Editing Muscogee (section)

===Rise of the Muscogee Confederacy===
{{see also|Mississippian shatter zone}}
Because of endemic [[infectious diseases]] carried unknowingly by the Europeans, but new to the Muscogee, the Spanish expedition resulted in epidemics of smallpox and measles, and a high rate of fatalities among the [[indigenous peoples]]. These losses were exacerbated by the [[Indian slave trade]] that colonists conducted in the Southeast during the 17th and 18th centuries. As the survivors and descendants regrouped, the Muscogee Creek Confederacy arose as a loose alliance of Muskogee-speaking peoples.

The Muscogee lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout present-day [[Tennessee]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and [[Alabama]], speaking several related [[Muskogean languages]]. [[Muscogee language|Muskogee]] was spoken from the [[Chattahoochee River|Chattahoochee]] to the [[Alabama River]]. [[Koasati]] (Coushatta) and [[Alabama language|Alibamu]] were spoken in the upper Alabama River basin and along parts of the [[Tennessee River]]. [[Hitchiti]] was spoken in several towns along the Chattahoochee River and across much of present-day Georgia. The Muscogee were a confederacy of tribes consisting of [[Yuchi]], [[Koasati]], [[Alabama people|Alabama]], [[Coosa chiefdom|Coosa]], [[Tuskegee]], [[Coweta (tribal town)|Coweta]], [[Cusseta, Creek Nation|Cusseta]], [[Chehaw]] (Chiaha), [[Hitchiti]], [[Tuckabatchee]], [[Okfuskee|Oakfuskee]], and many others.<ref name=confederacy_of_tribes>{{Cite book | last = Ethridge | first = Robbie | title = Creek Country: The Creek Indians and their World | year = 2003 | publisher = The University of North Carolina Press | chapter = Chapter 5: 'The People of Creek Country' | page = 93 | isbn = 0-8078-5495-6 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goddard |first=Ives |author-link=Ives Goddard |date=Spring 2005 |title=The Indigenous Languages of the Southeast |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25132315.pdf |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=11, 34 |jstor=25132315 }}</ref>

The basic social unit was the town (''[[Tribal town|idalwa]]''). [[Abihka]], [[Coosa chiefdom|Coosa]], [[Tuckabutche]], and [[Coweta tribal town|Coweta]] are the four "mother towns" of the Muscogee Confederacy.<ref>Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CR006.html "Creek (Mvskoke)."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720043504/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CR006.html |date=July 20, 2010 }} ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref> Traditionally, the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation.<ref name="Transcribed documents"/> The [[Apalachicola Province|Lower Towns]], along the [[Chattahoochee River]] (before 1690 and after 1715), and farther east along the [[Ocmulgee River|Ocmulgee]], [[Oconee River|Oconee]], and [[Savannah River]] rivers (between 1690 and 1715), were Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta), Koloni, Tuskegee, [[Chiaha]], [[Hitchiti]], Oconee, Ocmulgee, Apalachicola, and [[Sabacola|Sawokli]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hann |first=John H. |title=The Native American World Beyond Apalachee |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2006 |pages=6, 87, 88–91 |isbn=978-0-8130-2982-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Worth |first=John E. |chapter-url=https://pages.uwf.edu/jworth/Worth%202000_Lower%20Creeks.pdf |title=Indians of the Greater Southeast: Historical Archaeology and Ethnohistory |publisher=University of Florida Press |year=2000 |isbn=9-780-8130-2086-0 |editor-last=McEwan |edition=Bonnie G. |chapter=The Lower Creeks: Origin and History |pages=271, 279–282}}</ref>

[[File:King Site Aerial HRoe 2018.jpg|thumb|right|The protohistoric [[King Archaeological Site|King site]], occupied during the mid-1500s]]
The Upper Towns, located on the [[Coosa River|Coosa]], [[Tallapoosa River|Tallapoosa]] and [[Alabama River|Alabama]] rivers, were [[Tuckabatchee]], [[Abhika]], [[Coosa chiefdom|Coosa]] (Kusa; the dominant people of [[East Tennessee]] and [[North Georgia]] during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the [[Etowah Indian Mounds]]), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, [[Eufaula tribe|Eufaula]], Wakokai, Atasi, [[Alibamu]], [[Coushatta]] (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the [[Toqua (Tennessee)|Tali]]), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in the de Luna chronicles).<ref>[http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/creek/creektowns.htm Creek Towns] (accessed May 12, 2010).</ref>

The most important leader in Muscogee society was the ''mico'' or village chief. ''Micos'' led warriors in battle and represented their villages, but held authority only insofar as they could persuade others to agree with their decisions. ''Micos'' ruled with the assistance of ''micalgi'' or lesser chiefs, and various advisers, including a second-in-charge called the ''heniha'', respected village elders, medicine men, and a ''tustunnuggee'' or ranking warrior, the principal military adviser. The ''heles hayv'' or [[medicine man|medicine maker]] officiated at various rituals, including providing [[black drink]],<ref name="LewisJordan2008">{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=David Jr |last2=Jordan |first2=Ann T. |title=Creek Indian Medicine Ways: The Enduring Power of the Mvskoke Religion |date=2008 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=978-0-8263-2368-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXY1Xh0IfXUC&pg=PA6}}</ref> used in purification ceremonies.

The most important social unit was the [[clan]]. Clans organized hunts, distributed lands, arranged marriages, and punished lawbreakers. The authority of the ''micos'' was complemented by the clan mothers, mostly women elders. The Muscogee had a [[matrilineal]] [[kinship]] system, with children considered born into their mother's clan, and inheritance was through the maternal line. The Wind Clan is the first of the clans. The majority of ''micos'' have belonged to this clan.<ref>"[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2550 Creek Indian Leaders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925190725/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2550 |date=September 25, 2012 }}." ''[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/ New Georgia Encyclopedia].'' Accessed May 12, 2010.</ref>