(mellow music) - [Narrator] Do you ever wonder who lived in your town or your house before you?

Did they leave any clues?

Who were they?

Why did they leave?

Well, one of the reasons that so many people have come and gone in Alabama, is that they were following the White Tail Deer.

How did White Tail Deer change Alabama?

Deer have roamed the forest of Alabama, as some people might say since time immemorial.

That means, deer have been here so long, that no one remembers a time when there were no deer.

They were always around, and co-existed with people, including the Muscogee peoples and their allies, who were the indigenous, or first, peoples that lived in the area we now call, the state of Alabama.

These White Tail Deer were super important to helping the Muscogee peoples.

Deer were important to the Muscogee peoples.

The Muscogee peoples, and their allies, lived in much of what is now Alabama.

As well as parts of Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.

They spoke their own language and had their own alphabet.

These words in Muscogee language say 'Nettv Herose Tos.'

The Muscogee peoples used their knowledge and respect of nature, to help them become expert farmers and hunters.

They grew the three sister crops of corn, beans and squash, because they knew that these plants helped each other grow.

But, they also needed meat to eat, and animal hides to keep them warm in the winter.

That is why deer were so important.

By hunting deer, they would get both meat and deer skins, which were used for clothing and blankets.

Hunters collected just enough deer to meet their needs, so that plenty of deer remained in the forest.

This changed when people in Europe found out how many deer were in Alabama.

Because they want to clothes made from deer hides as well.

Deer attracted Europeans.

The White Tail Deer started to cause change in Alabama.

In the 1600's, When the English colony in South Carolina, sent people called traders, to the Muscogee lands to get deer hides from the hunters.

The traders would swap items that the Muscogee did not have.

Like metal farming tools, jewelry, or guns for deer hides.

The hides were sent back to England, where they were made into all kinds of things, like hats, gloves, or shoes.

Yellow deer skin pants, became one of the most fashionable things a man could wear.

Every one wanted them.

By the 1700's, thousands of deer hides were being sent to England, every year.

Because Muscogee hunters were working hard to get so many deer hides, they wanted to make sure they had good trading partners.

So, they invited the French to trade with them.

As well as the English.

The French traveled to the Muscogee lands from Mobile and built Fort Toulouse as a place to trade for deer hides.

The French brought their own ways of doing things to the area.

Some of which had never been seen in this part of the Muscogee lands.

You can see some of these today at Fort Toulouse park.

For example, to make bread, the French would use fire, to heat a cleverly constructed oven.

It was built from clay and sand, both of which were available in the area.

The fire, heated, the clay and sand, which then slowly released the heat back into the oven and baked the bread.

With assistance, A baker could make enough dough for 40 loaves of bread, which could be baked in one day.

The French could then trade their bread for some of the Muscogee's three sister crops.

All of these changes, new tools for the Muscogee, fashionable clothes for the Europeans, and experiencing other cultures, were brought on in part by the White Tail Deer.

But, eventually the trade in deer hides caused conflict between the Muscogee peoples and the Europeans.

As they held different beliefs about economics, who should own the land, what religion was the most important, and how someone's cultures should be respected.

This eventually led to European Americans taking over much of the land occupied by the Muscogee peoples.

Which destroyed their communities and ways of life.

You can still see the impact of the deer today.

Today, we see that some of the changes in Alabama were due, in many ways to the White Tailed Deer.

It is a very different place from when it was only occupied by the Muscogee peoples.

Today, the population is diverse, but you can still see influences from the past.

We can see the French influences in Alabama, at both Fort Toulouse and in Mobile, where they celebrate the French holiday of Mardi Gras.

And, you can still hear the Muscogee language.

Many of Alabama's towns and cities use Muscogee words.

This is how they are pronounced in the Muscogee language.

- Opelika, Sylacuaga, Talladega, Tuskegee, Eufala, Eastaboga.

- Near current day Fort Toulouse, is the town of Wetumpka.

Wetumpka Which, in the Muscogee language means, rumbling waters.

And, the name of our state itself, is taken from the Muscogee tribe known as, The Alabamu.