twovultures
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The rise of civilization in southeastern North Columbia is known as the Early Woodland period. During this time, the new cultivars of maize allowed the creation of dense population centers and the rise of political, religious, and social hierarchy. At the bottom of this hierarchy were slaves-foreigners captured during war and made to work for their captors. In the middle were free farmers and various craftsmen, who spent the year either planting or carving statues and creating jewelry. They sometimes joined slaves in big labor projects directed by the bureaucrats used by the chiefs (who could be of any sex) to create works of common good-fortifications for villages, or large earthwork monuments such as mounds and images of animals that served as monuments to the gods and sites of the religious rituals that helped hold the community together.
A serpent-shaped mound
Chiefs, of course, were excluded from this menial labor, as were the warrior elite that they ultimately relied on to keep them in power and wage war on rival chiefs. As in Dark Ages Europe, the basis of the warrior elite were horse warriors who swore military allegiance to the kings and queens of the woodlands in exchange for allotments of land worked by farmers.
Although those who did make it to the nobility often promoted their own children into the class the Woodland peoples were not nearly as socially stratified as medieval Europe. As the only beasts of burden were horses, even the lowliest peasant had access to pasture horses to ride to battle, and there had opportunities to steal finer horses for barter or to ride themselves, though without saddles and stirrups most actual fighting was done on foot, with the horses mainly carrying their riders into battle or giving scouts a little mobility. War was a matter of guerilla warfare during the Woodland period-warriors would conduct raids into enemy territory, sending outriders to scout out fields and then running in to capture hapless farmers or burn an enemy’s fields. Most fighting was done in self-defense against raiders, and protracted sieges were almost unheard of. Warfare was raid and counter-raid, the occasional pitched battle occurring only when one or both enemy commanders underestimated their enemy.
The kings of the southeast fought mostly for land, horses and labor. Although women were captured in raids between different populaces, the tribal practice of raiding for women was receding as government centralized. The use of horse milk (which came in smaller quantities than cow's milk and was used more sparingly) to wean babies meant a higher birthrate, and therefore less need to boost a community’s reproductive capacity. Although a warrior could gain prestige by capturing multiple wives, ultimately captives of both sexes served the polity more by producing extra food for the upper class to redistribute. This greased the wheels of the patronage system, and kept the commoners and sworn warriors from turning on the chiefs.
Further north, a more tribal way of life kept hold among the Awey, Katshunva and Hoceangh peoples due to the fact that the harsh weather kept harvests-and therefore populations-in check. War in the northeast was no less bloody, but at least for most of the Woodland period politics was based more on consent and collaboration than authoritarianism. Different villages had to form alliances, using bonds of family and religion to appeal to each other for military assistance. Chiefs represented their villages when negotiating alliances and lead during times of war, but they did not have much control over the internal affairs of their people. For this reason, the early northeastern Woodland people left much less in the way of the earthwork monuments than their southeastern contemporaries, focusing almost entirely on building defensive structures for their villages as populations settled down. The presence of the horse made the investment in defensive structures easier, as its contribution to agriculture meant that villages could be permanent [1]. Horse dung could keep fields fertile, and horses could help remove stones, trees and stumps from fields by pulling them using thick harnesses crossing their sternum [2]. Clearing and fertilizing fields made maize agriculture a much more sustainable enterprise.
A fortified village, designed to corral unwanted visitors through a narrow entryway where they could receive the hospitality they deserved.
West of the Woodland peoples lay the Great Plains, still inhabited by pastoralist and hunter nomads. Their culture was continuing much as it always had, with bands roaming the plains looking for pasture. Sometimes they would meet and fight, raiding each-other for horses and captives. As in the Woodland culture warriors could make a great name for themselves by winning battles and capturing horses, always the main signifier of wealth for the Plains peoples-though captives, generally children old enough to not be a burden but young enough to be remolded into the tribe’s culture were also valuable. Older girls would also be taken as slaves, but outside of that narrow range warfare on the plains tended to end in the extermination of the losers, either through direct massacre or through the loss of their horses, without which surviving the harsh landscape was almost impossible.
Although their culture remained unchanged by the great breakthrough of North Columbian farmers, the Plains people were affected by the rise of civilization. They had a great interest in the handcrafted goods made by the sedentary peoples to the east of their homeland, particularly jewelry but also copper bits for their horses and copper knives for themselves. In exchange, they traded hide from wild horses and bison as well as live ferrets. They also acted as merchants, carrying goods from east to the west. It was probably through these nomads, who had no interest in growing food but a great interest in getting goods that their customers would appreciate. It was through these middlemen that corn would spread from the Woodland peoples to the western portion of North Columbia.
[1] IOTL, Iroquois villages had to move every few generations at least as fields either got overgrown or their soil became exhausted.
[2] This invention is developed in the Columbias about 500 years earlier than the same invention in OTL’s Eurasia due to the heavy dependence on horses.
A serpent-shaped mound
Chiefs, of course, were excluded from this menial labor, as were the warrior elite that they ultimately relied on to keep them in power and wage war on rival chiefs. As in Dark Ages Europe, the basis of the warrior elite were horse warriors who swore military allegiance to the kings and queens of the woodlands in exchange for allotments of land worked by farmers.
Although those who did make it to the nobility often promoted their own children into the class the Woodland peoples were not nearly as socially stratified as medieval Europe. As the only beasts of burden were horses, even the lowliest peasant had access to pasture horses to ride to battle, and there had opportunities to steal finer horses for barter or to ride themselves, though without saddles and stirrups most actual fighting was done on foot, with the horses mainly carrying their riders into battle or giving scouts a little mobility. War was a matter of guerilla warfare during the Woodland period-warriors would conduct raids into enemy territory, sending outriders to scout out fields and then running in to capture hapless farmers or burn an enemy’s fields. Most fighting was done in self-defense against raiders, and protracted sieges were almost unheard of. Warfare was raid and counter-raid, the occasional pitched battle occurring only when one or both enemy commanders underestimated their enemy.
The kings of the southeast fought mostly for land, horses and labor. Although women were captured in raids between different populaces, the tribal practice of raiding for women was receding as government centralized. The use of horse milk (which came in smaller quantities than cow's milk and was used more sparingly) to wean babies meant a higher birthrate, and therefore less need to boost a community’s reproductive capacity. Although a warrior could gain prestige by capturing multiple wives, ultimately captives of both sexes served the polity more by producing extra food for the upper class to redistribute. This greased the wheels of the patronage system, and kept the commoners and sworn warriors from turning on the chiefs.
Further north, a more tribal way of life kept hold among the Awey, Katshunva and Hoceangh peoples due to the fact that the harsh weather kept harvests-and therefore populations-in check. War in the northeast was no less bloody, but at least for most of the Woodland period politics was based more on consent and collaboration than authoritarianism. Different villages had to form alliances, using bonds of family and religion to appeal to each other for military assistance. Chiefs represented their villages when negotiating alliances and lead during times of war, but they did not have much control over the internal affairs of their people. For this reason, the early northeastern Woodland people left much less in the way of the earthwork monuments than their southeastern contemporaries, focusing almost entirely on building defensive structures for their villages as populations settled down. The presence of the horse made the investment in defensive structures easier, as its contribution to agriculture meant that villages could be permanent [1]. Horse dung could keep fields fertile, and horses could help remove stones, trees and stumps from fields by pulling them using thick harnesses crossing their sternum [2]. Clearing and fertilizing fields made maize agriculture a much more sustainable enterprise.
A fortified village, designed to corral unwanted visitors through a narrow entryway where they could receive the hospitality they deserved.
West of the Woodland peoples lay the Great Plains, still inhabited by pastoralist and hunter nomads. Their culture was continuing much as it always had, with bands roaming the plains looking for pasture. Sometimes they would meet and fight, raiding each-other for horses and captives. As in the Woodland culture warriors could make a great name for themselves by winning battles and capturing horses, always the main signifier of wealth for the Plains peoples-though captives, generally children old enough to not be a burden but young enough to be remolded into the tribe’s culture were also valuable. Older girls would also be taken as slaves, but outside of that narrow range warfare on the plains tended to end in the extermination of the losers, either through direct massacre or through the loss of their horses, without which surviving the harsh landscape was almost impossible.
Although their culture remained unchanged by the great breakthrough of North Columbian farmers, the Plains people were affected by the rise of civilization. They had a great interest in the handcrafted goods made by the sedentary peoples to the east of their homeland, particularly jewelry but also copper bits for their horses and copper knives for themselves. In exchange, they traded hide from wild horses and bison as well as live ferrets. They also acted as merchants, carrying goods from east to the west. It was probably through these nomads, who had no interest in growing food but a great interest in getting goods that their customers would appreciate. It was through these middlemen that corn would spread from the Woodland peoples to the western portion of North Columbia.
[1] IOTL, Iroquois villages had to move every few generations at least as fields either got overgrown or their soil became exhausted.
[2] This invention is developed in the Columbias about 500 years earlier than the same invention in OTL’s Eurasia due to the heavy dependence on horses.
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