Using GIS to Model Point-in-Time Maps of Historical Settlements and Territories of Indigenous Peoples

The compiled knowledge about Indigenous peoples is often organized by group. This approach leads to tribe or nation specific repositories and narratives. The Smithsonian Institute’s Handbook of North American Indians and Wikipedia use this approach. Yet, these repositories cannot answer questions about most or all groups. For instance, where were all the Siouan-speaking tribes or nations in North America located in a given year? Such maps such as William C. Sturtevant’s work of the late twentieth century are almost nonexistent. However such maps portray wide ranges of time at the expense of the quality of representation or inclusion of some groups. One must sift through information about dozens or even hundreds of groups to make any one map such as Sturtevant’s, and Sturtevant had the advantage of being the editor of the Handbook of North American Indians. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can address this issue. We can organize the information in these repositories with GIS to create maps of territories and characteristics. Such views can be for any region or continent and even on a global scale. Characteristics such as the distribution of languages, trading partners, or alliances are possible. Not only would these maps be informative, but they will also help confirm the information in the repositories. GIS allows us to qualify information by the earliest and latest times it is valid. For example, one polygon can represent the duration for a given territorial extent. We could also subdivide such durations by tenures of leaders or trading partners. Analyzing patterns of such details can provide us with new insights into conflicts and external events. This presentation will share examples of North American peoples from the eighteenth century.