Les fils de l'oiseau-tonnerre

The Native American tribes dwelling on the Eastern coasts of North America were the first peoples on that continent to encounter European explorers at the end of the fifteenth century. They are often associated with images of tipis, totem poles and feathered headgear, but these images are misleading. Les fils de l'oiseau-tonnerre, a new exhibition at the Musée du Nouveau Monde in La Rochelle, France, explores the cultural differences between the tribes that lived in the area between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. With more than a hundred objects from private and public collections, the exhibition explains how and where a wide variety of peoples lived, their religious concepts, and their interactions with other tribes as well as with Europeans. Les fils de l'oiseau-tonnerre is the first of a series of five installations focusing on Native American tribes, from East to West, that will be shown in the Museum in the coming years.

For more information, visit the exhibition's official website.