author
James Adair
d. 1783
An Irish-born trader who spent decades among Native peoples in the American Southeast, he left behind one of the most discussed firsthand accounts of the region in the 1700s. His writing is still valued for its detail, even as readers note the limits and theories of its time.
1 Audiobook
Adair's History of the American Indians
by James Adair
About the author
Born in County Antrim around 1709, James Adair went to North America and became a trader with Native communities in the Southeast. He is especially associated with the Chickasaw and is known for living and working for many years among Native peoples, learning from close contact rather than from a distance.
His best-known book, The History of the American Indians, was published in London in 1775. It drew on his experiences with the Catawba, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw, and it became an important source for later historians because it preserves firsthand observations from the colonial era.
Adair died in 1783. Modern readers often approach his work with both interest and caution: it offers valuable detail about southeastern Native life, while also reflecting some ideas and arguments that were very much of its own century.