Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Steven James Oatis

NAME:
- Steven James Oatis

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1999)

ADVISORS:
- John T. Juricek

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Michael A. Bellesiles
- Gregory H. Nobles

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: A colonial complex: South Carolina\'s changing frontiers in the era of the Yamasee War, 1680-1730

Abstract: n the spring of 1715, South Carolinians suddenly became embroiled in a disturbing conflict against many of their most trusted Indian allies. Though the Yamasee War constituted one of the most pivotal episodes in colonial American history, it has long defied adequate explanation. The most proper way to understand the war is to view it as part of an extended period of frontier exchange. Throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British colonists of South Carolina sought to gain control over the region\'s natural resources and indigenous peoples while forestalling the designs of their rivals in French Louisiana and Spanish Florida. Though the South Carolinians amassed considerable wealth and influence within the Southeast, their expansion depended in large part on the various peoples whom they attempted to subdue and conquer.

Because the Southeast\'s various Indian societies brought different needs and expectations to their burgeoning partnerships with Europeans, South Carolinians found themselves locked into different kinds of frontier relationships, the nuances of which they often failed to understand. After the outbreak of the Yamasee War, many South Carolinians blamed their sudden misfortune on a devious \"conspiracy\" among nearly all of the region\'s Indians. Though South Carolina\'s various enemies did cooperate on a limited scale, they actually initiated a number of distinct conflicts that they entered for different reasons and with different levels of intensity. For all groups involved, however, the Yamasee War posed significant challenges, forcing Indians and colonists alike to make some important adjustments.

While the South Carolinians managed to restore much of their frontier influence, the limitations of their imperial agenda gradually became more apparent. Despite mounting pressure from Europeans, the relatively powerful Indian societies of the Southeastern interior continued to assert their fundamental autonomy in ways that often baffled and frustrated colonial imperialists. Along many of South Carolina\'s distant frontiers, the spirit of resistance that had exploded in 1715 smoldered well into the next generation. On frontiers closer to home, however, South Carolina authorities proved far more effective in quelling opposition and paving the way for the expansion of colonial settlement. These actions underscored the adversarial nature of frontier exchange in the early colonial southeast and helped clarify the Yamasee War\'s place in a longer pattern of conquest and resistance.

MPACT Scores for Steven James Oatis

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-03-20 15:13:27

Advisors and Advisees Graph

generating graph, please reload

Students under Steven James Oatis

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None