major, United States Army.

03:55:20.441 --> 03:55:22.441
[ Music ]

03:55:22.866 --> 03:55:27.226
>> Over the next 20 years, through a
series of battles and dubious treaties,

03:55:27.226 --> 03:55:33.986
the New United States laid claim to Indian
lands on the frontier, vast tracks receded

03:55:33.986 --> 03:55:40.566
to white settlement including the future
sites of Detroit, Toledo, Peoria and Chicago.

03:55:40.676 --> 03:55:51.146
>> "My heart is a stone, heavy with sadness
for my people, cold with the knowledge

03:55:51.146 --> 03:55:54.206
that no treaty will keep
whites out of our lands.

03:55:55.326 --> 03:56:00.466
Hard with the determination to resist
as long as I live and breathe."

03:56:02.636 --> 03:56:04.836
Blue Jacket, Shawnee.

03:56:05.516 --> 03:56:08.516
[ Rain Drops ]

03:56:09.016 --> 03:56:10.000
[ Fire Blazing ]

03:56:10.056 --> 03:56:12.056
[ Chanting ]

03:56:12.096 --> 03:56:18.806
>> In this atmosphere of despair and frontier
violence, missionaries undermine the cultural

03:56:18.806 --> 03:56:24.046
and religious values of Indian communities.

03:56:24.046 --> 03:56:31.886
>> Our life is who we are, our identity, our
language, our ceremonies, our way of how we used

03:56:31.886 --> 03:56:33.876
to dress and how we related to each other.

03:56:35.066 --> 03:56:38.666
Those are the makeup, part
of the makeup of our people.

03:56:38.806 --> 03:56:44.726
And so when Christianity came
about, it's started to change.

03:56:45.816 --> 03:56:49.806
They were trying to make
us become what we were not.

03:56:49.806 --> 03:56:54.636
>> "You have got our country
but are not satisfied.

03:56:55.826 --> 03:56:59.486
You want to force your religion upon us.

03:56:59.486 --> 03:57:06.666
The Creator has made us all but he has
made a great difference between us.

03:57:06.666 --> 03:57:09.736
He has given us a different
complexion and different customs.

03:57:09.736 --> 03:57:17.526
Since he has made so great a difference between
us and other things, why may we not conclude

03:57:18.476 --> 03:57:22.816
that he has given us a different
religion according to our understanding?

03:57:22.816 --> 03:57:30.666
We do not wish to destroy your
religion or take it from you.

03:57:32.366 --> 03:57:34.786
We only want to enjoy our own."

03:57:36.236 --> 03:57:38.416
Red Jacket, Seneca.

03:57:39.466 --> 03:57:47.286
>> But the pressure on Indian people
was unrelenting, their land, livelihood,

03:57:47.486 --> 03:57:52.006
culture and very beliefs under attack.

03:57:52.006 --> 03:57:57.536
Frustrated warriors traded
scarce resources for alcohol.

03:57:57.536 --> 03:57:59.116
>> And now reality is in your face.

03:58:00.086 --> 03:58:01.426
You're slapped in the face with reality.

03:58:02.286 --> 03:58:04.636
What's the best way to escape
that kind of reality?

03:58:05.496 --> 03:58:11.426
During those times, our people began to
take up the rum to numb their feelings

03:58:12.106 --> 03:58:14.686
because that feeling that hurt was so strong.

03:58:15.566 --> 03:58:21.256
>> [Background Music] "The men revel in
strong drink and are very quarrelsome.

03:58:21.256 --> 03:58:24.496
The families become frightened
and moved away for safety.

03:58:25.776 --> 03:58:28.896
Now, the drunken men ran
yelling through the village

03:58:29.066 --> 03:58:31.846
and have weapons to injure those whom they meet.

03:58:32.276 --> 03:58:37.086
Now there are no doors in the houses
for they have all been kicked off.

03:58:37.716 --> 03:58:43.136
Now, we men full of strong
drink alone track there."

03:58:44.126 --> 03:58:51.466
Handsome Lake, Seneca.

03:58:51.466 --> 03:58:57.086
>> One young Shawnee man, Lalawethika,
like many demoralized young men

03:58:57.086 --> 03:59:01.096
of his generation, had succumbed to alcoholism.

03:59:01.096 --> 03:59:04.126
He was completely dependent on
his older brother, Tecumseh.

03:59:04.126 --> 03:59:11.236
Tecumseh and Lalawethika had grown
up in the world of frontier violence.

03:59:11.236 --> 03:59:14.946
Their father was killed fighting the British.

03:59:15.126 --> 03:59:18.086
Their older brother died at the
hands of Tennessee settlers.

03:59:18.776 --> 03:59:24.806
The village of their birth had
been laid waste by Kentuckians.

03:59:24.806 --> 03:59:30.406
Now, in 1803, determined to maintain
his traditions, Tecumseh led Lalawethika

03:59:30.406 --> 03:59:35.506
and the people of their village west
into Indiana in an effort to put distance

03:59:35.506 --> 03:59:37.856
between themselves and white settlers.

03:59:37.856 --> 03:59:42.206
But in Indiana, Lalawethika's drinking worsened.

03:59:42.816 --> 03:59:47.886
[Background Music] He sunk into a deep
depression but his life was about to turnaround.

03:59:48.186 --> 03:59:53.526
One day while in his home,
Lalawethika fell to the floor.

03:59:54.736 --> 04:00:03.306
For a time Tecumseh and others in the village
believed he was dead, but he was not dead.

04:00:03.306 --> 04:00:10.366
Lalawethika had had a revelation,
a divine message that responded

04:00:10.366 --> 04:00:12.366
to the unbearable conditions of his people.

04:00:12.366 --> 04:00:21.596
Suddenly and clearly, he saw a path for
renewal, abandoned the ways of the white men

04:00:21.596 --> 04:00:23.096
and returned to the old teachings.

04:00:23.096 --> 04:00:32.536
From that moment forward, Lalawethika would
be known as Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee prophet.

04:00:32.536 --> 04:00:41.456
Tenskwatawa never drunk again and he urged his
followers to shun alcohol and all other ideas

04:00:41.456 --> 04:00:43.946
and things that came from white men.

04:00:44.606 --> 04:00:49.216
>> "Have you not heard at the
evenings and sometimes in the dead

04:00:49.216 --> 04:00:52.926
of night those mournful sounds that steal

04:00:52.996 --> 04:00:57.026
through the deep valleys
and along the mountainsides?

04:00:58.136 --> 04:01:03.476
These are the wailings of those spirits
whose bones have been turned up by the plow

04:01:03.476 --> 04:01:10.096
of the white men and left to
the mercy of the rain and wind."

04:01:10.096 --> 04:01:12.526
Tenskwatawa, Shawnee.

04:01:12.526 --> 04:01:20.806
>> Tenskwatawa promised that if the
people return to their own ways,

04:01:21.256 --> 04:01:24.696
the whites would be pushed back
and prosperity would return.

04:01:28.136 --> 04:01:32.066
Tecumseh embraced his brother's
vision of cultural renewal

04:01:32.296 --> 04:01:36.116
and together they spread the
message to every Ohio Valley nation.

04:01:36.546 --> 04:01:45.046
Hundreds traveled to Indiana
to hear them speak in person.

04:01:45.046 --> 04:01:49.716
Shawnee, Odawa, Wyandot, Kickapoo
and other families converged

04:01:49.716 --> 04:01:55.016
on a new settlement established by the prophet
and Tecumseh near the intersection of the Wabash

04:01:55.056 --> 04:01:57.636
and Tippecanoe Rivers, Prophetstown.

04:01:57.746 --> 04:02:04.986
Tenskwatawa preached to visitors in
the council house every night followed

04:02:04.986 --> 04:02:06.726
by dancing and singing.

04:02:07.466 --> 04:02:12.296
White frontiersmen claimed to be able
to hear the drums all night long.

04:02:13.156 --> 04:02:18.076
But it would be Tecumseh who would
challenge the course of history

04:02:18.486 --> 04:02:23.456
by transforming his brother's message
into a political and military movement.

04:02:24.806 --> 04:02:31.376
Using Prophetstown as his base Tecumseh
would emerge the most powerful Indian leader

04:02:31.486 --> 04:02:32.376
of his time.

04:02:33.516 --> 04:02:47.546
[ Music ]

04:02:48.046 --> 04:02:49.856
>> "Brothers, we are friends.

04:02:50.926 --> 04:02:53.086
We must assist each other to bear our burdens.

04:02:54.206 --> 04:02:57.836
The blood of many of our fathers and
brothers has run like water on the ground

04:02:58.466 --> 04:03:00.326
to satisfy the avarice of the white men.

04:03:04.386 --> 04:03:06.606
We ourselves are threatened with a great evil.

04:03:07.676 --> 04:03:12.306
Nothing will pacify them but the
destruction of all the red men."

04:03:12.736 --> 04:03:14.726
Tecumseh, Shawnee.

04:03:17.566 --> 04:03:23.026
>> In 1808, while the Shawnee prophet,
Tenskwatawa, preached the cultural renaissance

04:03:23.026 --> 04:03:29.126
at Prophetstown, his brother Tecumseh traveled
throughout the territory spreading the prophet's

04:03:29.126 --> 04:03:33.216
message along with a political
and military vision of his own.

04:03:34.656 --> 04:03:38.536
>> "The whites have driven us from the
sea to the lakes, we can go no farther.

04:03:38.666 --> 04:03:46.036
The way, the only way to stop this evil is for
us to unite in claiming a common and equal right

04:03:46.036 --> 04:03:53.276
in the land as it was at first and should be
now for it was never divided but belongs to all.

04:03:54.666 --> 04:04:00.436
Unless every tribe unanimously combines to
give a check to the ambition and avarice

04:04:00.436 --> 04:04:04.246
of the whites they will soon
conquer us apart and disunited.

04:04:04.746 --> 04:04:08.386
And we will be driven away from
our native country and scattered

04:04:08.386 --> 04:04:10.176
as autumnal leaves before the wind.

04:04:11.746 --> 04:04:13.796
Tecumseh, Shawnee.

04:04:14.006 --> 04:04:18.536
>> Tecumseh electrified his audiences.

04:04:18.636 --> 04:04:25.556
At one gathering a nervous white observer
reported seeing young men shaking with emotion,

04:04:25.986 --> 04:04:29.476
a thousand tomahawks brandished in the air.

04:04:30.646 --> 04:04:37.176
William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana
Territory, recognized Tecumseh's personal power

04:04:37.176 --> 04:04:41.136
and charisma and saw the Shawnee
leader as a singular threat.

04:04:41.136 --> 04:04:46.576
>> "The implicit obedience and respect
which the followers of Tecumseh pay

04:04:46.576 --> 04:04:52.596
to him is really astonishing and more than
any other circumstance bespeaks him one

04:04:52.596 --> 04:04:58.656
of those uncommon geniuses which spring
up occasionally to produce revolutions

04:04:58.926 --> 04:05:02.806
and overturn the established order of things.

04:05:02.806 --> 04:05:07.996
If it were not for the vicinity of the United
States, he would perhaps be the founder

04:05:07.996 --> 04:05:13.096
of an empire that would rival in
glory that of Mexico or Peru."

04:05:13.096 --> 04:05:17.676
Governor William Henry Harrison.

04:05:18.436 --> 04:05:20.716
>> Prophetstown's population swelled.

04:05:20.886 --> 04:05:27.736
But, despite the Tecumseh's growing
influence he could not control the actions

04:05:27.736 --> 04:05:29.206
of all Indian leaders.

04:05:30.326 --> 04:05:36.216
In 1809, at one of many treaty conferences
Governor Harrison convinced leaders

04:05:36.216 --> 04:05:38.876
of the Miami, Lenape and Potawatomi

04:05:39.466 --> 04:05:43.026
to sell three million acres of
land in Indiana and Illinois.

04:05:44.086 --> 04:05:49.476
Tecumseh was outraged considering those
who signed the treaty guilty of treason.

04:05:50.266 --> 04:05:56.166
>> No tribe has the right to sell a country
even to each other much less to strangers.

04:05:57.476 --> 04:06:00.796
Sell a country, why not sell the air?

04:06:01.186 --> 04:06:02.806
The great sea as well as the earth?

04:06:03.886 --> 04:06:07.066
Did not the Great Spirit make them
all for the use of his children?

04:06:08.896 --> 04:06:14.736
>> Tecumseh went to Harrison and, in a volatile
meeting, confronted the governor face to face.

04:06:15.586 --> 04:06:19.246
>> "Brother, I look at the land
and pity the women and children.

04:06:20.506 --> 04:06:23.676
I'm authorized to say that they
want to save that piece of land.

04:06:26.616 --> 04:06:28.006
We do not wish you to take it.

04:06:28.556 --> 04:06:30.286
It is small enough for our purposes.

04:06:31.266 --> 04:06:33.526
I want the present boundary line to continue.

04:06:34.166 --> 04:06:39.296
Should you cross it I assure you it
will be productive of bad consequences."

04:06:42.096 --> 04:06:46.716
>> But the settlements continued to
expand even onto the newly ceded lands.

04:06:47.986 --> 04:06:52.386
Tecumseh was convinced that only
force would stop the American advance.

04:06:54.206 --> 04:06:59.336
To build a military resistance he continued
to traveled tirelessly among the nations

04:06:59.336 --> 04:07:04.326
of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, while
Harrison kept a nervous eye on his movements.

04:07:05.726 --> 04:07:07.456
>> No difficulties deter him.

04:07:08.776 --> 04:07:11.256
For four years he has been in constant motion.

04:07:11.926 --> 04:07:17.556
You see him today on the Wabash and in a short
time you hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie

04:07:17.556 --> 04:07:20.616
or Michigan or the banks of the Mississippi.

04:07:21.156 --> 04:07:26.366
And wherever he goes, he makes an
impression favorable to his purpose.

04:07:26.476 --> 04:07:33.196
>> In 1811, Tecumseh traveled south in
an effort to bring the powerful Choctaw,

04:07:33.486 --> 04:07:36.126
Chickasaw and Creek into the alliance.

04:07:37.206 --> 04:07:43.746
There in village after village, he argued that
Indian nations stood at the brink of disaster.

04:07:45.866 --> 04:07:48.316
>> Where today are the powerful
tribes of our people?

04:07:49.786 --> 04:07:52.336
They have vanished before
the avarice and oppression

04:07:52.336 --> 04:07:55.246
of the white man as snow before the summer sun.

04:07:56.276 --> 04:08:00.876
Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn
without making an effort worthy of our race?

04:08:02.516 --> 04:08:08.536
Shall we, without a struggle give up our
homes, our lands, the graves of our dead

04:08:08.536 --> 04:08:10.896
and everything that is dear and sacred to us?

04:08:11.876 --> 04:08:15.506
I know you will say with me never, never.

04:08:17.506 --> 04:08:24.066
>> But Tecumseh's passion and presence alone
could not overcome a growing cultural rift.

04:08:24.116 --> 04:08:29.106
Many Southern Indian leaders
were encouraging their nations

04:08:29.106 --> 04:08:31.556
to emulate mainstream white society.

04:08:32.566 --> 04:08:37.806
Others saw military conflict
with the US as suicide.

04:08:37.806 --> 04:08:40.866
Although Tecumseh found passionate
supporters everywhere,

04:08:41.416 --> 04:08:47.076
his hope that Southern Nations would join
in a unified resistance was not to be.

04:08:47.076 --> 04:08:54.716
In January of 1812, Tecumseh returned to Indiana

04:08:55.196 --> 04:08:59.916
to find Prophetstown destroyed,
its people dispersed.

04:09:01.696 --> 04:09:09.236
Governor Harrison had waited until Tecumseh,
the military leader of the movement,

04:09:09.236 --> 04:09:15.176
had departed for the South
before moving on Prophetstown.

04:09:15.266 --> 04:09:20.256
But Tenskwatawa with a much smaller force
attacked the Americans before they reached the

04:09:20.306 --> 04:09:22.706
town allowing the residents to evacuate.

04:09:23.516 --> 04:09:27.326
[ Music ]

04:09:27.826 --> 04:09:30.816
The following day, Harrison
entered the deserted town

04:09:30.816 --> 04:09:33.376
on the Tippecanoe River and
burned it to the ground.

04:09:35.006 --> 04:09:41.266
Although his army suffered twice the casualties
of the Indian force Harrison claimed the victory

04:09:41.646 --> 04:09:47.736
that would eventually propel
him to the presidency.

04:09:47.736 --> 04:09:50.756
Despite the loss of Prophetstown Tecumseh

04:09:50.996 --> 04:09:54.386
and the Prophet began immediately
to rebuild their movement.

04:09:57.436 --> 04:10:01.626
[Background Music] Then the War of 1812 broke
out between the British and United States.

04:10:02.766 --> 04:10:05.726
Suddenly, there was a new
opportunity to push back the Americans

04:10:06.136 --> 04:10:07.416
through an alliance with the British.

04:10:08.616 --> 04:10:11.686
The two brothers moved north
to Canada with a thousand men.

04:10:12.586 --> 04:10:16.816
There, they were joined by allies from
throughout the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes.

04:10:17.131 --> 04:10:19.131
[ Music ]

04:10:19.246 --> 04:10:26.156
After years of tireless effort, Tecumseh's
unified resistance was now a reality.

04:10:28.336 --> 04:10:34.106
The British and Indian force laid siege to the
fort at Detroit quickly forcing its surrender.

04:10:35.236 --> 04:10:37.826
American forts fell at Mackinac and Dearborn.

04:10:39.506 --> 04:10:44.976
In January of 1813, Tecumseh and
his allies forced the surrender

04:10:44.976 --> 04:10:46.426
of the Americans at Frenchtown.

04:10:48.616 --> 04:10:54.716
Tecumseh hoped to push the campaign into
the Ohio Valley but the following May,

04:10:55.236 --> 04:10:58.306
British and Indian forces
suffered their first defeat.

04:10:59.366 --> 04:11:03.776
Then, during the summer the
war began to turn against them

04:11:04.436 --> 04:11:07.396
and Tecumseh could see the British will failing.

04:11:10.026 --> 04:11:12.856
He confronted the British
commander, General Proctor.

04:11:14.796 --> 04:11:18.026
>> You always told us that you would
never draw your foot off British ground.

04:11:18.806 --> 04:11:20.346
But now we see you are drawing back.

04:11:21.806 --> 04:11:26.206
We are very much astonished to see you tying
up everything and preparing to run away

04:11:26.686 --> 04:11:28.996
without letting us know what
your intentions are.

04:11:31.866 --> 04:11:36.766
>> Without informing their Indian allies
the British made plans to abandon Detroit

04:11:37.166 --> 04:11:39.096
as a large American force approached.

04:11:40.166 --> 04:11:42.566
At the head of the American Army rode the man

04:11:42.566 --> 04:11:46.586
who destroyed Prophetstown,
Governor William Henry Harrison.

04:11:49.906 --> 04:11:53.066
Tecumseh demanded that General
Proctor make a stand.

04:11:55.266 --> 04:11:58.836
>> "Listen, we wish to remain
here and fight our enemy.

04:11:59.356 --> 04:12:01.106
You have got the arms and ammunition.

04:12:01.836 --> 04:12:05.746
If you have an idea of going away, give
them to us and you may go and welcome.

04:12:06.496 --> 04:12:09.416
As for us, our lives are in
the hands of the Creator.

04:12:10.326 --> 04:12:13.846
We are determined to defend our
lands and if it be his will,

04:12:13.846 --> 04:12:16.836
we wish to leave our bones upon them."

04:12:17.216 --> 04:12:19.276
Tecumseh, Shawnee.

04:12:21.076 --> 04:12:25.356
>> Faced with Harrison's
3000-man army Tecumseh was forced

04:12:25.356 --> 04:12:27.736
to fall back with the British 80 miles.

04:12:28.646 --> 04:12:30.906
They halted their retreat
along the Thames River.

04:12:30.906 --> 04:12:35.836
There, Tecumseh would make his stand.

04:12:37.216 --> 04:12:41.956
On October 5th 1813, the
Shawnee leader rallied his men

04:12:41.956 --> 04:12:43.916
as he inspected the lines from horseback.

04:12:47.486 --> 04:12:50.306
He urged General Proctor to do the same.

04:12:51.046 --> 04:12:53.976
>> Tell your men to be firm,
and all will be well.

04:12:56.446 --> 04:13:00.866
>> Tecumseh dismounted and joined his troops
at their position in a swampy thicket.

04:13:02.986 --> 04:13:05.576
The night before, he had had a
premonition about the battle.

04:13:05.576 --> 04:13:11.636
And in it, he had foreseen his death.

04:13:11.816 --> 04:13:16.086
Tecumseh removed the scarlet British
military jacket he always wore

04:13:16.516 --> 04:13:18.736
and dressed in traditional Shawnee clothes.

04:13:18.796 --> 04:13:25.926
He handed his sword to a trusted friend
and instructed him to give it to his son

04:13:26.096 --> 04:13:29.226
when he grew up and to tell
him what his father stood for.

04:13:30.546 --> 04:13:34.856
In midafternoon, Harrison's cavalry charged.

04:13:38.316 --> 04:13:42.696
The British lines immediately collapsed
and ran with the British general

04:13:42.696 --> 04:13:45.346
on horseback passing his
own troops as they fled.

04:13:48.256 --> 04:13:49.966
Tecumseh did not run.

04:13:50.876 --> 04:13:51.766
And neither did his men.

04:13:52.066 --> 04:13:57.146
From a nearby hillside the
Shawnee Prophet watched

04:13:57.146 --> 04:14:04.116
as the Americans charged his brother's position.

04:14:04.206 --> 04:14:07.846
Tecumseh received a gunshot wound
to the chest [gunshot] and fell.

04:14:11.216 --> 04:14:13.776
Thirty minutes later, the battle was over.

04:14:14.516 --> 04:14:19.276
[ Music ]

04:14:19.776 --> 04:14:24.276
For the Ohio Valley nations the
eventual British defeat in the War

04:14:24.276 --> 04:14:29.116
of 1812 would simply underscore
the tragic loss of Tecumseh.

04:14:29.116 --> 04:14:35.226
In the years before the war, he had
traveled the Indian roads stretching

04:14:35.226 --> 04:14:36.986
in every direction from Prophetstown.

04:14:38.216 --> 04:14:44.056
In every village, his warning had been
the same, "The Americans will not stop

04:14:44.536 --> 04:14:46.646
until they have taken all our land."

04:14:48.426 --> 04:14:51.136
Tecumseh had seen the future.

04:14:55.076 --> 04:15:05.166
>> "While strong it has been our
obvious policy to weaken them.

04:15:05.166 --> 04:15:09.056
Now that they are weak and harmless
and most of their lands fallen

04:15:09.056 --> 04:15:13.216
into our hands they must be taught
to improve their condition."

04:15:13.816 --> 04:15:21.836
William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

04:15:21.836 --> 04:15:25.686
>> For decades, federal agents and Christian
missionaries had pressured Indian nations

04:15:25.686 --> 04:15:29.686
to abandon their traditions and
assimilate into white society.

04:15:29.686 --> 04:15:36.286
The policy, promoted by Thomas Jefferson and
others after him, advocated intermarriage,

04:15:36.666 --> 04:15:43.086
religious conversion and financial incentives
to turn Indian people into Americanized farmers.

04:15:43.086 --> 04:15:49.516
In the South, US policy was succeeding.

04:15:49.516 --> 04:15:53.946
Traditionals had been eliminated
as a serious military threat

04:15:53.946 --> 04:16:00.176
and American culture was spreading.

04:16:00.176 --> 04:16:07.926
The large Southern nations, the Cherokee,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole came

04:16:07.926 --> 04:16:11.116
to be known as the "Five Civilized Tribes."

04:16:11.756 --> 04:16:17.076
To the Americans, the most
civilized of these were the Cherokee.

04:16:18.186 --> 04:16:24.276
>> We call ourselves Aniyunwiya which is
translated into "the Principal People."

04:16:25.376 --> 04:16:32.796
When the Creator made the world he created
these beautiful mountains here in the Smokies.

04:16:34.016 --> 04:16:39.196
And he needed someone to live here, someone
who would take care of what he'd made

04:16:39.196 --> 04:16:43.706
and what he gave to us so he
chose the Cherokee people.

04:16:43.706 --> 04:16:46.686
>> The ancient Cherokee nation flourished in

04:16:46.686 --> 04:16:51.416
and around the Great Smoky Mountains
building their capital of Echota

04:16:51.586 --> 04:16:55.346
in the foothills southwest of
present day Knoxville, Tennessee.

04:16:56.176 --> 04:16:59.856
Echota was a peace town,
where no one could be harmed.

04:17:00.536 --> 04:17:07.806
But with each passing generation
there were fewer and fewer who clung

04:17:07.806 --> 04:17:09.686
to the traditional Cherokee-life way.

04:17:10.016 --> 04:17:11.046
[ Music & Rooster Crowing ]

04:17:11.046 --> 04:17:15.596
[Background Music] Many Cherokee
became successful modeling themselves

04:17:15.596 --> 04:17:20.996
after their American neighbors living
in two-story houses on plantations,

04:17:20.996 --> 04:17:28.136
raising European crops, owning slaves and
educating their children in American schools.

04:17:28.136 --> 04:17:33.386
In 1817, a new national council formed

04:17:33.716 --> 04:17:37.746
with wealthy landowner John Ross
as its principal elected chief.

04:17:38.676 --> 04:17:42.876
The centuries-old clan-based
government was replaced

04:17:43.176 --> 04:17:46.316
with a republican state modeled
after the American system.

04:17:48.716 --> 04:17:53.566
Echota, the venerated Cherokee
peace town was replaced as seat

04:17:53.566 --> 04:17:56.106
of government by New Echota in Georgia.

04:17:57.906 --> 04:18:04.476
In 1821, a man named Sequoya
completed an alphabet

04:18:04.476 --> 04:18:08.526
that committed the Cherokee language to writing.

04:18:08.526 --> 04:18:12.076
Soon they had their own newspaper,
the Cherokee Phoenix.

04:18:12.076 --> 04:18:18.736
But despite Cherokee efforts to coexist
and United States government policies

04:18:18.736 --> 04:18:24.906
to bring Indian nations into the American way it
was a relationship marred by racism and greed.

04:18:24.906 --> 04:18:33.446
In the middle of a booming slave economy built
around cotton demand for land was growing

04:18:33.646 --> 04:18:38.986
and the Southern Indian nations
still controlled vast areas.

04:18:39.756 --> 04:18:46.856
In 1828, Andrew Jackson, like William
Henry Harrison, used his reputation

04:18:46.856 --> 04:18:50.826
as an Indian fighter to propel
himself to the presidency.

04:18:53.336 --> 04:19:04.026
>> Greed usually is a thing that makes
people do things they wouldn't do otherwise.

04:19:04.866 --> 04:19:08.706
Gold was discovered down in Georgia.

04:19:09.131 --> 04:19:11.131
[ Music ]

04:19:11.246 --> 04:19:13.266
[Background Music] Hundreds
of miners illegally swarmed

04:19:13.266 --> 04:19:16.246
across the Cherokee border
to lay claim to the vein.

04:19:17.416 --> 04:19:19.766
The Cherokee turned to the
United States for protection.

04:19:20.006 --> 04:19:24.956
But President Jackson, himself a land
speculator, removed federal troops

04:19:24.956 --> 04:19:29.396
from the area, telling Georgia officials
"Build a fire under the Cherokee.

04:19:30.046 --> 04:19:34.066
When it gets hot enough, they'll move."

04:19:34.066 --> 04:19:42.096
>> The greed of the white man grew and the
first thing that came into his mind was,

04:19:43.896 --> 04:19:51.146
"We must obtain this land at any cost."

04:19:52.426 --> 04:19:57.746
And that idea of the removal started there.

04:19:58.896 --> 04:20:05.536
>> For the Indian people who believed their
salvation lay in emulating American society,

04:20:06.226 --> 04:20:10.086
the most bitter betrayal came on May 28th, 1830.

04:20:11.046 --> 04:20:15.166
Under Jackson's advocacy the
Indian Removal Act was passed.

04:20:16.166 --> 04:20:20.896
Nations east of the Mississippi were to
give up their homelands forever and move

04:20:20.896 --> 04:20:23.566
to a special Indian territory in Oklahoma.

04:20:28.076 --> 04:20:31.686
>> "The Americans said the
land shall be yours forever.

04:20:33.426 --> 04:20:38.176
Now they say, the land you live on is not yours.

04:20:39.626 --> 04:20:41.226
Go beyond the Mississippi.

04:20:41.566 --> 04:20:42.966
There is game.

04:20:43.766 --> 04:20:47.976
There you may remain while the
grass grows and the water runs.

04:20:49.166 --> 04:20:53.326
Brothers, will not our Great
Father come there also?"

04:20:55.406 --> 04:20:58.016
Speckled Snake, Creek.

04:20:59.056 --> 04:21:05.216
>> At New Echota Cherokee
leaders felt deeply betrayed.

04:21:06.486 --> 04:21:12.996
Principal Chief John Ross and wealthy Cherokee
landholder Major Ridge both had fought alongside

04:21:13.026 --> 04:21:17.126
President Jackson in a war against
traditional factions of the Creek Nation.

04:21:20.106 --> 04:21:25.706
Meeting in violation of Georgia state law the
Cherokee Council vehemently opposed removal

04:21:26.566 --> 04:21:30.706
and reminded the nation of their law
that carried the death penalty for anyone

04:21:30.706 --> 04:21:33.516
who sold Cherokee lands without authorization.

04:21:35.656 --> 04:21:41.666
>> "Even if report was favorable as to the
fertility of the soil in Indian Territory,

04:21:43.056 --> 04:21:48.676
if the running streams were as transparent
as crystal and the silver fish abounded,

04:21:50.296 --> 04:21:54.456
we should still adhere to the
purpose of spending the remnant

04:21:54.456 --> 04:21:58.646
of our lives on the soil that gave us birth."

04:22:00.746 --> 04:22:01.886
Cherokee Council.

04:22:04.046 --> 04:22:06.526
>> Indian protests fell on deaf ears.

04:22:07.956 --> 04:22:10.306
The Choctaw were the first made to bend.

04:22:14.456 --> 04:22:18.776
>> "Painful in the extreme is
the mandate of our expulsion.

04:22:18.776 --> 04:22:27.616
I ask you in the name of justice for a
repose for myself and my injured people.

04:22:28.906 --> 04:22:29.916
Let us alone.

04:22:30.746 --> 04:22:31.756
We will not harm you.

04:22:32.846 --> 04:22:33.636
We want rest.

04:22:34.196 --> 04:22:43.556
We hope, in the name of justice, that another
outrage may never be committed against us

04:22:44.816 --> 04:22:50.286
and that we may, for the future,
not be driven about as beasts

04:22:50.286 --> 04:22:53.416
who benefit from a change of pasture.

04:22:54.476 --> 04:22:59.906
We go forth, sorrowful, knowing
that wrong has been done."

04:23:01.836 --> 04:23:03.806
George Harkin, Choctaw.

04:23:06.156 --> 04:23:14.146
>> Between 1831 and 1832, 13,000 Choctaw
made the long and difficult trek to the West.

04:23:14.146 --> 04:23:18.766
Two thousand were to die along the way.

04:23:21.876 --> 04:23:23.246
>> "My voice is weak.

04:23:24.576 --> 04:23:28.066
You can scarcely hear me.

04:23:28.066 --> 04:23:36.226
It is not the shout of a warrior
but the wail of an infant.

04:23:36.226 --> 04:23:40.156
I have lost it in mourning over
the misfortunes of my people.

04:23:43.696 --> 04:23:52.446
Their tears came in the raindrops and
their voices in the wailing winds.

04:23:52.446 --> 04:23:57.656
Our land was taken away."

04:23:57.656 --> 04:23:59.396
Colonel Webb, Choctaw.

04:23:59.396 --> 04:24:01.666
>> The Creek were next.

04:24:01.666 --> 04:24:08.126
In the spring of 1836, the American Army
forced them to surrender all their land.

04:24:09.566 --> 04:24:12.146
One-third of the Creek died on the journey west.

04:24:15.796 --> 04:24:21.376
>> The way I feel is there
is a wound in our hearts.

04:24:21.376 --> 04:24:25.826
And that was a wound in our ancestors' heart.

04:24:26.776 --> 04:24:29.516
And that wound will never be healed.

04:24:30.876 --> 04:24:38.436
And I feel like that whatever
they do for us will never pay up.

04:24:42.256 --> 04:24:51.736
>> "Last night I saw the sun set for the last
time and its light shine upon the treetops

04:24:51.826 --> 04:25:07.096
and the land and the water that
I am never to look upon again."

04:25:07.096 --> 04:25:10.136
Menewa, Creek.

04:25:12.366 --> 04:25:19.726
>> Every year, from 1830 to 1838 Cherokee
Principal Chief John Ross visited Washington

04:25:19.916 --> 04:25:21.856
attempting to forestall removal.

04:25:21.976 --> 04:25:26.926
>> "We have been made to drink
of the bitter cup of humiliation.

04:25:28.246 --> 04:25:35.166
Treated like dogs, our lives, our
liberties, the sport of the white man.

04:25:35.166 --> 04:25:40.696
Our country and the graves of our
fathers torn from us in cruel succession

04:25:40.756 --> 04:25:48.386
until we find ourselves fugitives,
vagrants and strangers in our own country."

04:25:49.966 --> 04:25:52.036
John Ross, Cherokee.

04:25:54.056 --> 04:25:55.716
>> Ross wrote hundreds of letters.

04:25:57.376 --> 04:26:00.996
He met several times with President
Jackson, with whom he had served in war.

04:26:02.006 --> 04:26:06.276
He petitioned Congress and brought two
lawsuits before the US Supreme Court.

04:26:07.066 --> 04:26:11.336
>> "We are not ignorant of our condition.

04:26:12.816 --> 04:26:16.786
We are not insensible to our sufferings.

04:26:16.786 --> 04:26:18.676
We feel them.

04:26:18.676 --> 04:26:29.196
We groan under their pressure and anticipation
crowds our breasts with sorrow yet to come."

04:26:29.196 --> 04:26:31.246
John Ross, Cherokee.

04:26:32.536 --> 04:26:36.346
>> Ross did win one victory
when the Supreme Court ruled

04:26:36.346 --> 04:26:40.856
that the Cherokee were a sovereign nation
and not subject to Georgia's jurisdiction.

04:26:42.136 --> 04:26:46.866
But President Jackson disregarded the ruling
and belittled the power of the Supreme Court

04:26:47.276 --> 04:26:53.906
by challenging the chief justice
to enforce the law himself.

04:26:54.216 --> 04:26:57.746
Georgia held lotteries for Cherokee lands.

04:26:58.686 --> 04:27:00.856
State troops forced people from their houses.

04:27:00.856 --> 04:27:05.746
Cherokee government buildings at
New Echota were sold off along

04:27:05.746 --> 04:27:08.296
with the residence of Principal Chief John Ross.

04:27:08.296 --> 04:27:13.296
Cherokee leader Major Ridge
also lost his plantation.

04:27:14.126 --> 04:27:17.236
He now became convinced of the
futility and peril of resistance.

04:27:19.106 --> 04:27:23.136
>> I know the Indians have an
older title than the United States.

04:27:24.386 --> 04:27:27.116
We obtained the land from the living God above.

04:27:28.556 --> 04:27:30.556
They got their title from the British.

04:27:31.006 --> 04:27:35.886
Yet they are strong and we are weak.

04:27:37.236 --> 04:27:42.076
>> Major Ridge, as I understand it he
advocated for a good period of time

04:27:42.076 --> 04:27:48.316
that no more Cherokee lands would be
sold or ceded under penalty of death.

04:27:49.076 --> 04:27:52.686
And then later, he wound up
doing the same darn thing.

04:27:52.686 --> 04:27:53.856
As a matter of fact, worse.

04:27:54.836 --> 04:27:58.996
>> Ridge traveled to Washington without
the authorization of the Cherokee Council.

04:28:00.256 --> 04:28:02.006
There, he met with federal officials.

04:28:03.936 --> 04:28:09.406
Ridge privately negotiated a treaty
ceding Cherokee lands for $5 million,

04:28:09.576 --> 04:28:13.536
new land in the Oklahoma-Indian
territory, and removal assistance.

04:28:14.066 --> 04:28:21.016
>> We had been a country for 500 years before
they were and we were on an equal status.

04:28:22.146 --> 04:28:24.686
And every time we had a treaty from then

04:28:24.686 --> 04:28:28.006
on we got a little less status,
and they got a little more land.

04:28:29.746 --> 04:28:34.736
>> Ridge returned home to convince the
national council to accept the treaty terms.

04:28:34.736 --> 04:28:42.376
>> I would willingly die to preserve the
graves of our fathers but any forcible effort

04:28:42.536 --> 04:28:49.426
to keep them will cost us our lands,
our lives and the lives of our children.

04:28:49.426 --> 04:28:56.706
There is but one path of safety, one
road to future existence as a nation.

04:28:56.786 --> 04:29:00.116
That path is open before you.

04:29:00.116 --> 04:29:03.696
Make a treaty of cession.

04:29:03.696 --> 04:29:09.276
Give up these lands and go over
beyond the great Father of Waters.

04:29:09.436 --> 04:29:13.826
>> The national council rejected the treaty.

04:29:14.806 --> 04:29:19.436
But Ridge, with no legal authority to
represent the Cherokee nation met secretly

04:29:19.436 --> 04:29:20.556
with US officials.

04:29:21.696 --> 04:29:26.506
Defying the council's death sentence for the
selling of Cherokee lands, Ridge, his son,

04:29:26.756 --> 04:29:29.116
and others signed the removal treaty.

04:29:35.856 --> 04:29:42.016
On May 17th, 1836, the US Senate
ratified the treaty by a single vote.

04:29:43.066 --> 04:29:46.446
The Cherokee Nation was given
two years to move west.

04:29:46.446 --> 04:29:55.026
In that time, Ridge and 2,000 Cherokee
emigrated to Oklahoma while the vast majority

04:29:55.026 --> 04:29:58.976
of the nation ignored the illegal
treaty and remained on their lands.

04:29:59.501 --> 04:30:01.501
[ Music ]

04:30:01.986 --> 04:30:06.566
In late spring of 1838 as the
deadline for removal passed,

04:30:07.366 --> 04:30:11.956
General Winfield Scott arrived
in Georgia with 7,000 soldiers.

04:30:13.556 --> 04:30:17.736
His orders were to remove the
Cherokee by any means necessary.

04:30:19.506 --> 04:30:21.446
>> "Think of this, my Cherokee brethren.

04:30:22.336 --> 04:30:26.476
I am an old warrior and have been
present at many a scene of slaughter.

04:30:27.286 --> 04:30:33.826
But spare me, I beseech you, the horror of
witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees.

04:30:34.356 --> 04:30:38.496
Do not even wait for the
close approach of the troops."

04:30:39.076 --> 04:30:41.296
General Winfield Scott.

04:30:43.606 --> 04:30:48.796
>> Thousands of Cherokee were rounded up at
bayonet-point unable to carry with them anything

04:30:49.036 --> 04:30:53.816
but the most necessary belongings then
held in stockades to await removal.

04:30:55.506 --> 04:30:58.746
>> My great-great-grandmother,
when they came to take them away,

04:30:58.836 --> 04:31:04.936
they drove them out of the house, didn't even
let the kids get their shoes or anything.

04:31:05.536 --> 04:31:10.956
They were sitting down at dinner and they got
outside and they were kind of roughing her

04:31:10.956 --> 04:31:17.866
around and my great-great-grandfather
kind of fought back.

04:31:17.866 --> 04:31:24.416
They throwed him in chains and took him off one
way, took her and the children off another way.

04:31:25.136 --> 04:31:30.196
>> Conditions inside stockades
were terrible and many died.

04:31:34.086 --> 04:31:40.006
>> "We have been made prisoners by your
men but we do not fight against you.

04:31:40.956 --> 04:31:42.766
We have never done you any harm.

04:31:42.766 --> 04:31:44.546
We are Indians.

04:31:44.546 --> 04:31:47.986
We have hearts that feel.

04:31:49.676 --> 04:31:52.856
We do not want to die.

04:31:52.856 --> 04:31:54.256
We are in trouble, sir.

04:31:54.256 --> 04:31:57.696
Our hearts are very heavy.

04:31:57.696 --> 04:31:59.476
Very heavy.

04:32:00.636 --> 04:32:03.086
We cannot make talk."

04:32:04.596 --> 04:32:05.716
Cherokee Council.

04:32:08.666 --> 04:32:14.516
>> Sixteen thousand Cherokee
were removed from their homeland.

04:32:14.516 --> 04:32:18.546
Principal Chief John Ross left
with his family on the last convoy.

04:32:19.556 --> 04:32:24.566
His wife, along with one-quarter of the
nation, would die on the forced exodus

04:32:24.566 --> 04:32:27.726
that would be known as the "Trail of Tears."

04:32:28.866 --> 04:32:34.606
>> The non-Indian people who came here did
not view the Cherokee people as human beings

04:32:35.626 --> 04:32:39.156
which made it easy to dishonor
and desecrate these people.

04:32:39.156 --> 04:32:46.626
>> People sometimes say I
look like I never smile.

04:32:46.796 --> 04:32:58.196
Most of the time, I keep thinking of the old
nation and wonder how the big mountain now looks

04:32:58.196 --> 04:33:04.466
in springtime and how the boys and
young men used to swim in the big river.

04:33:04.705 --> 04:33:11.176
And then there comes before
me the picture of the march.

04:33:12.926 --> 04:33:24.926
Maybe someday we will understand
why the Cherokees had to suffer.

04:33:24.926 --> 04:33:31.646
>> While the body of the nation was forced west
several hundred Cherokee evaded Scott's men

04:33:31.756 --> 04:33:37.556
and retreated to the deep
recesses of the Smoky Mountains.

04:33:37.836 --> 04:33:42.705
The Army, ineffective at locating the free
Cherokee, was recalled from the mountains.

04:33:43.056 --> 04:33:49.606
As the troops were withdrawing one cavalry
detachment stumbled upon a small camp

04:33:49.916 --> 04:33:51.376
of 12 free Cherokee.

04:33:52.986 --> 04:33:58.655
Among them was an older man
Tsali, his wife, brother and sons.

04:33:58.756 --> 04:34:05.146
When the Cherokee refused to submit to
the soldiers Tsali's wife was jabbed

04:34:05.146 --> 04:34:07.146
with a bayonet, and a struggle ensued.

04:34:07.986 --> 04:34:09.426
Two soldiers were killed.

04:34:13.086 --> 04:34:16.276
Tsali and his family fled
deeper into the Smoky Mountains.

04:34:17.576 --> 04:34:25.096
But US soldiers had died and now General Scott
would have to make the Cherokee pay at any cost.

04:34:27.966 --> 04:34:31.455
With winter approaching, Scott
delivered an ultimatum to Tsali.

04:34:32.436 --> 04:34:38.506
Surrender or 7000 soldiers would be
unleashed on the free Cherokee until the last

04:34:38.506 --> 04:34:40.975
of their nation was captured or killed.

04:34:41.516 --> 04:34:48.876
[ Music ]

04:34:49.376 --> 04:34:51.466
Tsali made a fateful decision.

04:34:53.786 --> 04:34:58.556
He offered to surrender if Scott would let
the rest of the Cherokee resistance remain

04:34:58.556 --> 04:35:01.946
in their Smoky Mountain homeland.

04:35:01.946 --> 04:35:06.116
Scott agreed and Tsali surrendered
along with his family.

04:35:08.545 --> 04:35:14.576
>> Charley approaches and offers the
gun holding both ends with each hand.

04:35:15.955 --> 04:35:24.446
General Scott takes the gun
and they are to be monitored.

04:35:29.426 --> 04:35:32.496
>> They were taken to a place at
the mouth of the Tuckasegee River.

04:35:35.556 --> 04:35:41.786
There, Tsali, his brother, and his two oldest
sons, would be executed by a firing squad.

04:35:43.045 --> 04:35:48.586
Tied to a tree awaiting death, Tsali
had a last request of a friend.

04:35:51.686 --> 04:35:56.236
>> Euchella, there's one favor
I wish to ask of your hands.

04:35:58.326 --> 04:36:01.576
You know I have a little boy who
was lost among the mountains.

04:36:03.806 --> 04:36:08.996
I want you to find that boy if he is not dead
and tell him the last words of his father

04:36:09.946 --> 04:36:15.396
where that he must never go beyond the
Mississippi, but die in the land of his birth.

04:36:18.486 --> 04:36:24.356
It is sweet to die in one's native land and be
buried by the margins of one's native stream.

04:36:28.176 --> 04:36:35.056
>> On November 25th, 1838 Tsali died for
the freedom of the Eastern Cherokee people.

04:36:40.905 --> 04:36:45.795
>> And when he died he was a victor.

04:36:46.436 --> 04:36:58.905
He accomplished the thing which was upper most
in his mind that his people might go free.

04:37:01.975 --> 04:37:07.876
>> Seven months later in the new Oklahoma
Indian territory, Major Ridge, his son,

04:37:08.295 --> 04:37:13.196
and nephew who had all signed the
removal treaty were assassinated

04:37:13.736 --> 04:37:20.166
for selling the Cherokee homelands.

04:37:20.815 --> 04:37:27.315
>> Our next program moves West to Great Plains
and the famous horse culture that has come

04:37:27.315 --> 04:37:30.295
to define the first nations of
this content throughout the world.

04:37:31.586 --> 04:37:35.586
Join us when 500 Nations returns
with Struggle for the West.

04:37:36.516 --> 04:40:16.516
[ Music ]

04:40:17.016 --> 04:40:21.000
[ Silence ]

04:40:21.516 --> 04:41:59.516
[ Music ]

04:42:00.016 --> 04:42:05.000
[ Pause ]

04:42:05.116 --> 04:42:07.736
Welcome back to 500 Nations.

04:42:07.916 --> 04:42:08.936
I'm Kevin Costner.

04:42:09.096 --> 04:42:13.716
For a lot of us, the most vivid picture
of the Indian world has come from movies,

04:42:14.596 --> 04:42:17.456
screen heroes fighting armies
of hostile Indians.

04:42:18.406 --> 04:42:23.246
The tide has changed in movie making thankfully
but the image of Indian warriors riding

04:42:23.246 --> 04:42:28.276
across the Great Plains still remains the
universal symbol of all American Indians.

04:42:28.356 --> 04:42:34.346
That even with his vivid image we know little
about the people and the legendary individuals

04:42:34.346 --> 04:42:38.916
who led them, men who fought and
sacrificed everything for their nations.

04:42:39.926 --> 04:42:43.276
In this hour, we'll see the people
of the Plains in a different light.

04:42:44.246 --> 04:42:48.036
But first, we'll travel even further West
to a place where hundreds of thousands

04:42:48.036 --> 04:42:50.686
of Indian people lived in
one of the most beautiful

04:42:50.686 --> 04:42:53.656
and peaceful region of the content, California.

04:42:54.666 --> 04:42:59.126
Welcome to Part 7 of 500
Nations, Struggle for the West.

04:43:00.516 --> 04:43:09.566
[ Music ]

04:43:10.066 --> 04:43:14.706
>> 300,000 people lived in the
diverse environments of California.

04:43:15.256 --> 04:43:22.526
They spoke 80 languages, worked, worshiped,
and raised children on lands occupied

04:43:22.576 --> 04:43:31.316
by their ancestors since before the
dawn of the European civilization.

04:43:31.316 --> 04:43:35.426
Many California nations had evolved
into highly structured societies.

04:43:36.366 --> 04:43:41.256
Among them, one of the largest was the
Chumash, living on the coastal islands

04:43:41.256 --> 04:43:44.646
and along the coast in the area
of present day Santa Barbara.

04:43:44.646 --> 04:43:56.596
Large Chumash towns supported a
professional class of the astrologers,

04:43:57.046 --> 04:43:59.836
priests, government leaders, and healers.

04:44:02.746 --> 04:44:16.096
Workers belonged to centuries old craft
guilds of basket and canoe makers.

04:44:16.686 --> 04:44:21.666
Workers also manufactured the flat shell
beads that were the currency of the region.

04:44:21.666 --> 04:44:28.396
Production and control of the money supply
placed the Chumash nation at the center

04:44:28.396 --> 04:44:30.076
of the Southern California economy.

04:44:30.406 --> 04:44:38.736
In the late 18th century, this
complex world of the ancient Chumash

04:44:39.016 --> 04:44:42.106
and their coastal neighbors
would be changed forever.

04:44:44.206 --> 04:44:51.616
In 1772, Spanish missionaries led by Father
Junipero Serra, arrived in Chumash territory.

04:44:53.376 --> 04:45:00.606
>> Believe me, when I saw their
general behavior, their pleasing ways

04:45:00.606 --> 04:45:05.596
and engaging manners, my
heart was broken to think

04:45:05.666 --> 04:45:09.306
that they were still deprived
of the light of the Holy Gospel.

04:45:10.696 --> 04:45:13.506
Father Junipero Serra, Spanish Missionary.

04:45:14.586 --> 04:45:21.916
>> Ignoring the beauty and complexity of Chumash
society, the Spanish set out to convert them

04:45:21.916 --> 04:45:25.296
to Christianity by whatever means necessary.

04:45:25.536 --> 04:45:33.276
>> I and two of my relatives went
down to the beach to catch clams.

04:45:36.206 --> 04:45:39.896
We saw two men on horseback
coming rapidly towards us.

04:45:40.226 --> 04:45:41.356
My relatives were afraid.

04:45:41.856 --> 04:45:43.066
They fled with all speed.

04:45:43.526 --> 04:45:45.046
It was too late.

04:45:46.716 --> 04:45:50.416
They overtook me and lassoed and
dragged me for a long distance.

04:45:52.436 --> 04:46:01.096
Their horse is running.

04:46:01.096 --> 04:46:05.386
When we arrived at the mission,
they locked me in a room for a week.

04:46:06.006 --> 04:46:10.046
The father told me that he
would make me a Christian.

04:46:10.046 --> 04:46:13.176
One day, they threw water on my
head and gave me salt to eat.

04:46:13.176 --> 04:46:19.826
And with this, the interpreter told me that
now I was Christian, that I was called Jesus.

04:46:19.826 --> 04:46:31.386
>> The building up of the mission into a
coercive labor force didn't happen overnight.

04:46:31.386 --> 04:46:32.636
It was gradual thing.

04:46:32.636 --> 04:46:36.896
But eventually, they began forcing Indians
to remove from their freeway of life

04:46:37.436 --> 04:46:43.266
in their home villages, and to be reduced to
one central mission site to be controlled.

04:46:43.566 --> 04:46:51.886
Once a family was taken into the missions, the
emissary separated children from their parents.

04:46:52.336 --> 04:46:56.606
All the little boys and the little girls at age
of six were locked up in children's barracks.

04:46:58.426 --> 04:47:01.306
So, it was work, religion,
and work all day long.

04:47:01.676 --> 04:47:04.766
Highly structured, highly supervised.

04:47:05.736 --> 04:47:12.246
Indian people were put to work tanning,
blacksmithing, and caring for the mission herds.

04:47:13.896 --> 04:47:20.246
They made candles, bricks,
tiles, shoes, saddles, and soap.

04:47:22.456 --> 04:47:26.176
Labor was strictly enforced
under the discipline of the lash.

04:47:26.236 --> 04:47:33.366
>> And thus, I existed 'til
I found a way to escape.

04:47:33.436 --> 04:47:35.306
But I was tracked.

04:47:36.816 --> 04:47:37.956
They caught me like a fox.

04:47:40.656 --> 04:47:45.996
They lashed me until I lost consciousness.

04:47:45.996 --> 04:47:50.566
For several days, I could not raise myself
from the floor where they had laid me.

04:47:50.566 --> 04:47:54.586
And I still have on my shoulders
the marks of the lashes.

04:47:54.666 --> 04:47:57.606
Janitil, Kumeyaay.

04:48:02.986 --> 04:48:07.026
>> For over 50 years, the mission
system backed by Spanish arms,

04:48:07.576 --> 04:48:11.626
exerted control over the California
coast crushing every revolt.

04:48:12.736 --> 04:48:16.726
Inside the missions, disease and
harsh living conditions contributed

04:48:16.726 --> 04:48:18.226
to a genocidal death rate.

04:48:20.026 --> 04:48:22.606
>> The average life of a mission
Indian was about less than 12 years.

04:48:22.716 --> 04:48:24.176
For children, it was less than six years.

04:48:24.786 --> 04:48:28.786
And so, there was a constant need
to feed this beast with laborers.

04:48:29.216 --> 04:48:34.306
And one of the sad legacies of the missions
of California is that when people go

04:48:34.306 --> 04:48:36.406
to them today, they don't think about Indians.

04:48:36.766 --> 04:48:38.476
They say the padres built the missions.

04:48:38.476 --> 04:48:39.266
That's nonsense.

04:48:39.506 --> 04:48:40.906
The California Indians built the missions.

04:48:42.386 --> 04:48:48.436
>> At the Santa Barbara mission alone, over
4,000 Chumash names filled the burial registry.

04:48:49.606 --> 04:48:52.516
Their bodies discarded in
large pits near the church.

04:48:55.696 --> 04:49:02.036
In 1821, control of California
transferred to Mexico

04:49:02.386 --> 04:49:04.606
after it gained its independence from Spain.

04:49:07.966 --> 04:49:10.646
The Mexican government secularized the missions.

04:49:11.596 --> 04:49:13.396
Indian people were free to leave.

04:49:14.226 --> 04:49:19.466
But 50 years had completely
transformed their world.

04:49:20.516 --> 04:49:27.626
[ Music ]

04:49:28.126 --> 04:49:29.526
Old villages were gone.

04:49:29.636 --> 04:49:32.666
In their places were large Mexican estates.

04:49:34.216 --> 04:49:39.486
Even the mission lands they had worked and
lived on became parts of vast private ranches.

04:49:39.746 --> 04:49:46.736
>> To stand by and watch these men
takeover the missions which we have built,

04:49:47.936 --> 04:49:53.836
the herds we have tended, to be exposed
incessantly together with our families,

04:49:53.916 --> 04:49:59.096
to the worst possible treatment
and even death itself is a tragedy.

04:50:00.676 --> 04:50:03.346
Mission San Luis Rey, Neophyte.

04:50:05.656 --> 04:50:10.846
>> Homeless and left with few choices
for survival, mission Indians were forced

04:50:10.846 --> 04:50:16.246
to exchange one master for another,
becoming peasant workers on the rancherias.

04:50:17.686 --> 04:50:21.716
>> Many of the rich men of
the country had from 20

04:50:21.716 --> 04:50:24.716
to 60 Indian servants whom
they had dressed and fed.

04:50:26.146 --> 04:50:32.596
Our friendly Indians tilled our soil, pastured
our cattle, cut our lumber, built our houses,

04:50:32.596 --> 04:50:37.986
made tiles for our homes, ground our grains,
slaughtered our cattle, dressed their hides

04:50:37.986 --> 04:50:42.936
for market, while the Indian
women made excellent servants,

04:50:42.976 --> 04:50:46.256
took good care of our children,
made every one of our meals.

04:50:46.256 --> 04:50:50.296
Salvador Vallejo, Mexican Landowner.

04:50:54.496 --> 04:50:57.656
>> In 1848, after the Mexican-American War,

04:50:58.296 --> 04:51:01.346
California passed from Mexican
to American hands.

04:51:02.226 --> 04:51:07.926
Soon after, gold was discovered in the North,
bringing a rush of miners onto the lands

04:51:07.926 --> 04:51:13.216
of interior nations who had been out of the
reach of coastal missions and Mexican ranches.

04:51:16.796 --> 04:51:23.766
>> The majority of tribes are kept in
constant fear on account of the indiscriminate

04:51:23.766 --> 04:51:25.606
and inhuman massacre of their people.

04:51:25.606 --> 04:51:32.426
They have become alarmed by the increased flood
of immigration much spread over their country.

04:51:33.536 --> 04:51:35.926
It is just incomprehensible to them.

04:51:35.996 --> 04:51:38.906
Adam Johnson, Indian Agent.

04:51:42.426 --> 04:51:49.846
>> Miners came into Indian
communities looking for women.

04:51:49.846 --> 04:51:56.966
Vigilante parties opened fire on men, women,
and children wiping out entire villages.

04:51:56.966 --> 04:52:05.986
It was open season on Indian people
derisively referred to as "diggers".

04:52:05.986 --> 04:52:09.216
>> The Humboldt Times, Eureka, April 11.

04:52:09.216 --> 04:52:11.246
Headline, "Good Haul of Diggers.

04:52:11.246 --> 04:52:20.736
One White Man Killed, 38 Bucks
Killed, 40 Squaws and Children Taken".

04:52:20.736 --> 04:52:27.396
>> January 17th headline "Good Haul
of Diggers, Band Exterminated".

04:52:27.396 --> 04:52:37.866
>> In the 1850s while the American nation
was on the verge of Civil War over the issue

04:52:37.866 --> 04:52:42.796
of slavery, demand for agricultural
labor in California was so high

04:52:43.256 --> 04:52:47.666
that the state legislature passed
an act legalizing Indian slavery.

04:52:48.246 --> 04:52:52.296
>> A company of United States troops attended

04:52:52.296 --> 04:52:56.996
by a considerable volunteer force
has been pursuing the poor creatures

04:52:56.996 --> 04:52:58.566
from one retreat to another.

04:52:59.976 --> 04:53:03.756
The kidnappers follow at the heels
of the soldiers to seize the children

04:53:04.096 --> 04:53:07.586
when their parents are murdered and
sell them to the best advantage.

04:53:07.586 --> 04:53:10.866
W.P. Dole, Indian Agent.

04:53:12.466 --> 04:53:16.866
>> Only 30,000 native Californians
survived the gold rush.

04:53:17.396 --> 04:53:24.106
10 percent of what had been most densely
populated Indian area, North of Mexico.

04:53:24.106 --> 04:53:37.976
>> Upon on my last visit to Ventura,
I saw the last of the Ventura Indians.

04:53:37.976 --> 04:53:45.236
They were living in a tiny hut
east of the mouth of the river.

04:53:45.236 --> 04:53:48.806
One of the old men told me they were very glad

04:53:48.806 --> 04:53:52.916
that I was not ashamed to
talk the Indian language.

04:53:52.916 --> 04:53:56.806
They told me to continue in the
use of it and keep the beliefs.

04:53:57.526 --> 04:54:00.386
If I did so, I would live a long time.

04:54:00.386 --> 04:54:04.216
Fernando Librado, Chumash.

04:54:04.216 --> 04:54:12.076
>> Fernando Librado lived to be 111-years old.

04:54:12.126 --> 04:54:18.986
>> I once went over to Donaciana's house.

04:54:18.986 --> 04:54:22.876
I wanted to learn the Swordfish Dance.

04:54:22.876 --> 04:54:28.676
After the meal, I asked her to
teach me the old dances saying,

04:54:28.676 --> 04:54:34.876
"For you are the only ones
left who know the old dances."

04:54:35.026 --> 04:54:41.036
Donaciana began to cry and
I left saying nothing more.

04:54:41.486 --> 04:54:44.976
Fernando Librado, Chumash.

04:54:45.516 --> 04:54:50.516
[ Music ]

04:54:51.016 --> 04:54:57.000
[ Noise ]

04:54:58.146 --> 04:55:02.616
>> For thousands of years, the buffalo
thundered across the Great Plains,

04:55:03.406 --> 04:55:08.716
a vast sea of grassland rising from the
Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.

04:55:08.716 --> 04:55:16.386
Living off the herds were a
scattering of nomadic Indian nations.

04:55:16.386 --> 04:55:24.536
>> My grandmother told me that when she was
young the people themselves had to walk.

04:55:24.536 --> 04:55:30.516
In those times, they did
not travel far nor often.

04:55:30.516 --> 04:55:36.826
>> In 1680, the Spanish were driven out
of the Southwest by the Pueblo nations.

04:55:37.786 --> 04:55:43.076
As they fled, they left behind their horse
herds, an animal that would change the way

04:55:43.076 --> 04:55:46.116
of life for Indian nations across the continent.

04:55:47.806 --> 04:55:52.036
>> When they got horses, they could
move more easily from place to place.

04:55:52.796 --> 04:55:55.706
Then, they could kill more of
the buffalo and other animals.

04:55:56.816 --> 04:56:02.276
And so, they got more meat for food and
gathered more skins for lodges and clothing.

04:56:03.266 --> 04:56:05.106
Iron Teeth, Cheyenne.

04:56:07.256 --> 04:56:12.036
>> A new culture developed based on
the relationship between man and horse.

04:56:13.196 --> 04:56:21.086
>> My horse fights with me and he fasts
with me because if he is to carry me

04:56:21.086 --> 04:56:27.516
into battle he must know my heart and I must
know his, but we shall never become brothers.

04:56:29.026 --> 04:56:32.206
I've been told that the white
man was almost a God,

04:56:32.326 --> 04:56:37.466
and yet a great fool does not
believe that the horse has a spirit.

04:56:37.576 --> 04:56:39.936
This cannot be true.

04:56:41.106 --> 04:56:45.576
I have many times seen my
horse's soul in his eyes.

04:56:46.706 --> 04:56:48.666
Plenty Coups, Crow.

04:56:48.806 --> 04:56:55.446
>> With the coming of the horse, the nations
of the Plains would become legendary.

04:56:55.446 --> 04:57:04.376
The Crow, Cheyenne, Sioux, Blackfeet,
Arapaho, Pawnee, Kiowa, Comanche,

04:57:04.376 --> 04:57:08.506
and for generations their
way of life flourished.

04:57:09.276 --> 04:57:16.376
Then in 1858, gold was discovered
at Pike's Peak, Colorado.

04:57:18.146 --> 04:57:22.256
Four years later, the Homestead Act
opened the region to white settlement.

04:57:23.896 --> 04:57:27.036
Almost instantly, the invasion became a flood.

04:57:27.836 --> 04:57:32.836
In one year alone, 100,000
immigrants swarmed across the Plains

04:57:32.836 --> 04:57:36.916
over two main roads spreading
a wide swath of destruction.

04:57:40.126 --> 04:57:45.176
To protect travel on the immigrant roads,
the United States erected a network of forts

04:57:45.176 --> 04:57:51.186
across the Plains and churned out cadets at
West Point specially trained for Indian warfare.

04:57:52.156 --> 04:57:57.146
It was the Army's mission to force mobile
nations who hunted over large territories

04:57:57.546 --> 04:58:01.626
onto confined areas, reservations.

04:58:03.276 --> 04:58:08.566
Indian people were faced with only two
options, to give up their homelands

04:58:08.566 --> 04:58:12.096
and way of life or fight the American Army.

04:58:14.756 --> 04:58:20.666
Although some chose armed resistance, many
Indian leaders responsible for the protection

04:58:20.666 --> 04:58:25.776
of large villages of women, children,
and elderly saw little hope in fighting.

04:58:25.776 --> 04:58:33.916
Among these were two Cheyenne leaders,
Black Kettle and White Antelope.

04:58:34.376 --> 04:58:37.656
They were willing to give
up lands to maintain peace

04:58:37.656 --> 04:58:40.976
and bring their people safely
through the dangerous era.

04:58:41.516 --> 04:58:49.546
[ Music ]

04:58:50.046 --> 04:58:57.476
>> White Antelope and Black Kettle had a
duty to their people to try to protect them.

04:58:58.536 --> 04:59:02.466
And to do this, they had to maintain peace.

04:59:03.236 --> 04:59:09.086
So they felt that it was their duty to go
out and make peace with the United States.

04:59:09.516 --> 04:59:10.296
So, they did.

04:59:10.446 --> 04:59:18.516
>> Black Kettle and White Antelope ceded vast
Cheyenne lands to the United States in 1861

04:59:18.516 --> 04:59:23.916
and agreed to confine themselves to a
reservation in exchange for protection

04:59:23.916 --> 04:59:31.466
from soldiers and settlers and assistance of
food and money to replace lost hunting lands.

04:59:31.616 --> 04:59:35.016
They then traveled to Washington
to meet with President Lincoln.

04:59:35.016 --> 04:59:40.186
Lincoln presented Black Kettle
with a large American flag

04:59:40.416 --> 04:59:43.256
and White Antelope with a Medal of Peace.

04:59:43.256 --> 04:59:49.876
But over the next three years, continued unrest

04:59:49.876 --> 04:59:53.376
on the Plains fanned rumors
of an impending Indian war.

04:59:55.866 --> 05:00:01.916
In Denver, Governor John Evans inflamed
public opinion by fabricating stories

05:00:01.916 --> 05:00:07.246
of Cheyenne hostilities and encouraged
civilians to take up arms against them.

05:00:09.186 --> 05:00:12.636
Seeking protection for there
peaceful bands, Black Kettle

05:00:12.736 --> 05:00:17.936
and White Antelope undertook the dangerous
trip to Denver to meet with Governor Evans.

05:00:21.016 --> 05:00:25.076
>> All we ask is that we may
have peace with the whites.

05:00:25.436 --> 05:00:32.876
I want you to give all the chiefs of the
soldiers here to understand that we are

05:00:32.926 --> 05:00:41.046
for peace, and that we have made peace, that
we may not be mistaken by them for enemies.

05:00:41.046 --> 05:00:45.006
Black Kettle, Southern Cheyenne.

05:00:45.096 --> 05:00:51.136
>> Black Kettle and White Antelope
were promised safety for their people

05:00:51.526 --> 05:00:54.406
if they camped near Fort
Lyon in Southern Colorado.

05:00:54.406 --> 05:01:00.806
But the military commander of
Colorado, Colonel John Chivington,

05:01:01.326 --> 05:01:04.306
had no plans for peace with any Indian people.

05:01:05.846 --> 05:01:09.056
>> Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians.

05:01:09.056 --> 05:01:14.046
I have come to kill Indians and
believe it as right and honorable

05:01:14.356 --> 05:01:18.476
to use any means under God's
heaven to kill them.

05:01:19.196 --> 05:01:20.546
Colonel John Chivington.

05:01:21.786 --> 05:01:25.646
>> Black Kettle and White Antelope
had been told where to camp

05:01:25.726 --> 05:01:28.976
and that they had nothing
to fear from the US army.

05:01:28.976 --> 05:01:32.196
>> Why would they worry?

05:01:33.146 --> 05:01:36.156
They were under the protection
of the American flag.

05:01:36.966 --> 05:01:43.456
They were under the protection of the
international peace sign, the white flag.

05:01:46.066 --> 05:01:53.366
>> At dawn on November 29th, 1864,
Chivington's Colorado Volunteers rode

05:01:53.426 --> 05:01:58.446
through the snow toward Black Kettle and
White Antelope's sleeping camp at Sand Creek.

05:02:00.166 --> 05:02:04.846
>> The women were out picking up wood when
they think what they thought was buffalo

05:02:04.846 --> 05:02:07.966
but it wasn't buffalo and
they threw down their sticks

05:02:07.966 --> 05:02:09.766
and started screaming and
running towards the camp.

05:02:11.506 --> 05:02:14.166
>> Cheyenne George Bent was startled awake.

05:02:15.706 --> 05:02:18.906
>> I heard shouts and the noise
of people running about the camp.

05:02:20.556 --> 05:02:22.156
I jumped up and ran out of my lodge.

05:02:24.206 --> 05:02:28.506
From down the creek a large body of
troops was advancing at a rapid trot.

05:02:29.516 --> 05:02:32.886
[ Music & Noise ]

05:02:33.386 --> 05:02:36.916
I looked toward the Chief's
lodge and saw Black Kettle

05:02:37.036 --> 05:02:41.016
at a large American flag tied
to the end of a long large pole.

05:02:41.856 --> 05:02:44.296
He was standing in front of
his lodge holding the pole.

05:02:46.636 --> 05:02:49.646
>> Chief Black Kettle, he's about
there in front protecting his people

05:02:49.826 --> 05:02:51.646
to show them that he wasn't afraid.

05:02:52.626 --> 05:02:55.496
He's trying to tell them
that, you know, we made peace.

05:02:55.666 --> 05:02:56.286
We're at peace.

05:02:57.666 --> 05:03:00.766
>> Then the troops opened fire
from two sides of the camps.

05:03:02.666 --> 05:03:05.486
The woman and children were
screaming and wailing.

05:03:07.916 --> 05:03:10.676
And men running to their lodges for their arms

05:03:10.676 --> 05:03:13.386
and shouting advice in directions
to one another.

05:03:15.356 --> 05:03:21.326
White Antelope saw the soldiers shooting the
people and he did not wish to live any longer.

05:03:25.006 --> 05:03:28.526
>> My great, great grandfather,
White Antelope, he felt heartbreak

05:03:28.526 --> 05:03:33.826
that he know the treaty had been broken, a peace
that they have been sticking for so long time,

05:03:33.826 --> 05:03:36.676
for a long time had been
shattered, had been broken.

05:03:38.506 --> 05:03:42.326
>> White Antelope stood in front
of this lodge with his arms folded

05:03:42.326 --> 05:03:44.786
across his breast, singing the death song.

05:03:45.206 --> 05:03:47.886
>> And he cried.

05:03:47.886 --> 05:03:51.446
He sang his song.

05:03:51.496 --> 05:04:01.876
Nothing lives long by with his arms, nothing
lives long but the earth and the mountains.

05:04:01.876 --> 05:04:04.796
>> White Antelope wearing
the peace medal given him

05:04:04.796 --> 05:04:08.866
by President Lincoln was shot
dead in front of his lodge.

05:04:08.866 --> 05:04:14.216
Black Kettle and his wife
ran toward the creek bed

05:04:14.656 --> 05:04:17.496
where people were desperately
digging into the sand for protection.

05:04:18.706 --> 05:04:21.896
Before they could reach it,
Black Kettle's wife was shot.

05:04:24.176 --> 05:04:26.636
Believing her dead, he ran on without her.

05:04:28.436 --> 05:04:33.026
>> Most of us who were hiding in the pits had
been wounded before we could reach the shelter.

05:04:34.196 --> 05:04:38.836
And there we lay all that bitter cold day
from early in the morning until almost dark

05:04:40.176 --> 05:04:44.186
with the soldiers all around us keeping
up a heavy fire most of the time.

05:04:46.746 --> 05:04:49.066
They finally withdrew about 5 o'clock.

05:04:49.066 --> 05:04:57.906
As they retired down the creek, they
killed all the wounded they could find.

05:04:57.906 --> 05:05:03.946
That night will never be forgotten as long
as any of us who went through it are alive.

05:05:03.946 --> 05:05:12.696
Many who had lost wives, husbands, and children,
or friends went back down the creek and crept

05:05:12.696 --> 05:05:18.466
over the battleground among the naked
and mutilated bodies of the dead.

05:05:18.466 --> 05:05:27.826
Few were found alive for the soldiers
had done their work thoroughly.

05:05:27.826 --> 05:05:31.066
George Bent, Southern Cheyenne.

05:05:31.066 --> 05:05:35.246
>> Over 500 Southern Cheyenne people died.

05:05:35.246 --> 05:05:41.246
Black Kettle found his wife
with nine bullet wounds

05:05:41.246 --> 05:05:48.456
in her body, but miraculously she was alive.

05:05:48.456 --> 05:05:53.016
The survivors struggled into another
Cheyenne camp while Chivington returned

05:05:53.016 --> 05:06:00.416
to Denver with over 100 Cheyenne scalps.

05:06:00.416 --> 05:06:04.546
>> My people were massacred.

05:06:04.546 --> 05:06:05.376
Terrible thing.

05:06:06.896 --> 05:06:09.666
Their spirits are still there
at the massacre site.

05:06:09.666 --> 05:06:15.326
They'll never rest.

05:06:17.396 --> 05:06:21.946
>> Despite his loss, Black
Kettle saw no hope in resistance.

05:06:22.436 --> 05:06:30.286
In 1868, his beleaguered band was camped along
the Washita River on a government reservation.

05:06:30.876 --> 05:06:41.606
At dawn on November 27, 1868, almost four
years to the day after the Sand Creek massacre,

05:06:41.606 --> 05:06:49.986
US Army troops under the command of George
Armstrong Custer attacked the sleeping village.

05:06:49.986 --> 05:06:57.526
Black Kettle, his wife, and over
100 of his people were killed.

05:06:57.526 --> 05:07:06.426
The Cheyenne leader's quest for peace had come
to a final bitter end costing him his lands,

05:07:06.426 --> 05:07:11.976
his freedom, and the lives of the people
he had tried so desperately to protect.

05:07:12.516 --> 05:07:28.546
[ Music ]

05:07:29.046 --> 05:07:34.566
>> I was born upon the prairie
where the wind blew free,

05:07:34.566 --> 05:07:40.046
and there was nothing to
break the light of the sun.

05:07:40.046 --> 05:07:43.076
The white man has the country which we loved.

05:07:43.396 --> 05:07:48.476
We only wish to wander on
the prairie until we die.

05:07:50.416 --> 05:07:51.266
Ten Bears.

05:07:51.766 --> 05:08:00.166
>> South of the Cheyenne, the Kaui-gu or
Kiowa nation lived on lands including parts

05:08:00.166 --> 05:08:03.336
of present day Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

05:08:04.436 --> 05:08:09.086
They were also being pushed under reservations
by treaties and the United States Army.

05:08:09.086 --> 05:08:15.956
But the message of Black Kettle's
betrayal resounded across the plains.

05:08:18.986 --> 05:08:23.066
>> The good Indian, he that listens
to the white man, gets nothing.

05:08:23.366 --> 05:08:31.506
The independent Indian is the
only one that is rewarded.

05:08:31.506 --> 05:08:33.136
Satanta, Kiowa.

05:08:33.286 --> 05:08:37.026
>> To many, the only path
open was armed resistance.

05:08:38.076 --> 05:08:43.566
A growing number of Kiowa rallied behind
an uncompromising leader, Satanta.

05:08:44.706 --> 05:08:47.686
>> A long time ago, this
land belonged to our fathers.

05:08:48.506 --> 05:08:52.026
But when I go down to the rivers, I
see camps of soldiers on its banks.

05:08:53.166 --> 05:08:56.736
These soldiers cut down my
timber, killed my buffalo.

05:08:57.846 --> 05:09:00.546
And when I see that, my heart
feels like bursting.

05:09:02.396 --> 05:09:04.746
Satanta, Kiowa.

05:09:06.746 --> 05:09:10.526
>> Satanta was a deepening thorn
in the war department's side.

05:09:11.986 --> 05:09:20.816
In 1871, after leading a raid on a mule train
in Texas, he was brought before General Sherman.

05:09:20.816 --> 05:09:25.666
Satanta defiantly accepted
responsibility for the raid.

05:09:25.666 --> 05:09:30.766
>> I led about a 100 men to
Texas to teach them to fight.

05:09:32.966 --> 05:09:34.476
This is our country.

05:09:35.006 --> 05:09:37.256
We have always lived in it.

05:09:37.256 --> 05:09:37.866
We were happy.

05:09:38.826 --> 05:09:39.606
Then you came.

05:09:39.606 --> 05:09:42.766
We have to protect ourselves.

05:09:43.036 --> 05:09:44.806
We have to save our country.

05:09:45.146 --> 05:09:49.436
We have to fight for what is ours.

05:09:49.436 --> 05:09:53.826
>> Satanta was placed under
arrest shackled and held

05:09:53.826 --> 05:09:57.596
in the crawl space below a
Fort Sill barracks for 12 days.

05:10:00.306 --> 05:10:03.616
Finally, he was taken to Texas for trial.

05:10:03.616 --> 05:10:04.966
There, he was imprisoned.

05:10:07.486 --> 05:10:11.726
It would be two years before the Kiowa
nation was able to barter his release

05:10:12.056 --> 05:10:14.306
by surrendering their guns and horses.

05:10:16.306 --> 05:10:23.186
When Satanta returned to the reservation
where his people were confined,

05:10:23.186 --> 05:10:27.966
he found that the money, food, and supplies
promised by the government as payment

05:10:28.016 --> 05:10:30.176
for their lands had not come through.

05:10:31.226 --> 05:10:36.066
And the lifeblood of the nation,
the buffalo, were fast disappearing.

05:10:39.206 --> 05:10:42.896
>> Everything the Kiowas
had came from the buffalo.

05:10:45.476 --> 05:10:52.366
Our teepees were made of buffalo hides,
so were our clothes and moccasins.

05:10:55.946 --> 05:10:57.386
We ate buffalo meat.

05:11:00.956 --> 05:11:04.366
The buffalo were the life of the Kiowas.

05:11:07.986 --> 05:11:13.546
>> The US recognized that without the
buffalo, the Plains nations could not survive

05:11:14.066 --> 05:11:17.396
and would have little choice
but to remain on reservations

05:11:17.476 --> 05:11:19.916
and live off the meager government rations.

05:11:23.276 --> 05:11:27.256
White buffalo hunters with high-powered
sharps rifles were encouraged

05:11:27.316 --> 05:11:29.366
in and the slaughter began.

05:11:30.516 --> 05:11:40.836
[ Music & Noise ]

05:11:41.336 --> 05:11:46.456
>> Has the white man become a child that
he should recklessly kill and not eat?

05:11:46.776 --> 05:11:53.926
When the Kiowa slay game, they do so
that they may live and not starve.

05:11:53.926 --> 05:11:58.666
Satanta, Kiowa.

05:11:58.666 --> 05:12:01.306
>> The slaughter proceeded
at an astonishing pace.

05:12:02.166 --> 05:12:04.676
Thousands of animals were killed everyday.

05:12:04.676 --> 05:12:07.746
>> The buffalo hunters have done more

05:12:07.746 --> 05:12:11.836
to settle the vexed Indian question
than the entire regular army.

05:12:12.386 --> 05:12:17.536
For the sake of lasting peace,
let them kill, skin,

05:12:17.536 --> 05:12:21.666
and sell until the buffaloes are exterminated.

05:12:21.666 --> 05:12:26.626
General Phil Sheridan, US Army.

05:12:26.726 --> 05:12:28.746
>> In a desperate struggle for survival,

05:12:28.746 --> 05:12:33.416
the Southern Plains nations
went to war to save the buffalo.

05:12:33.456 --> 05:12:40.286
In the summer of 1874, thousands of Indian
people flooded off the reservations.

05:12:40.366 --> 05:12:49.786
And in that moment of freedom, Satanta and
others led an allied Indian force in an attack

05:12:49.786 --> 05:12:52.966
on a buffalo hunters' camp
at Adobe Walls, Texas.

05:12:54.126 --> 05:13:01.216
But they were no match for the hunters
with their powerful buffalo guns.

05:13:02.016 --> 05:13:06.976
Defeat was followed by massive military
expeditions by the United States Army

05:13:07.276 --> 05:13:11.066
to force the Southern Plains
nations back onto reservations.

05:13:12.196 --> 05:13:18.256
In the fall, Satanta was forced
to surrender and was returned

05:13:18.256 --> 05:13:20.566
to the penitentiary at Huntsville, Texas.

05:13:22.236 --> 05:13:27.526
Later, it was reported that he had
committed suicide by leaping out of a window.

05:13:28.306 --> 05:13:30.086
The Kiowa believed he was murdered.

05:13:30.086 --> 05:13:33.006
>> They killed Satanta.

05:13:33.646 --> 05:13:35.716
That's what all was thinking
of the Kiowa people.

05:13:35.716 --> 05:13:36.426
They killed him.

05:13:36.506 --> 05:13:37.616
He didn't kill himself.

05:13:37.796 --> 05:13:41.016
He's too much of a man to do anything like that.

05:13:41.016 --> 05:13:42.706
He's too much of a chief to do.

05:13:42.786 --> 05:13:44.856
Chiefs don't do that.

05:13:44.856 --> 05:13:49.646
>> By winter, all Kiowa bands had
been forced back to the reservation.

05:13:50.326 --> 05:13:56.226
The following spring, the last of the
Cheyenne surrendered followed soon

05:13:56.226 --> 05:13:59.976
after by the last free Comanche.

05:14:00.256 --> 05:14:07.336
Determined to break the Southern
Plains nations forever,

05:14:07.466 --> 05:14:10.296
the army rounded up 10,000 Indian horses.

05:14:12.446 --> 05:14:14.816
Almost 1,000 were shot.

05:14:14.816 --> 05:14:17.326
The rest, sold at auction.

05:14:18.106 --> 05:14:28.556
By 1890, the buffalo population of 50
million had been reduced to fewer than 1,000.

05:14:30.036 --> 05:14:34.606
The war to save the buffalo and
a way of life had been lost.

05:14:35.766 --> 05:14:42.916
>> The Kiowas were camped on
the north side of Mt. Scott,

05:14:43.876 --> 05:14:46.276
those of them who were still free to camp.

05:14:46.276 --> 05:14:52.016
One young woman got up very
early in the morning.

05:14:53.506 --> 05:14:56.826
The dawn mist was still rising
from Medicine Creek.

05:14:56.826 --> 05:15:02.886
And as she looked across the
water peering through the haze,

05:15:02.886 --> 05:15:10.146
she saw the last buffalo herd
appear like a spirit dream.

05:15:10.236 --> 05:15:18.456
Straight to Mt. Scott, the
leader of the herd walked.

05:15:18.456 --> 05:15:27.106
Behind him came the cows and their calves,
and a few young males who had survived.

05:15:27.106 --> 05:15:38.926
As the woman watched, the
face of the mountain opened.

05:15:41.066 --> 05:15:51.036
Inside Mt. Scott, the world was green and
fresh as it had been when she was a small girl.

05:15:52.366 --> 05:15:58.966
The rivers ran clear, not red.

05:16:00.966 --> 05:16:07.916
The wild plums were in blossom chasing
the red buds up the inside slopes.

05:16:10.056 --> 05:16:20.926
Into this world of beauty, the buffalo
walked, never to be seen again.

05:16:21.516 --> 05:16:26.546
[ Music ]

05:16:27.046 --> 05:16:31.146
>> Sometimes at evening, I sit looking out.

05:16:32.286 --> 05:16:36.796
The sun sets, and dusk steals over the water.

05:16:39.346 --> 05:16:43.326
In the shadows, I seem again
to see our Indian village

05:16:43.326 --> 05:16:48.366
with smoke curling upward from the lodges.

05:16:48.366 --> 05:16:54.626
And in the river's roar, I
hear the yells of the warriors,

05:16:54.896 --> 05:16:57.786
the laughter of the little children, as of old.

05:16:57.786 --> 05:17:07.816
It is but an old woman's dream.

05:17:07.816 --> 05:17:16.706
Again, I see but shadows and hear only the
roar of the river and tears come into my eyes.

05:17:16.816 --> 05:17:25.956
Our Indian life, I know, is gone forever.

05:17:26.516 --> 05:17:40.546
[ Music ]

05:17:41.046 --> 05:17:46.406
>> What treaty that the whites
have kept has the red man broken?

05:17:47.826 --> 05:17:53.636
Not one. What treaty that the white
man ever made with us have they kept?

05:17:55.136 --> 05:17:59.386
Not one. Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa.

05:18:01.676 --> 05:18:07.036
>> The Northern Plains mirrored the South with
Indian nations being driven onto reservations.

05:18:08.656 --> 05:18:11.836
Yet, a handful of leaders
refused to sign treaties

05:18:12.116 --> 05:18:14.516
and were determined to remain free at any cost.

05:18:16.406 --> 05:18:21.026
These defiant leaders became heroes
to Indian people across the Plains.

05:18:22.526 --> 05:18:27.586
Among them, two men from the
Sioux nations stood alone.

05:18:27.586 --> 05:18:33.356
One was the venerated Hunkpapa
holy man, Sitting Bull.

05:18:33.356 --> 05:18:38.756
The other was a young Oglala fighting man
whose fierce military genius struck fear

05:18:38.756 --> 05:18:41.706
into his enemies and inspired fervent followers.

05:18:43.156 --> 05:18:48.956
His image would never be captured by
photographers or artists but his spirit of pride

05:18:48.956 --> 05:18:51.886
and resistance would be carried
on by his people.

05:18:53.636 --> 05:18:55.586
His name was Crazy Horse.

05:18:57.636 --> 05:19:02.516
In the summer of 1876, thousands
of Cheyenne, Arapaho,

05:19:03.216 --> 05:19:07.786
and people from many Sioux nations fled
the reservations to join Sitting Bull

05:19:07.886 --> 05:19:13.666
and Crazy Horse in a great encampment along the
Little Bighorn River in present day Montana.

05:19:16.636 --> 05:19:21.576
The gathering, possibly the largest
in Plains history swelled to 8,000

05:19:22.016 --> 05:19:24.006
with camp circles stretching for miles.

05:19:25.226 --> 05:19:27.876
The Indian people were well aware

05:19:27.906 --> 05:19:31.426
that this could be their last
great celebration of freedom.

05:19:33.516 --> 05:19:38.296
[ Music ]

05:19:38.796 --> 05:19:40.906
They're far from any white settlements.

05:19:41.306 --> 05:19:47.686
They would hunt the last remaining buffalo,
feast, race ponies, visit with old friends

05:19:47.686 --> 05:19:54.136
and relatives, and join in a massive sun dance
that would be remembered for generations.

05:19:55.516 --> 05:20:00.586
[ Music & Noise ]

05:20:01.086 --> 05:20:08.176
On June 25th, 1876, as the United States
prepared to celebrate 100 years of freedom,

05:20:08.966 --> 05:20:13.916
five companies of the 7th Cavalry
under George Armstrong Custer advanced

05:20:13.916 --> 05:20:15.186
on Sitting Bull's camp.

05:20:17.036 --> 05:20:20.766
It was not until the dust from the
7th Cavalry rose over the hills

05:20:21.306 --> 05:20:23.816
that the startled encampment
learned of the troops.

05:20:25.496 --> 05:20:29.666
Two Moons, leader of the Northern
Cheyenne, was swimming in the creek.

05:20:31.936 --> 05:20:34.346
>> I looked up the Little Horn
towards Sitting Bull's camp.

05:20:35.466 --> 05:20:36.946
I saw a great dust rising.

05:20:37.076 --> 05:20:39.926
It looked like a whirlwind.

05:20:42.786 --> 05:20:46.016
Women were screaming and men
were letting out war cries.

05:20:46.706 --> 05:20:49.906
We can hear old men calling, "Soldiers are here!

05:20:50.536 --> 05:20:53.736
Young men, go out and fight them!"

05:20:55.116 --> 05:20:57.756
>> Crazy Horse rode through
the camp gathering his men

05:20:58.126 --> 05:21:01.846
as Custer's surprise attack stirred
panic among the women and children.

05:21:03.336 --> 05:21:05.306
>> Children were hunting for their mothers.

05:21:06.326 --> 05:21:09.276
Mothers were anxiously trying
to find their children.

05:21:10.206 --> 05:21:13.776
The air was so full of dust,
I could not see where to go.

05:21:14.726 --> 05:21:16.566
Wooden Leg, Northern Cheyenne.

05:21:18.816 --> 05:21:23.166
>> While the young men rode into battle,
Sitting Bull rallied the men still in camp

05:21:23.366 --> 05:21:25.026
to protect the women and children.

05:21:25.586 --> 05:21:31.566
The Hunkpapa, under Gall, and
the Oglala, under Crazy Horse,

05:21:31.906 --> 05:21:33.556
quickly rode out and counterattacked.

05:21:36.086 --> 05:21:40.616
>> Many hundreds of Indians
on horseback were dashing to

05:21:40.616 --> 05:21:42.886
and fro in front of a body of soldiers.

05:21:46.486 --> 05:21:50.736
The soldiers were on the level valley
ground and were shooting with rifles.

05:21:56.776 --> 05:22:02.456
Not many bullets were being sent back at them
but thousands of arrows were falling among them.

05:22:04.076 --> 05:22:06.006
Wooden Leg, Northern Cheyenne.

05:22:08.546 --> 05:22:10.596
>> A big dust was whirling on the hill

05:22:11.296 --> 05:22:15.156
and then the horses began coming
out of it with empty saddles.

05:22:17.236 --> 05:22:19.346
Black Elk, Oglala.

05:22:21.356 --> 05:22:23.536
>> The battle was over in
less than half an hour.

05:22:27.696 --> 05:22:34.916
Custer, 260 men of the 7th Cavalry, and
as many as 150 Indian people lay dead.

05:22:37.346 --> 05:22:42.976
Cheyenne survivors of the massacre of Black
Kettle's people along the Washita River exalted

05:22:42.976 --> 05:22:46.576
in the death of Custer, the
man they called "Woman Killer".

05:22:46.706 --> 05:22:55.386
But that night, Sitting Bull was reflective.

05:22:58.026 --> 05:23:02.116
>> My heart is full of sorrow that
so many were killed on each side.

05:23:03.136 --> 05:23:06.626
But when they compel us to fight, we must fight.

05:23:06.626 --> 05:23:17.786
Tonight we shall mourn for our dead and for
those brave white men lying on the hillside.

05:23:17.786 --> 05:23:21.426
Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa.

05:23:21.706 --> 05:23:28.136
>> The next day, firing the grass as
cover the Indian forces broke camp

05:23:28.376 --> 05:23:30.176
and headed toward the Bighorn Mountains.

05:23:33.136 --> 05:23:36.586
News of the battle reached
the outside world on July 4,

05:23:36.726 --> 05:23:41.396
1876 dampening a giddy US
Centennial celebration.

05:23:42.476 --> 05:23:47.496
The next morning's newspapers, ignoring
all evidence, called it a "massacre".

05:23:47.496 --> 05:23:56.906
>> We felt that it was a
great battle, not a massacre.

05:23:56.906 --> 05:23:59.886
The soldiers were going to compel
us to stay on our reservation

05:24:00.306 --> 05:24:02.006
and take away from us our country.

05:24:02.006 --> 05:24:04.786
We were trying to get away from them.

05:24:04.786 --> 05:24:09.786
Runs the Enemy, Cut Head, Sioux.

05:24:09.786 --> 05:24:13.536
>> Outraged by what was seen as an
affront to their national pride,

05:24:13.536 --> 05:24:16.906
the American public cried
out for immediate reprisal.

05:24:19.386 --> 05:24:22.606
Punitive expeditions were
sent out mercilessly hunting

05:24:22.606 --> 05:24:25.636
down the last free bands of the Northern Plains.

05:24:27.376 --> 05:24:34.646
Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa escaped into Canada
where they received political asylum.

05:24:34.646 --> 05:24:39.216
Crazy Horse's Oglala took refuge in
the Black Hills where the full force

05:24:39.216 --> 05:24:42.356
of the United States Army was turned on them.

05:24:44.106 --> 05:24:48.216
For months, the army was unable to
defeat or capture the Oglala leader.

05:24:48.336 --> 05:24:56.466
Finally, the US made peace overtures to Crazy
Horse promising land, generous subsidies,

05:24:56.726 --> 05:25:00.526
and protection if he and his
starving people turned themselves in.

05:25:03.526 --> 05:25:10.386
On May 5th, 1877 after nearly a year of
successfully eluding the all-out manhunt,

05:25:11.166 --> 05:25:15.716
Crazy Horse led nearly a 1,000
followers to surrender at Camp Robinson.

05:25:17.646 --> 05:25:21.746
Oglala, already at the agency, lined
the route, singing and cheering.

05:25:23.366 --> 05:25:28.476
One US Army officer marveled that it was
"A triumphal march, not a surrender."

05:25:29.426 --> 05:25:34.186
The leader, who had known nothing
but the freedom of the Plains,

05:25:34.576 --> 05:25:37.146
was stripped of his horse and gun.

05:25:38.136 --> 05:25:44.946
Then, four months later, on September 5th,
1877 believing he was going to a meeting

05:25:44.946 --> 05:25:49.576
with the commander of Fort Robinson,
Crazy Horse was led past an armed guard

05:25:49.576 --> 05:25:52.786
to the doorway of a building.

05:25:52.786 --> 05:25:57.726
Inside was a small barred cell,
three feet wide by six feet tall.

05:25:58.986 --> 05:26:03.916
Crazy Horse resisted.

05:26:03.916 --> 05:26:11.816
A soldier thrust a bayonet into his back.

05:26:11.816 --> 05:26:15.866
That night, as Crazy Horse
lay dying, he told his father,

05:26:15.866 --> 05:26:21.976
"Tell the people it is no
use to count on me anymore."

05:26:22.516 --> 05:26:29.756
[ Music ]

05:26:30.256 --> 05:26:35.976
Crazy Horse was laid to rest near
the creek called Wounded Knee.

05:26:36.516 --> 05:26:48.026
[ Music ]

05:26:48.526 --> 05:26:54.036
>> As Americans or people in any free
society, we cherish our independence and know

05:26:54.036 --> 05:26:58.726
that the cost to secure this hard-won
commodity is often measured in human lives.

05:26:59.736 --> 05:27:03.596
Think for a moment what would happen
if your freedom was placed at risk.

05:27:04.786 --> 05:27:07.966
Is it any wonder then that Indian
nations fought to preserve theirs?

05:27:09.106 --> 05:27:12.156
Now, imagine the unthinkable, being conquered.

05:27:13.106 --> 05:27:16.086
You're forced onto barren land
and have no choice but to live

05:27:16.086 --> 05:27:18.056
under the control of the conquering government.

05:27:19.486 --> 05:27:24.776
In this last hour, we'll take you to the
reservations of the 1800s, to the stark,

05:27:24.916 --> 05:27:26.826
bitter truth about the loss of freedom.

05:27:27.936 --> 05:27:32.776
But first we go to the epic struggles of two
impassioned leaders whose resourcefulness

05:27:32.776 --> 05:27:38.486
and daring are synonymous with courage, leaders
whose words remain among the most moving

05:27:38.846 --> 05:27:43.306
in the history of the world,
Chief Joseph and Geronimo.

05:27:44.516 --> 05:27:49.686
[ Music ]

05:27:50.186 --> 05:27:54.126
>> My father sent for me.

05:27:54.256 --> 05:27:55.546
I saw he was dying.

05:27:55.546 --> 05:27:57.536
I took his hand in mine.

05:27:57.656 --> 05:28:04.256
He said, "My son, never forget my dying words.

05:28:05.336 --> 05:28:07.606
This country holds your father's body.

05:28:07.606 --> 05:28:16.506
Never sell the bones of your
father and your mother."

05:28:16.506 --> 05:28:22.206
I pressed my father's hand and told him
I would protect his grave with my life.

05:28:22.206 --> 05:28:28.426
I buried him in that beautiful
valley of winding waters.

05:28:29.516 --> 05:28:38.406
[ Music ]

05:28:38.906 --> 05:28:44.956
I loved that land more than
all the rest of the world.

05:28:44.956 --> 05:28:47.286
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.

05:28:47.286 --> 05:28:55.516
>> Upon his father's death, 31-year old
Inmutooyahlatlat, known as Chief Joseph,

05:28:56.066 --> 05:29:00.166
became head of a band of Nez Perce,
whose home was the Wallowa Valley,

05:29:00.626 --> 05:29:04.316
250 miles east of present day Portland, Oregon.

05:29:06.556 --> 05:29:11.276
Famed for their selective breeding of
horses, particularly the appaloosa,

05:29:12.106 --> 05:29:15.346
the Nez Perce had always been
friends to the Americans.

05:29:16.626 --> 05:29:22.216
But with the opening of the Oregon territory
and the end of the Civil War, white settlers,

05:29:22.476 --> 05:29:26.806
cattlemen, and gold miners came
to covet the rich Nez Perce land.

05:29:27.886 --> 05:29:30.646
Ignoring their long friendship
with the Indian nation,

05:29:31.236 --> 05:29:33.966
the US government supported
the settlers' claims.

05:29:35.226 --> 05:29:41.546
In 1877, General Oliver Howard entered the
Wallowa Valley with orders from Washington

05:29:41.546 --> 05:29:45.096
to remove the Nez Perce by treaty or by force.

05:29:46.516 --> 05:29:52.566
[ Music ]

05:29:53.066 --> 05:29:59.116
>> I did not want to come to this council
but I came hoping that we could save blood.

05:30:01.246 --> 05:30:05.336
The white man has no right to
come here and take our country.

05:30:06.766 --> 05:30:13.976
And we will defend this land as long as a drop
of Indian blood warms the hearts of our men.

05:30:18.056 --> 05:30:20.166
>> Joseph was faced with a terrible choice,

05:30:20.836 --> 05:30:25.266
to betray his father's dying wish
or to commit his people to war.

05:30:26.136 --> 05:30:35.016
Finally, he reluctantly agreed to
relinquish his Wallowa Valley homeland.

05:30:35.016 --> 05:30:38.226
Despite Joseph's concessions,
tensions remained high.

05:30:41.696 --> 05:30:45.586
As the Nez Perce were preparing to
move onto the reservation, a youth,

05:30:45.716 --> 05:30:49.696
whose father had been murdered by
settlers, gathered several friends

05:30:49.846 --> 05:30:54.826
and killed four settlers who were known to have
committed atrocities against Nez Perce people.

05:30:56.346 --> 05:31:05.606
>> I know that my young men did a great
wrong but I ask, who was the first to blame?

05:31:06.246 --> 05:31:08.796
Their fathers and brothers had been killed.

05:31:09.836 --> 05:31:13.386
Their mothers and wives had been disgraced.

05:31:14.636 --> 05:31:20.276
They had been told by General Howard
that all their horses and cattle were

05:31:20.276 --> 05:31:23.466
to fall into the hands of white men.

05:31:24.436 --> 05:31:32.336
I would have given my own life if I could have
undone the killing of white men by my people.

05:31:33.906 --> 05:31:36.856
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.

05:31:36.856 --> 05:31:41.606
>> When seven more whites were killed,

05:31:42.166 --> 05:31:45.336
General Howard sent a military
force against the Indian nation.

05:31:46.366 --> 05:31:50.126
Nez Perce leaders responded by
dispatching a truce delegation

05:31:50.356 --> 05:31:53.396
under a white flag to meet
Howard's advancing army.

05:31:54.306 --> 05:31:55.956
Howard's men opened fire.

05:31:56.016 --> 05:31:58.016
[ Gun Shot ]

05:31:58.016 --> 05:32:06.000
[ Music ]

05:32:07.496 --> 05:32:10.576
So began Chief Joseph's famous
flight for freedom.

05:32:11.546 --> 05:32:20.166
Over 700 men, women, and children, with sick and
elderly enduring a 1,800 mile fighting retreat.

05:32:20.596 --> 05:32:24.326
The struggle would capture the
imagination of the American public.

05:32:24.946 --> 05:32:28.296
Newspaper accounts made Chief
Joseph a household name.

05:32:29.206 --> 05:32:35.056
With a military genius born of desperation,
the five Nez Perce bands outwitted

05:32:35.176 --> 05:32:37.996
and outmaneuvered one military
force after another

05:32:38.496 --> 05:32:45.756
as they made their way toward Sitting
Bull's camp and political asylum in Canada.

05:32:45.756 --> 05:32:50.256
Circling through the mountains,
canyons, and plateau prairies of Idaho,

05:32:50.256 --> 05:32:54.396
crossing the high ridges of the Bitterroot
Mountains into Montana and Wyoming,

05:32:54.616 --> 05:32:58.376
colliding with frightened tourists in
the newly created Yellowstone Park,

05:32:58.376 --> 05:33:04.386
the Nez Perce fought off in turn four armies
commanded by veteran Civil War officers.

05:33:05.516 --> 05:33:10.906
[ Music ]

05:33:11.406 --> 05:33:18.506
After 105 days of constant pursuit, the Nez
Perce reached the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana,

05:33:18.996 --> 05:33:21.536
one day from Sitting Bull's camp and freedom.

05:33:22.986 --> 05:33:27.606
They knew they had put safe distance between
themselves and the pursuing armies and stopped

05:33:27.606 --> 05:33:30.316
for a last rest before moving across the border.

05:33:30.806 --> 05:33:36.366
What they did not know was that a new
army had been dispatched by telegraph

05:33:36.806 --> 05:33:38.496
and was surrounding them as they camped.

05:33:40.306 --> 05:33:43.096
The Nez Perce were taken completely by surprise.

05:33:44.306 --> 05:33:45.576
The fighting was intense.

05:33:45.966 --> 05:33:50.826
And in the first moments, Chief Joseph and 70
others were cut off from the rest of the camp.

05:33:52.566 --> 05:33:57.776
>> With a prayer in my mouth, I dashed
unarmed through the line of soldiers.

05:33:58.826 --> 05:34:03.876
My clothes were cut to pieces, my
horse was wounded, but I was not hurt.

05:34:05.176 --> 05:34:11.756
As I reached the door of my lodge, my wife
handed me my rifle saying, "Here's your gun.

05:34:12.786 --> 05:34:13.096
Fight."

05:34:14.916 --> 05:34:16.506
>> They ran up the hill when they were fighting.

05:34:16.506 --> 05:34:18.616
It was going to-- they're
tearing the camp down there.

05:34:19.116 --> 05:34:23.916
She had this little baby and her girl by the
hand and they said there was kind of a tree.

05:34:23.916 --> 05:34:25.786
It's like there was a big log there.

05:34:25.786 --> 05:34:34.966
So, she-- they crawled under that log to kind
of hide from the soldiers that might come

05:34:35.166 --> 05:34:37.226
and probably shoot them down too.

05:34:37.226 --> 05:34:41.146
And they just stayed there
'til everything was quiet.

05:34:41.756 --> 05:34:45.606
>> The battle raged throughout the
first day with heavy casualties

05:34:45.606 --> 05:34:50.246
on both sides including the leaders
of three of the five Nez Perce bands.

05:34:51.456 --> 05:34:55.526
By the second day, the Nez Perce were
dug in and fighting from trenches.

05:34:56.406 --> 05:34:59.086
The army could not mount an
attack without heavy losses.

05:34:59.386 --> 05:35:05.416
Finally, on October 5th, General
Nelson A. Miles called Chief Joseph

05:35:05.416 --> 05:35:08.506
to peace talks under a flag of truce.

05:35:10.496 --> 05:35:13.476
Chief Joseph went to General
Miles and gave up his gun,

05:35:13.746 --> 05:35:17.676
only one day from Sitting
Bull's camp and Canadian asylum.

05:35:17.676 --> 05:35:20.516
>> I am tired of fighting.

05:35:20.516 --> 05:35:21.906
Our chiefs are all killed.

05:35:21.906 --> 05:35:23.206
The old men were all dead.

05:35:23.206 --> 05:35:25.596
The little children are freezing to death.

05:35:25.736 --> 05:35:38.166
I want to have time to look for my children
and see how many of them I can find.

05:35:38.166 --> 05:35:40.356
Maybe I shall find them among the dead.

05:35:40.356 --> 05:35:41.296
Hear me, my chiefs.

05:35:41.296 --> 05:35:42.736
I am tired.

05:35:42.736 --> 05:35:46.596
My heart is sick and sad.

05:35:46.596 --> 05:35:50.916
From where the sun now stands,
I will fight no more, forever.

05:35:50.916 --> 05:35:59.136
>> But the United States would not honor
the terms of Chief Joseph's surrender.

05:35:59.136 --> 05:36:05.276
The captured Nez Perce were shipped
south to a malaria-infested reservation

05:36:05.276 --> 05:36:19.716
at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas before
final relocation to Oklahoma territory.

05:36:19.716 --> 05:36:27.246
Chief Joseph had put down his gun but he had
not given up the struggle for his homeland.

05:36:27.246 --> 05:36:31.166
He would devote the rest of his
life to honoring his promise

05:36:31.166 --> 05:36:35.626
to his father and fighting for his people.

05:36:35.626 --> 05:36:44.286
He traveled to Washington, DC where he
passionately argued his case before Congress.

05:36:44.286 --> 05:36:46.666
>> I have heard talk and
talk, but nothing is done.

05:36:46.666 --> 05:36:56.966
Good words do not last long
unless they amount to something.

05:36:56.966 --> 05:37:06.036
It makes my heart sick when I remember all
the good words and all the broken promises.

05:37:06.036 --> 05:37:18.306
>> In 1885, after eight long years and a massive
campaign launched by Eastern philanthropists,

05:37:18.396 --> 05:37:24.116
Chief Joseph's people won the
right to return to the Northwest

05:37:24.186 --> 05:37:27.016
but not to their beloved Wallowa Valley.

05:37:27.376 --> 05:37:38.466
The cattlemen who occupied it threatened
to kill Chief Joseph if he returned.

05:37:38.466 --> 05:37:46.166
Forever banished from his country, Joseph
and 150 members of his band were taken

05:37:46.166 --> 05:37:50.746
under military escort to a
reservation in Washington territory.

05:37:51.016 --> 05:37:55.556
There, in exile, Chief Joseph would die.

05:37:55.556 --> 05:38:02.696
>> The doctor that was there
to examine to Joseph,

05:38:04.286 --> 05:38:11.516
his plea was that Joseph lost his
life account of his broken heart.

05:38:12.516 --> 05:38:18.546
[ Music ]

05:38:19.046 --> 05:38:27.516
>> If the white man wants to live in peace
with the Indian, he can live in peace.

05:38:27.516 --> 05:38:28.766
Treat all men alike.

05:38:28.766 --> 05:38:35.826
Give them all an even chance to live and grow.

05:38:35.826 --> 05:38:40.706
You might as well expect the rivers
to run backward as that any man

05:38:40.706 --> 05:38:45.156
who was born a free man should
be contented when penned up

05:38:45.156 --> 05:38:48.506
and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

05:38:49.606 --> 05:38:56.596
Let me be a free man, free to
travel, free to stop, free to work,

05:38:57.606 --> 05:39:03.976
free to choose my own teachers, free
to follow the religion of my fathers,

05:39:05.106 --> 05:39:12.046
free to think and talk and act for myself.

05:39:12.046 --> 05:39:14.246
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.

05:39:15.516 --> 05:39:32.026
[ Music ]

05:39:32.526 --> 05:39:36.826
>> When I was young, I walked all
over this country, east and west,

05:39:36.826 --> 05:39:39.916
and I saw no other people than the Apaches.

05:39:40.906 --> 05:39:50.476
After many summers, I walked again and I found
another race of people had come to take it.

05:39:50.476 --> 05:39:52.756
Cochise, Chokonen.

05:39:52.886 --> 05:40:01.066
>> When California became part of the United
States in 1848, a new flow of military

05:40:01.066 --> 05:40:02.966
and civilian traffic headed west.

05:40:04.256 --> 05:40:09.136
Many bound for Southern California took
a route near the Mexican border that went

05:40:09.136 --> 05:40:12.376
through the lands of Apache
nations, the Chokonen,

05:40:12.886 --> 05:40:16.786
Bedonkohe, Nednhi, and Chi'enne Apache.

05:40:17.826 --> 05:40:24.376
The Apache had a long and successful
history of defending their lands

05:40:24.376 --> 05:40:27.296
against aggressive Spanish and Mexican invaders.

05:40:28.456 --> 05:40:31.986
But as the newest arrivals, the
Americans crossed their lands,

05:40:32.626 --> 05:40:35.406
most Apache held no grievances against them

05:40:35.506 --> 05:40:40.386
and their leaders made every effort
to accommodate the travelers.

05:40:40.386 --> 05:40:42.196
>> At last, in my youth, came the white man.

05:40:42.356 --> 05:40:48.776
Under the counsel of my father who had for
a long time been the head of the Apaches,

05:40:48.816 --> 05:40:51.136
they were received with friendship.

05:40:51.136 --> 05:41:02.116
Soon their numbers increased and
many passed through the country.

05:41:03.256 --> 05:41:05.786
We lived in peace.

05:41:06.926 --> 05:41:11.946
Cochise, Chokonen.

05:41:11.946 --> 05:41:19.116
>> In February of 1861, a charismatic Chokonen
leader, Cochise, was summoned to a meeting

05:41:19.386 --> 05:41:23.076
with an inexperienced army
lieutenant named George Bascom.

05:41:24.276 --> 05:41:29.226
Bascom accused Cochise of kidnapping
a child from a nearby ranch.

05:41:30.166 --> 05:41:33.696
>> Cochise denied that any of
his band had done the kidnapping.

05:41:34.606 --> 05:41:37.756
Bascom accused the chief of telling a lie.

05:41:38.786 --> 05:41:42.156
Cochise was very proud of making his word good

05:41:42.846 --> 05:41:45.536
and no greater offense could
have been offered him.

05:41:46.476 --> 05:41:48.596
Daklugie, Nednhi.

05:41:49.396 --> 05:41:54.796
>> Bascom ordered Cochise arrested but the
Apache leader escaped through heavy gunfire.

05:41:58.336 --> 05:42:02.916
The men who accompanied Cochise were
held by Bascom and executed soon after.

05:42:02.986 --> 05:42:12.436
>> At last, your soldiers did me a great wrong
and I and my people went to war with them.

05:42:12.436 --> 05:42:14.126
Cochise, Chokonen.

05:42:15.956 --> 05:42:20.876
>> Cochise cut off the passage
through Apache Pass.

05:42:20.966 --> 05:42:24.516
The United States responded by
sending General James Carleton

05:42:24.936 --> 05:42:27.716
to establish Fort Bowie in Apache Pass.

05:42:29.536 --> 05:42:31.856
>> There is to be no council
held with the Indians.

05:42:32.306 --> 05:42:35.916
The men are to be slain whenever
and wherever they can be found.

05:42:36.716 --> 05:42:39.706
The women and children may
be taken as prisoners.

05:42:40.706 --> 05:42:45.906
I trust that these demonstrations will
give those Indians a wholesome lesson.

05:42:49.676 --> 05:42:54.446
>> But the long and intense efforts of the
United States Army would have little success.

05:42:56.846 --> 05:43:00.206
Based at his stronghold high
in the rocky Dragoon Mountains,

05:43:00.886 --> 05:43:07.486
Cochise fought a successful guerrilla war
against the US Cavalry for the next nine years.

05:43:08.196 --> 05:43:15.986
Finally, in 1872, General Oliver Howard traveled
to Cochise's stronghold to sue for peace.

05:43:17.486 --> 05:43:24.986
Cochise agreed to lay down his arms for a
promise that his people would be allowed to live

05:43:24.986 --> 05:43:27.346
on their own land in Apache Pass.

05:43:29.106 --> 05:43:36.236
Howard's promise would hold true through
the remaining two years of Cochise's life.

05:43:36.236 --> 05:43:43.866
Then, in 1876, the United States dissolved the
Apache Pass reservation and ordered the people

05:43:44.106 --> 05:43:46.676
to the barren San Carlos Reservation.

05:43:47.266 --> 05:43:51.126
>> The creator did not make San Carlos.

05:43:51.766 --> 05:43:52.926
It is older than he.

05:43:53.746 --> 05:43:58.616
He just left it as a sample of the way
they did jobs before he came along.

05:43:58.616 --> 05:44:05.476
Take stones and ashes and thorns and with
some scorpions and rattlesnakes thrown in,

05:44:05.806 --> 05:44:12.096
dump the outfit on stones, heat the
stones red-hot, set the United States Army

05:44:12.096 --> 05:44:16.296
after the Apache, and you have San Carlos.

05:44:18.516 --> 05:44:25.556
[ Music & Noise ]

05:44:26.056 --> 05:44:32.756
>> Of those ordered to relocate, two-thirds
refused, preferring to follow a new generation

05:44:32.906 --> 05:44:39.406
of Apache leaders, leaders
committed to freedom at all costs.

05:44:40.836 --> 05:44:48.766
Among them were Juh, Nana,
Loco, Victorio and Geronimo.

05:44:48.936 --> 05:44:55.476
>> Juh told him that he could offer
them nothing but hardship and death.

05:44:56.086 --> 05:45:01.086
As he saw it, they must choose
between death from heat, starvation,

05:45:01.086 --> 05:45:06.126
and degradation at San Carlos
and a wild, free life in Mexico.

05:45:06.906 --> 05:45:08.606
Short, perhaps, but free.

05:45:10.086 --> 05:45:15.676
Let them remember that if they took this
step, they would be hunted like wild animals

05:45:15.676 --> 05:45:21.016
by the troops of both the
United States and Mexico.

05:45:21.016 --> 05:45:27.026
All of us knew that we were doomed but some
preferred death to slavery and imprisonment.

05:45:27.946 --> 05:45:30.036
Daklugie, Nednhi.

05:45:30.036 --> 05:45:37.326
>> Geronimo's strength of will had been
forged much earlier when his wife, children,

05:45:37.326 --> 05:45:40.376
and mother were killed in a
Mexican raid on his village.

05:45:40.376 --> 05:45:43.796
>> He had been away from home and came back

05:45:43.796 --> 05:45:48.656
and found his entire family
scattered all over in the yard, dead.

05:45:49.276 --> 05:45:58.286
The Americans and the Mexicans rode horses with
shoes and so he knew that they were the ones

05:45:58.286 --> 05:46:00.516
that had come and destroyed his family.

05:46:00.926 --> 05:46:09.936
And he made a vow then that he would kill
every Mexican and every American that he saw.

05:46:09.936 --> 05:46:14.586
>> Now, he would lead the Apache
through their greatest test.

05:46:14.586 --> 05:46:24.626
The final Apache resistance was a monumental
expression of human pride and love of freedom.

05:46:24.626 --> 05:46:27.216
>> We are vanishing from the earth.

05:46:27.216 --> 05:46:31.106
Yet, I cannot think we are useless.

05:46:31.106 --> 05:46:34.386
Our God would not have created us.

05:46:34.386 --> 05:46:40.076
For each tribe of men God
created, he also made a home.

05:46:40.076 --> 05:46:43.396
In the land created for any particular tribe,

05:46:43.466 --> 05:46:47.976
he placed whatever would be best
for the welfare of that tribe.

05:46:47.976 --> 05:46:52.806
Thus, it wasn't the beginning, the Apaches

05:46:52.806 --> 05:46:57.756
and their homes each created
for the other by God himself.

05:47:00.376 --> 05:47:06.086
When they are taken from these
homes, they sicken and die.

05:47:06.086 --> 05:47:13.396
How long will it be until it is
said, "There are no Apaches?"

05:47:13.396 --> 05:47:18.976
Geronimo, Bedonkohe.

05:47:19.516 --> 05:47:30.456
[ Music ]

05:47:30.956 --> 05:47:35.716
>> For a decade, the Apache
surmounted overwhelming odds.

05:47:35.756 --> 05:47:43.296
By 1886, Geronimo's tiny band was being
hunted across the mountains by 8,000 troops

05:47:43.296 --> 05:47:45.526
from Mexico and the United States.

05:47:46.516 --> 05:47:56.626
[ Music & Noise ]

05:47:57.126 --> 05:48:00.816
>> He was losing all his
warriors and his family.

05:48:01.026 --> 05:48:06.236
He could never beat them because there was
always somebody there and there were so many.

05:48:06.966 --> 05:48:09.166
And he was losing his own people.

05:48:09.436 --> 05:48:15.026
And he said, "If I keep fighting,
there will never be anymore of us."

05:48:15.386 --> 05:48:20.886
>> At that time, Geronimo's
band consisted of 17 men.

05:48:21.556 --> 05:48:25.266
He had also Lozen, known as the woman warrior.

05:48:26.446 --> 05:48:32.276
Geronimo was handicapped by the presence too of
women and children who must be defended and fed.

05:48:32.596 --> 05:48:35.256
Nobody ever captured Geronimo.

05:48:36.066 --> 05:48:38.106
I know. I was with him.

05:48:39.336 --> 05:48:41.856
Anyway, who can capture the wind?

05:48:44.266 --> 05:48:46.376
Daklugie, Nednhi.

05:48:46.376 --> 05:48:56.646
>> On September 3rd, 1886, Geronimo
turned himself in to General Miles

05:48:56.646 --> 05:49:01.456
who had already made his reputation as
the man who finally caught Chief Joseph.

05:49:02.486 --> 05:49:07.746
As a condition of surrender, Miles promised
Geronimo that his band would be taken

05:49:07.746 --> 05:49:15.256
into custody for only a short while before being
released to a reservation in the Southwest.

05:49:15.256 --> 05:49:16.496
But Miles lied.

05:49:17.476 --> 05:49:21.036
Geronimo's people and even
Apache peacefully settled

05:49:21.036 --> 05:49:25.376
at the San Carlos Reservation were
shipped to Indian prisons in Florida.

05:49:25.506 --> 05:49:29.646
>> I was born as a prisoner of war.

05:49:29.646 --> 05:49:33.386
They promised us in the beginning
that we would be held prisoners

05:49:33.386 --> 05:49:37.336
for two years which went into 28 years.

05:49:37.396 --> 05:49:43.976
And I'm almost sure we're the only tribe
that ever served that many years in prison.

05:49:44.516 --> 05:49:48.576
[ Music ]

05:49:49.076 --> 05:49:53.126
>> Geronimo would not live to be a free man.

05:49:53.126 --> 05:50:00.266
After 23 years as a prisoner
of war, he died in 1909.

05:50:00.266 --> 05:50:05.226
>> What is the matter that
you don't speak to me?

05:50:05.226 --> 05:50:10.166
Why don't you look at me, smile at me?

05:50:10.166 --> 05:50:19.206
I am a man, I have the same
feet, legs and hands,

05:50:19.436 --> 05:50:24.976
and the sun looks down on me a complete man.

05:50:24.976 --> 05:50:27.976
I want you to look and smile at me.

05:50:28.516 --> 05:50:37.516
[ Music ]

05:50:38.016 --> 05:50:41.000
[ Silence ]

05:50:41.516 --> 05:50:46.546
[ Music ]

05:50:47.046 --> 05:50:52.026
>> [Background Music] By the late
1800s reservations had become virtual

05:50:52.116 --> 05:50:53.266
concentration camps.

05:50:53.266 --> 05:51:03.376
Most were on barren lands useless
for farming and devoid of game.

05:51:03.376 --> 05:51:07.556
Indian people were forced to live
off of US food rations promised

05:51:07.556 --> 05:51:12.786
in treaties in return for their lands.

05:51:12.786 --> 05:51:18.646
Providing subsidies and food for over
200,000 Indian people was big business.

05:51:18.786 --> 05:51:24.016
The distribution system quickly became
a corrupt network of government agents

05:51:24.176 --> 05:51:29.386
and their partners known as the Indian Ring.

05:51:29.386 --> 05:51:36.746
>> "If they bring any goods for the
Indians the agents live off of them.

05:51:36.746 --> 05:51:42.416
And pay has been taken by the agents and
they have put money in their pockets.

05:51:44.106 --> 05:51:47.316
The steamboat came in the night
and took away boxes of goods

05:51:48.156 --> 05:51:50.136
so that the Indians would not know it."

05:51:50.976 --> 05:51:55.426
Struck By The Ree, Yankton.

05:51:55.826 --> 05:51:58.566
>> Robbing nations of their
meager government subsidies,

05:51:59.006 --> 05:52:02.416
the Indian Ring left the
people in abject property.

05:52:02.856 --> 05:52:08.476
>> And they hoped, it seems to me,
to take away the spirit of the people

05:52:09.586 --> 05:52:13.106
so that we become more docile, so to speak.

05:52:14.056 --> 05:52:21.016
We would then only depend upon them
for the way to be, we would have to go

05:52:21.066 --> 05:52:23.596
to whoever brought out the rations.

05:52:24.351 --> 05:52:26.351
[ Music ]

05:52:26.686 --> 05:52:30.316
>> [Background Music] "I noticed a small
group of Indians who sat under a tree.

05:52:31.236 --> 05:52:33.706
All were dirty, rugged and lean.

05:52:34.756 --> 05:52:40.126
Soon an Indian woman and a young girl hurried
into the group, laid down packs and opened them.

05:52:41.036 --> 05:52:45.916
I could see spread out there some dingy
meat, evidently waste from a butcher shop,

05:52:45.916 --> 05:52:52.246
and some discarded scraps of stale bread
and another stray odds and ends of food.

05:52:53.276 --> 05:52:58.566
I felt a wave of fury toward our
government's whole Indian policy."

05:52:58.876 --> 05:53:07.586
Thomas Tibbles, reporter.

05:53:07.586 --> 05:53:11.036
>> [Background Music] Many Eastern reformers
were determined to break the Indian Ring.

05:53:11.036 --> 05:53:17.396
But they believed that the only lasting
solution was change not only for the bureaucrats

05:53:17.396 --> 05:53:22.216
but for the Indian people themselves.

05:53:22.216 --> 05:53:25.116
Indian ways were judged as backward and wrong,

05:53:25.116 --> 05:53:28.916
that for their own good their
cultures had to be erased.

05:53:28.916 --> 05:53:35.496
Indian people were to be
remade in the reformer's image.

05:53:35.496 --> 05:53:42.536
>> "The Indians only say future can be
found in merging their interests with ours

05:53:42.536 --> 05:53:45.586
and becoming part of the
people of the United States.

05:53:46.236 --> 05:53:52.176
Their safe course is to quit being tribal
Indians, to go out and live among us

05:53:52.176 --> 05:53:59.956
as individual men, to adopt our language, our
industries and become a part of the power."

05:54:00.136 --> 05:54:08.236
Richard Pratt, director, Carlisle Indian School.

05:54:08.306 --> 05:54:12.406
>> The policy of striping Indian people
of their cultures became official

05:54:12.406 --> 05:54:17.806
with the 1887 passage of
the General Allotment Act.

05:54:17.806 --> 05:54:22.916
The act broke apart communal land holdings
assigning plots to individuals in an effort

05:54:22.916 --> 05:54:24.976
to force them to live like white farmers.

05:54:25.516 --> 05:54:28.276
[ Dog Barking, Horse Neighing ]

05:54:28.776 --> 05:54:32.186
>> "As long as Indians live in
villages they will retain many

05:54:32.186 --> 05:54:36.036
of their old and injurious habits.

05:54:36.036 --> 05:54:39.316
Heathen ceremonies and dances,
constant visiting.

05:54:39.316 --> 05:54:46.446
I trust that before another year is ended they
will generally be located upon individual land

05:54:46.446 --> 05:54:47.466
or farms."

05:54:48.976 --> 05:54:50.076
Government Commissioner.

05:54:52.716 --> 05:54:57.296
>> Supported by an alliance of eastern
reformers and western lands speculators,

05:54:57.896 --> 05:55:03.366
allotment attacked both the sovereignty of
Indian nations and the fundamental concept

05:55:03.436 --> 05:55:05.466
of land belonging to all the people.

05:55:07.986 --> 05:55:12.306
>> "This is only another trick of the
whites to take our land away from us.

05:55:13.136 --> 05:55:15.406
And they have played these tricks before."

05:55:16.766 --> 05:55:19.166
Hollow Horn Bear, Oglala.

05:55:19.886 --> 05:55:25.926
>> The allotment system was
ripe for massive fraud.

05:55:27.426 --> 05:55:29.766
Corrupt agents declared small children,

05:55:30.106 --> 05:55:35.416
dogs and horses as allottees then
seized their lands and sold them.

05:55:36.356 --> 05:55:40.026
Indian orphans were shuffled off
to white families who adopted them

05:55:40.026 --> 05:55:41.836
to obtain tittle to their allotments.

05:55:44.076 --> 05:55:48.966
After allotment plots were handed out to
Indian people, the US government was free

05:55:48.966 --> 05:55:54.906
to sell the remaining reservation
lands to whites.

05:55:54.906 --> 05:55:59.096
During the allotment period, Indian
nations would lose two thirds

05:55:59.146 --> 05:56:01.706
of the little land that remained in their hands.

05:56:02.516 --> 05:56:05.976
[ Music ]

05:56:06.476 --> 05:56:09.306
[Background Music] Two years after
the passage of the Allotment Act,

05:56:09.586 --> 05:56:12.976
Oklahoma Indian territory was
officially open to settlers.

05:56:13.016 --> 05:56:14.016
[ Music ]

05:56:14.016 --> 05:56:15.000
[ Gunshot ]

05:56:15.516 --> 05:56:18.596
[ Horses Galloping and Neighing ]

05:56:19.096 --> 05:56:25.956
What followed were the famous land rushes.

05:56:25.956 --> 05:56:32.076
The territories of the Creek, Cherokee,
and other nations were overrun.

05:56:32.076 --> 05:56:36.996
Lands which had been promised then as
permanent, unassailable refuges in exchange

05:56:36.996 --> 05:56:38.836
for their lands east of the Mississippi.

05:56:40.516 --> 05:56:44.546
[ Music ]

05:56:45.046 --> 05:56:48.806
[Background Music] But of all
the government policies designed

05:56:48.806 --> 05:56:56.566
to end Indian cultures, the
cruelest was yet to come.

05:56:56.566 --> 05:57:00.256
Indian people would be robbed
of even their children.

05:57:00.256 --> 05:57:09.176
Across the country Indian children,
some as young as four years old,

05:57:09.176 --> 05:57:13.976
were taken from their parents often
by force and sent to boarding schools.

05:57:14.516 --> 05:57:20.806
[ Music ]

05:57:21.306 --> 05:57:24.976
At the boarding schools, children were stripped

05:57:24.976 --> 05:57:28.666
of all outward appearances
linking them to their Indian past.

05:57:29.516 --> 05:57:32.546
[ Music ]

05:57:33.046 --> 05:57:36.016
>> [Background Music] Our
belongings were taken from us.

05:57:36.016 --> 05:57:40.776
Even the little medicine bags our mothers
had given us to protect us from harm.

05:57:41.746 --> 05:57:43.726
Everything was placed in a heap and set afire.

05:57:43.916 --> 05:57:51.406
Next was the long hair, the
pride of all the Indians.

05:57:51.596 --> 05:58:00.616
The boys one by one would breakdown and cry
when they saw the braids thrown on the floor.

05:58:00.856 --> 05:58:03.526
Lone Wolf, Blackfeet.

05:58:03.526 --> 05:58:07.566
>> [Background Music] Children were forbidden to
speak of their traditions and severely punished

05:58:07.566 --> 05:58:12.026
if they used their native languages.

05:58:12.026 --> 05:58:18.226
Fed distorted images of evil Indians,
many came to doubt their own identity.

05:58:18.226 --> 05:58:24.746
>> I remember growing up that I
never really felt good about myself.

05:58:26.286 --> 05:58:31.016
We were taught to be ashamed
of who we were and who we are.

05:58:32.116 --> 05:58:36.056
And it hurts when you're young
and you're trying to understand.

05:58:36.206 --> 05:58:40.496
>> [Background Music] We all wore white
man's clothes and ate white man's food.

05:58:40.776 --> 05:58:43.956
And went to white man's churches
and spoke white man's talk.

05:58:43.956 --> 05:58:49.256
And so after a while we also
begin to say Indians were bad.

05:58:49.386 --> 05:58:53.566
We laughed at our own people and their blankets

05:58:53.566 --> 05:58:59.456
and cooking pats and sacred
societies and dances.

05:58:59.456 --> 05:59:01.426
Sun Elk, Taos.

05:59:01.496 --> 05:59:05.116
>> Many boarding schools were set
up in converted military posts

05:59:05.486 --> 05:59:09.106
where for decades soldiers had been
trained to fight Indian people.

05:59:10.396 --> 05:59:16.276
Students slept on cots and cement barracks and
were drilled daily in strict military regimen.

05:59:16.876 --> 05:59:19.176
>> It was like an army barracks.

05:59:20.036 --> 05:59:25.076
They marched us like they do in army
when you first go into the army.

05:59:25.826 --> 05:59:28.196
We marched to school, we marched to eat.

05:59:28.476 --> 05:59:30.596
They took us to church, we marched to church.

05:59:30.596 --> 05:59:34.116
We lived kind of an army style life.

05:59:34.456 --> 05:59:37.726
And we went to school that way.

05:59:38.016 --> 05:59:39.056
[ Music ]

05:59:39.056 --> 05:59:44.156
>> [Background Music] If we thought the
days were bad, the nights were much worse.

05:59:44.156 --> 05:59:47.916
This was the time when real loneliness set in.

05:59:48.776 --> 05:59:54.586
Many boys run away but most of them were
caught and brought back by the police.

05:59:55.096 --> 05:59:58.096
We were told never to talk Indian,

05:59:58.096 --> 06:00:01.396
and if we were caught we got
strapping with a leather belt.

06:00:01.396 --> 06:00:07.416
I remember one evening when
we were all lined up in a room

06:00:07.416 --> 06:00:10.696
and one of the boys said
something Indian to another boy.

06:00:10.786 --> 06:00:15.366
The man in charge caught them by the
shirt and threw him across the room.

06:00:15.796 --> 06:00:17.756
Later we found out his collar bone was broken.

06:00:17.756 --> 06:00:24.616
>> The priest would take a leather harness
strap and he would beat my husband.

06:00:25.886 --> 06:00:30.836
And every time that strap would come
down on him, how he would repeat

06:00:30.836 --> 06:00:34.526
to himself I'll never forget my
language, he was thinking that.

06:00:34.986 --> 06:00:38.346
I will never forget my language.

06:00:38.346 --> 06:00:43.966
>> The boy's father, an old warrior came
to the school, he told the instructor

06:00:43.966 --> 06:00:47.836
that among his people children were
never punished by striking them.

06:00:47.836 --> 06:00:52.256
That that was no way to teach children.

06:00:52.256 --> 06:00:54.976
Kind words and good examples were much better.

06:00:55.136 --> 06:00:58.366
Lone Wolf, Black Feet.

06:00:58.366 --> 06:01:04.856
>> Each day stretched into another endless day.

06:01:04.856 --> 06:01:08.676
Each night for tears to fall.

06:01:08.676 --> 06:01:18.496
Tomorrow, my sister said, tomorrow never came.

06:01:18.496 --> 06:01:24.616
And so the days passed by and the
changes slowly came to settle within me.

06:01:24.616 --> 06:01:29.026
Gone were the vivid pictures of
my parents, sisters and brothers.

06:01:29.026 --> 06:01:34.176
Only a blurred vision of what used to be.

06:01:34.176 --> 06:01:39.976
Desperately I tried to cling to the faded past
which was slowly being erased from my mind.

06:01:40.516 --> 06:01:45.796
[ Music ]

06:01:46.296 --> 06:01:49.806
>> For traditional cultures,
the effect was devastating.

06:01:50.516 --> 06:01:55.616
Boarding school graduates returned to the
schools and encouraged new students fresh

06:01:55.616 --> 06:01:58.266
from the reservations to
give up their traditions.

06:01:58.736 --> 06:02:02.796
>> Don't look back, all that has passed away.

06:02:04.246 --> 06:02:06.036
This country through her is all improved.

06:02:07.306 --> 06:02:11.866
You saw when you were coming, cities,
railroads, houses, manufactories.

06:02:13.026 --> 06:02:18.326
Boys, this was once all our country but our
fathers had not their eyes open as we have.

06:02:19.126 --> 06:02:23.756
Now, the only way to hold our
land is to get educated ourselves.

06:02:25.196 --> 06:02:26.496
Henry Jones, Creek.

06:02:27.016 --> 06:02:33.546
>> But the home cultures were not altogether
powerless against boarding school invasion.

06:02:34.746 --> 06:02:39.086
Many held firmly to their
traditions and returning graduates

06:02:39.086 --> 06:02:44.216
who did not readopt found they
had no place in their old world.

06:02:45.186 --> 06:02:47.186
[ Train Whistle ]

06:02:47.356 --> 06:02:49.106
>> [Background Music] It
was a warm summer evening

06:02:49.106 --> 06:02:51.086
when I got off the train at Taos Station.

06:02:51.986 --> 06:02:56.806
The first Indian I met I asked him to run out
to the Pueblo and tell my family I was home.

06:02:57.226 --> 06:03:01.846
The Indian couldn't speak English and I
have forgotten all of my Pueblo language.

06:03:01.846 --> 06:03:08.006
Next morning, the governor of the Pueblo and
two war chiefs came into my father's house.

06:03:08.886 --> 06:03:10.786
They did not talk to me.

06:03:10.786 --> 06:03:11.966
They did not even look at me.

06:03:12.566 --> 06:03:18.276
The chief said to my father, your son who calls
himself Rafael has lived with the white men.

06:03:18.276 --> 06:03:20.426
He has been far away.

06:03:20.426 --> 06:03:23.946
He has not learned the things
that Indian boys should learn.

06:03:25.216 --> 06:03:27.046
He has no hair.

06:03:27.046 --> 06:03:28.946
He cannot even speak our language.

06:03:29.136 --> 06:03:34.066
He is not one of us.

06:03:34.066 --> 06:03:35.906
Sun Elk, Taos.

06:03:35.906 --> 06:03:40.756
>> These things that made life
for us, the most important thing,

06:03:41.606 --> 06:03:45.466
these were the things they took
away from us and today so many

06:03:45.466 --> 06:03:51.196
of our Indian children have forgotten
their language even here on our reservation

06:03:51.196 --> 06:03:54.666
because they took that language away from us.

06:03:54.666 --> 06:04:00.866
Our language that God gave us.

06:04:04.456 --> 06:04:08.206
>> When we started this series we wanted
to make sense of how our continent

06:04:08.206 --> 06:04:11.226
of some 500 Indian Nations
became what it is today.

06:04:11.316 --> 06:04:15.456
What we found was an ironic path.

06:04:15.456 --> 06:04:19.116
New commerce looking for freedom
and tolerance but showing little

06:04:19.116 --> 06:04:21.246
of those virtues to the people they encounter.

06:04:22.716 --> 06:04:24.586
Many Indian nations have survived.

06:04:25.346 --> 06:04:28.796
Today, there are over 10 million
Indian people in North America

06:04:29.456 --> 06:04:31.716
with two million in United States alone.

06:04:32.756 --> 06:04:36.476
They no longer face conquistadors
or invading settlers.

06:04:37.356 --> 06:04:39.886
But they continue to deal
with the complex struggle

06:04:39.886 --> 06:04:42.366
to maintain their cultures and quality of life.

06:04:42.776 --> 06:04:52.426
>> It's difficult to explain like
the native people are like a root.

06:04:52.716 --> 06:04:55.966
You know, where everything grows there.

06:04:55.966 --> 06:04:57.806
It's their community, it's their land.

06:04:58.996 --> 06:05:00.816
That's where they live.

06:05:00.816 --> 06:05:02.046
That's where they are born.

06:05:02.046 --> 06:05:08.336
That's where they have their grandparents
buried, the ancestors were there.

06:05:08.336 --> 06:05:12.526
The language is there, everything is there.

06:05:12.526 --> 06:05:16.986
And then you ask them to change their
way of life so you carry them away.

06:05:17.426 --> 06:05:27.486
I say it's just like when you try to plant a
tree, let's say, a spruce tree in a desert land,

06:05:27.926 --> 06:05:30.426
even though you put water
in it, it's going ot dry.

06:05:30.426 --> 06:05:31.996
It's going to die.

06:05:31.996 --> 06:05:37.866
>> Our people, our families had been telling
us all these stories all these many years,

06:05:38.436 --> 06:05:46.906
and at last we finally set foot and walked
in the areas and slept in the country

06:05:46.906 --> 06:05:53.976
where our grandmothers and
grandfathers started from.

06:05:54.516 --> 06:06:02.546
[ Music ]

06:06:03.046 --> 06:06:12.546
And I can just imagine how my grandmothers
and my grandfathers would have felt

06:06:12.546 --> 06:06:14.396
if they had come back like I did.

06:06:14.396 --> 06:06:17.646
And I saw those places for them.

06:06:18.536 --> 06:06:20.226
I was able to return.

06:06:20.866 --> 06:06:28.806
>> I think a lot of times the general public
doesn't understand where the Native Americans,

06:06:29.536 --> 06:06:34.576
their feelings of what's happened to them
in the past, and where they're coming from.

06:06:35.416 --> 06:06:37.806
And why they're sometimes withdrawn.

06:06:37.806 --> 06:06:42.596
Why they haven't really jumped
into the mainstream life.

06:06:43.796 --> 06:06:51.676
>> I think what present-day Americans have to
learn is that our heroes are not their heroes,

06:06:51.726 --> 06:06:53.776
and their heroes are not our heroes.

06:06:54.626 --> 06:06:59.476
And when I went to school, just as
you and everyone else in this land,

06:06:59.806 --> 06:07:06.146
we've all been exposed to the same value
system, the same perspective on history.

06:07:06.476 --> 06:07:10.456
The lesson that is there, the
very important lesson, today,

06:07:10.456 --> 06:07:14.676
for all people is to realize the value

06:07:14.676 --> 06:07:19.346
of an alternative perspective
and that is why we are here.

06:07:19.886 --> 06:07:23.986
That is why the creator allowed
some of us to remain in spite

06:07:23.986 --> 06:07:25.786
of all the attempts to destroy us.

06:07:26.996 --> 06:07:30.616
[Background Music] Every tribe has
had their Great Swamp in that process.

06:07:30.616 --> 06:07:32.746
Every tribe has had their Sand Creek.

06:07:33.166 --> 06:07:35.076
Every tribe has had their Wounded Knee.

06:07:35.956 --> 06:07:39.956
The list is endless, and we've all
shared in that same experience.

06:07:40.516 --> 06:07:44.546
[ Music ]

06:07:45.046 --> 06:07:50.216
>> [Background Music] I went to a
meeting at Wounded Knee in November,

06:07:51.956 --> 06:07:56.876
when there was snow all over
all over the ground.

06:07:56.926 --> 06:08:02.036
And we were on our way to the burial site.

06:08:02.106 --> 06:08:04.926
I could not help but think back.

06:08:05.616 --> 06:08:07.856
And there was a feeling there.

06:08:08.096 --> 06:08:20.116
There was a feeling that those that were there
in the grave were trying to tell me something.

06:08:20.116 --> 06:08:22.936
And it brought tears to my eyes.

06:08:23.186 --> 06:08:30.596
And I stood there, and there was a spirit
that came over and I could feel that spirit.

06:08:30.636 --> 06:08:33.916
It was the spirit of God.

06:08:34.516 --> 06:08:39.016
[ Music ]

06:08:39.516 --> 06:08:53.746
>> There is a mightier power than kings and
presidents who guides the minds of the people.

06:08:53.746 --> 06:08:54.686
A higher power.

06:08:57.476 --> 06:09:04.456
>> The mandates are very simple, you know, that
we must live in the land that the Creator gave

06:09:04.456 --> 06:09:09.936
to us and look after his gifts so that
our great-great-grandchildren will be able

06:09:09.936 --> 06:09:12.616
to enjoy the same things that we enjoy today.

06:09:13.216 --> 06:09:21.096
If you look at natural laws in a very simplest
form is that you must drink water to survive.

06:09:22.396 --> 06:09:28.336
So if you pollute the water so that you
can't drink it then you will perish.

06:09:28.676 --> 06:09:35.426
And there's no appeal to this
if you violate the natural laws.

06:09:37.636 --> 06:09:44.506
>> Someday I fear that the land that we
have here now will be taken because some

06:09:45.776 --> 06:09:48.476
of the treaties state that
as long as the water flows

06:09:48.906 --> 06:09:52.416
and the grasses grow, that we will be here.

06:09:54.716 --> 06:10:01.706
But our rivers are drying up and when
the water's gone what will happen then?

06:10:02.026 --> 06:10:06.706
What's going to happen to my children?

06:10:08.046 --> 06:10:11.266
>> Our cultures have been assaulted,
our lands have been stolen.

06:10:11.266 --> 06:10:13.316
But we're still here as a people.

06:10:15.166 --> 06:10:19.306
And we're fighting the same battles that
have been fought for the last 300 years.

06:10:19.306 --> 06:10:20.186
They're unresolved.

06:10:21.086 --> 06:10:25.506
And it's up to us to resolve them
in a fair and honorable manner.

06:10:27.976 --> 06:10:30.486
Destiny is not a matter of fate.

06:10:31.986 --> 06:10:35.596
It's a matter of choice.

06:10:35.596 --> 06:10:39.846
And we have some choices to be made here.

06:10:39.846 --> 06:10:45.026
We have the choice of continuing to
survive on this planet as Indian people.

06:10:45.026 --> 06:10:50.616
That's our goal, and we're
going to accomplish that.

06:10:50.616 --> 06:10:54.976
We're going to be here for
many, many years to come.

06:10:55.516 --> 06:11:15.936
[ Music ]

06:11:16.436 --> 06:11:19.966
>> Tall Oak of the Narragansett
Nation said it was his destiny,

06:11:20.856 --> 06:11:26.306
perhaps that of all native people, to be the
conscience of America, to see that the tragedy

06:11:26.306 --> 06:11:28.346
of the past would never be repeated.

06:11:29.706 --> 06:11:32.496
Hopefully, now that we've had
a glimpse of the other side

06:11:32.496 --> 06:11:37.236
of the American story we too can be
a part of that collective conscience.

06:11:38.516 --> 06:11:40.036
Thank you for joining us.

06:11:41.516 --> 06:14:37.000
[ Music ]