Natives and Newcomers

Chapter 2 follows the earliest history of human activity in the Ozark uplift, from the emergence of the Osages as the overlords of the region to the resettlement of the Cherokees and other “immigrant Indians” from east of the Mississippi and their eventual removal in the 1820s and 1830s. This chapter also explores the arrival of the first European settlers in the Mississippi Valley, the French, in the eighteenth century and the lead mining interests that brought them into the Ozarks, as well as the subsequent administrations of French and Spanish colonial officials. The chapter concludes with the arrival of Anglo-American settlers and their slaves, both before and after the Louisiana Purchase.