Native American trade
Demand for other products resulted in trade in those items: Europeans asked for deerskin on the southeast coast of the United States, buffalo skins and meat, and pemmican on the Great Plains.
These missions served as focal points for interactions between Native Americans and Spanish settlers, encompassing cultural exchanges, political negotiations, trade activities, and economic developments.
Evidence of these exchanges and developments were kept by the Spanish who maintained detailed ledgers documenting items that were traded in Santa Barbara between them and the Chumash that lived in the missions.
[7] Typically used by the Chumash (located in the central and southern coastal regions of California), it was crafted and shaped into 160 different variations of shell beads,[7] which were used as a form of currency and status.
Made in the Santa Barbara Channel, they were distributed throughout Chumash territory and was used throughout different areas as currency, allowing for trade between different bands, making its way up California, the Great Basin, and in Western North America.
[5] Trade played a central role in spreading basket designs among California tribes through active exchange networks involving ceremonial events, visits, and intermarriages.
This uniformity in basket weaving shows a strong trade network, contrasting with the variability observed in tribes like the Pomo, who lived in more isolated communities in northern California.
[9] The intertribal commerce of Native American tribes across California and adjacent regions was characterized by the exchange of baskets as valuable commodities.
Similarly, the Salinan people, residing along the Central Coast of California, participated in basket trade with the Yokuts and Chumash tribes from the coastal regions.
These baskets are crafted using traditional techniques passed down through generations and are made from locally sourced materials such as willow, maple, redbud, and ferns, abundant in the surrounding forests and valleys.
[11] Maidu's skill in crafting high-quality baskets made them desirable trade partners, attracting interest from other tribes seeking their goods.
Trade served as a means of fostering alliances and maintaining social connections with neighboring groups, contributing to the cohesion and stability of the region.
Through trade, the Maidu could also access items of ceremonial significance or prestige, enhancing their cultural practices and status within the broader network of Native American tribes in the region.
European demand for fur changed the relations of the plains, increased the occurrence of war, and displaced several Indian nations that were forced away by the Sioux coming from the east.
From the mid-1700s, the Comanche became an increasingly important military and commercial factor on the southern plains, forcing the Apaches into the mountains, and exchanging goods and spoils with the Southwestern trading networks hubs in New Mexico.
To set up a thriving colony, settlers in the New World needed the five factors of production that contribute to the creation of wealth: land (natural resources), labor, capital, entrepreneurship, and knowledge.
Massasoit, a sachem of the Wampanoag people, and Squanto, a Patuxet who acted as a diplomat, helped the Pilgrims of Plymouth Bay establish their colony by teaching them skills in cultivating this land and hunting.
Gradually, tensions escalated, leading to King Philip's War, an armed conflict between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in the area.
Gradually, horses bred and their use was adopted across the Great Plains, dramatically altering the lifestyles and customs of many Native American tribes.
The maintenance of resources such as obsidian originated from far distances such as Napa Valley, CA indicates that indigenous stone tools were traded with people at Spanish missions.
San Blas was established in 1768 for the express purpose of facilitating the Manila galleon trade and serving as a supply depot for colonial settlements in Alta California.
After the United States became independent, it enacted legislation to regulate trading with the Indians/Native Americans, under the Indian Intercourse Act, first passed on July 22, 1790.
Forcing tribes to relocate and to adjust to isolated reservations often unsuitable for the subsistence farming they were encouraged to undertake, made many of them dependent on the U.S. government for annuities and supplies.
Today, many programs, such as the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, exist to foster conditions that will help reservations become independent and financially stable communities.
