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102-516: Indian Trade could refer to: Native American trade , historic trading between the Indigenous people of North America and European settlers Foreign trade of India , imports and exports to and from India Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Indian Trade . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

204-560: 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. In return for weapons and tools, these Native Americans provided the colonists with important natural resources, including food. In 1621, Massasoit established one of the earliest trading pacts between Europeans and Natives by signing

306-430: A central role in spreading basket designs among California tribes through active exchange networks involving ceremonial events, visits, and intermarriages. This facilitated the advertising of design styles across neighboring communities, resulting in highly similar systems among tribes in close proximity. This uniformity in basket weaving shows a strong trade network, contrasting with the variability observed in tribes like

408-443: A different kind of demand with the associated trades of their gaming casinos on reservations. These have been developed as entertainment and conference resorts, serving a wide market of customers, and generating very little revenues for tribes to use for economic development, as well as welfare and education of their people. The first explorers to conduct trade with Native Americans were Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in

510-607: A different social structure. Until the accurate dating of Watson Brake and similar sites, the oldest mound complex was thought to be Poverty Point , also located in the Lower Mississippi Valley . Built about 1500 BCE, it is the centerpiece of a culture extending over 100 sites on both sides of the Mississippi . The Poverty Point site has earthworks in the form of six concentric half-circles, divided by radial aisles, together with some mounds. The entire complex

612-764: A form of currency and status. Some examples of these variant styles include; needle-drilled disks, lipped beads, cupped beads, thin rectangles (pendant), thin rectangles (sequin). 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. The Cahuilla (located in Palm springs) used beads traded from

714-479: A form of trade, either as a material to be exchanged, or as a form of currency. The Olivella biplicata , or the purple olive shell was used during the early Holocene period, around 200-1835 CE, spanning around 1,500 years. 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, which were used as

816-762: A population of over 20,000. Other chiefdoms were constructed throughout the Southeast, and its trade networks reached to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. At its peak, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Cahokia was the most populous city in North America. (Larger cities did exist in Mesoamerica and the Andes.) Monks Mound , the major ceremonial center of Cahokia, remains the largest earthen construction of

918-624: A serious fracture amongst relations between the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Relations between settlers in the Jamestown area and Native Americans ended similarly. Initially, the Powhatan aided the English settlers with food and clothing, helping them survive the early difficult years. However, relations between the two groups deteriorated after three years, resulting in a war. Fur trading

1020-579: A single unified empire. The Mixtecs would eventually be conquered by the Aztecs until the Spanish conquest. The Mixtecs saw the Spanish conquest as an opportunity for liberation and established agreements with the conquistadors that allowed them to preserve their cultural traditions, though relatively few sections resisted Spanish rule. The Totonac civilization was concentrated in the present-day states of Veracruz and Puebla . The Totonacs were responsible for

1122-481: A stable source of income for many Native Americans until the mid-19th century when changing fashion trends in Europe and a decline in the beaver population in North America brought about a collapse in demand for fur. Archeological evidence from missions in northern California conclude that Native Americans rerouted obsidian exchange networks through Spanish missions such as Mission San José which existed from 1797 into

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1224-468: 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. Often, trading with Native Americans resulted in colonists gaining needed knowledge and natural resources. Examples of this can be seen in the English settlements of Plymouth Bay and Jamestown . Massasoit ,

1326-704: A treaty with the Plymouth Colony to engage in peaceful trade. However, as the colonial population in New England began to increase, the Wampanoag became uneasy about being displaced by the colonists. Gradually, tensions escalated, leading to King Philip's War , an armed conflict between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in the area. The war ended with the defeat of the Native tribe, causing

1428-678: Is currently divided into two general approaches. The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the Americas occurring no earlier than 14,000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second belief is the long chronology theory , which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier date, possibly 50,000–40,000 years ago or earlier. Artifacts have been found in both North and South America which have been dated to 14,000 years ago, and accordingly humans have been proposed to have reached Cape Horn at

1530-411: Is nearly a mile across. Mound building was continued by succeeding cultures, who built numerous sites in the middle Mississippi and Ohio River valleys as well, adding effigy mounds , conical and ridge mounds, and other shapes. The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures lasted from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. The term was coined in the 1930s and refers to prehistoric sites between

1632-522: Is reflected in the oral histories of the indigenous peoples, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories which often say that a given people have been living in a certain territory since the creation of the world. Throughout thousands of years, paleo-Indian people domesticated, bred, and cultivated many plant species, including crops that now constitute 50–60% of worldwide agriculture. In general, Arctic, Subarctic, and coastal peoples continued to live as hunters and gatherers, while agriculture

1734-593: Is the Olmec. This civilization established the cultural blueprint by which all succeeding indigenous civilizations would follow in Mexico. Pre-Olmec civilization began with the production of pottery in abundance, around 2300 BCE in the Grijalva River delta. Between 1600 and 1500 BCE, the Olmec civilization had begun, with the consolidation of power at their capital, a site today known as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán near

1836-634: Is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous populations . Human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering Sea coastline , with an initial 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the founding population . The microsatellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicate that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since

1938-704: The Americas via the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia), now the Bering Strait , and possibly along the coast. Genetic evidence found in Indigenous peoples ' maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. After crossing the land bridge, they moved southward along the Pacific coast and through an interior ice-free corridor. Throughout millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout

2040-601: The Archaic Period , numerous archaeological cultures have been identified. The unstable climate led to widespread migration, with early Paleo-Indians soon spreading throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. The Paleo-Indians were hunter-gatherers , likely characterized by small, mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family. These groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. During much of

2142-670: The Archaic period and the Mississippian cultures . The Adena culture and the ensuing Hopewell tradition during this period built monumental earthwork architecture and established continent-spanning trade and exchange networks. This period is considered a developmental stage without any massive changes in a short period but instead has a continuous development in stone and bone tools, leatherworking, textile manufacture, tool production, cultivation, and shelter construction. Some Woodland people continued to use spears and atlatls until

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2244-622: The Caddo villages on the southern plains. The "Dakota rendezvous" was an important annual trading fair among the Sioux . 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. On the northern plains, European trade lay in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company , although most of

2346-569: The Chumash that lived in the missions. Eventually, wars, the dwindling of Native American populations, and the westward expansion of the United States led to the confinement of tribes to reservations and the end of this kind of economic relations between Indians and European Americans. Other economic relations continued, especially in the alcohol trade around many reservations, and for Native American arts and crafts that are now shown for everyone to see. Today, many Native Americans satisfy

2448-702: The Cliff Palace of Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and the Great Houses in Chaco Canyon , New Mexico . The Puebloans also constructed a road system that stretched from Chaco Canyon to Kutz Canyon in the San Juan Basin . The Ancestral Puebloans are also known as "Anasazi", though the term is controversial, as the present-day Pueblo peoples consider the term to be derogatory, due to

2550-561: The Great Plains . In turn, Native American demand influenced the trade of goods brought by Europeans. Economic contact between Native Americans and European colonists began in the early stages of European settlement. From the 17th century to the 19th century, the English and French mainly traded for animal pelts and fur with Native Americans. In the late 1700s, Spanish explorers started settling in southern California and initiated

2652-506: The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development , exist to foster conditions that will help reservations become independent and financially stable communities. Since the late 20th century, many tribes have established gaming casinos. The most successful ones use part of the revenues for the economic development of their nations, as well as for welfare and education for all their tribal members. Pre-Columbian era In

2754-697: The Maya script . Other accounts also suggest that the Huastecs migrated as a result of the Classic Maya collapse around the year 900 CE. The Zapotecs were a civilization that thrived in the Oaxaca Valley from the late 6th century BCE until their downfall at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors. The city of Monte Albán was an important religious center for the Zapotecs and served as the capital of

2856-664: The Olmec , Teotihuacan , Mayas , Zapotecs , Mixtecs , Huastecs , Purepecha , Toltecs , and Mexica / Aztecs . The Mexica civilization is also known as the Aztec Triple Alliance since they were three smaller kingdoms loosely united together. These Indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: building pyramid temples, mathematics , astronomy , medicine, writing, highly accurate calendars , fine arts , intensive agriculture, engineering , an abacus calculator, and complex theology . They also invented

2958-600: The Pomo , who lived in more isolated communities in northern California . However, tribes such as the Yurok , Karuk , and Hupa , located along the northwestern California coast and in the Klamath Mountains , exhibited nearly identical basketry. The intertribal commerce of Native American tribes across California and adjacent regions was characterized by the exchange of baskets as valuable commodities. Tribes engaged in

3060-572: The Serrano (who had received them from the Gabrieleno/Tongva ) to create their own form of shell bead currency. Specific lengths were assigned for different amounts of money. An example of this is a "witchu", a string of shell beads from the forehead to the ground, then multiplied by 4 equal to 50 United States cents. Another example is  the "napanaa", measured by wrapping around the wrists and fingers, equal to 20 cents. Trade played

3162-463: The Tlingit , Haida , Chumash , Mandan , Hidatsa , and others, and some established large settlements, even cities, such as Cahokia , in what is now Illinois . Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before

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3264-644: The history of the Americas , the pre-Columbian era , also known as the pre-contact era , or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil , spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European colonization , which began with Christopher Columbus 's voyage in 1492. This era encompasses the history of Indigenous cultures prior to significant European influence, which in some cases did not occur until decades or even centuries after Columbus's arrival. During

3366-413: The pre-Columbian era , Native American tribes often traded between themselves and outside bands. Throughout the Americas , Native American tribes had been trading for thousands of years using different material goods and/or currency. Shell beads (also referred to as shell money ) have been used for around 9,000–10,000 years in the Americas, both pre-contact and post-contact. It was most commonly used as

3468-600: The 1520s–1540s. Verrazzano noted in his book, "If we wanted to trade with them for some of their things, they would come to the seashore on some rocks where the breakers were most violent while we remained on the little boat, and they sent us what they wanted to give on a rope, continually shouting to us not to approach the land." As visits from Europeans became more frequent and some Europeans began to settle in North America, Natives began to establish regular trade relations with these new colonists. The ideal locations for fur trading were near harbors where ships could come in. During

3570-532: The 1840s. Mission San José was located in Ohlone territory, where stone tool technologies were prevalent. Despite the constraints of colonialism, Native Americans who lived at the mission were able to trade obsidian through direct geological sources such as the Cascade Range in modern-day northern California and Oregon or through evolving trade networks, which involved interactions with other tribes, as well as

3672-630: The Americas and oral histories. Other civilizations, contemporaneous with the colonial period, were documented in European accounts of the time. For instance, the Maya civilization maintained written records, which were often destroyed by Christian Europeans such as Diego de Landa , who viewed them as pagan but sought to preserve native histories. Despite the destruction, a few original documents have survived, and others were transcribed or translated into Spanish, providing modern historians with valuable insights into ancient cultures and knowledge. Before

3774-1148: The Cherokee and the Choctaw to move out of their homelands. Resistance by Native Americans to relocate resulted in conflicts such as the Second Seminole War , that caused the deaths of 3,000 Native Americans. 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. They had difficulty trying to develop economic systems of their own. As outlined by Kalt and Cornell in their book, What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Native Economic Development , on reservations, tribes lacked access to capital, were assigned to areas with poor natural resources (or had their resources stolen or kept from their control), and did not possess skilled labor. Today, many programs, such as

3876-732: The European powers of France, Great Britain , and Spain, with whom they were dealing in North America, they felt drawn into the Europeans' endemic warfare. 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. Later the Bureau of Indian Affairs , which was then part of

3978-420: The Europeans arrived, Indigenous peoples of North America had a wide range of lifeways from sedentary, agrarian societies to semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies. Many formed new tribes or confederations in response to European colonization. These are often classified by cultural regions , loosely based on geography. These can include the following: Numerous pre-Columbian societies were sedentary, such as

4080-668: The Hohokam, they constructed kivas and great houses as well as ballcourts . Several of the Sinagua ruins include Montezuma Castle , Wupatki , and Tuzigoot . The Salado resided in the Tonto Basin in southeastern Arizona from 1150 CE to the 15th century. Archaeological evidence suggests that they traded with far-away cultures, as evidenced by the presence of seashells from the Gulf of California and macaw feathers from Mexico. Most of

4182-484: The Maidu to acquire resources not readily available in their own territory. 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

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4284-734: The Maya city of Chichen Itza . The Toltecs established vast trading relations with other Mesoamerican civilizations in Central America and the Puebloans in present-day New Mexico . During the Post-Classic era, the Toltecs suffered a subsequent collapse in the early 12th century, due to famine and civil war. The Toltec civilization was so influential to the point where many groups such as the Aztecs claimed to be descended from. With

4386-454: The Maya civilization cannot be overstated: it transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics. Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as Zapotecs from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to

4488-778: The Mississippian groups had vanished, and vast swaths of their territory were virtually uninhabited. The Ancestral Puebloans thrived in what is now the Four Corners region in the United States. It is commonly suggested that the culture of the Ancestral Puebloans emerged during the Early Basketmaker II Era during the 12th century BCE. The Ancestral Puebloans were a complex Oasisamerican society that constructed kivas , multi-story houses, and apartment blocks made from stone and adobe, such as

4590-883: The Naval Department of San Blas . 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. Local ceramics were produced within each mission community rather than vessels obtained in trade from autonomous Indigenous potters . The San Diego presidio , table service at the four missions San Carlos , San Antonio , San Juan Bautista , and Santa Clara likely included both locally produced wares and imported wares because several typical tableware forms such as cups and plates are not present in ware assemblages. It took time for Europeans and Native Americans to learn

4692-483: The Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BCE. By 150 CE, Teotihuacan had risen to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, founding new dynasties in the Maya cities of Tikal , Copan , and Kaminaljuyú . Teotihuacan's influence over

4794-586: The Olmecs, Teotihuacan, the Toltecs, the Mexica, and the Mayas. These civilizations (except for the politically fragmented Maya) extended their reach across Mesoamerica—and beyond—like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these civilizations over 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all peoples found themselves within one of their spheres of influence. Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica have been

4896-550: The Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct giant land animals such as mastodon and ancient bison . Paleo-Indian groups carried a variety of tools, including distinctive projectile points and knives, as well as less distinctive butchering and hide-scraping implements. The vastness of the North American continent, and the variety of its climates, ecology , vegetation , fauna , and landforms, led ancient peoples to coalesce into many distinct linguistic and cultural groups. This

4998-587: The Sacramento Valley, the northern Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Range . The Maidu had access to a variety of natural resources, influencing the materials used in their basketry. 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. Maidu's skill in crafting high-quality baskets made them desirable trade partners, attracting interest from other tribes seeking their goods. Additionally, engaging in trade allowed

5100-400: The Spaniards. Trading between Spanish settlers and Native Americans was rare and occurred in parts of New Mexico and California. The Spaniards mainly intended to spread the Christian faith to Natives and to establish the encomienda system. The most significant effect of trading with the Spanish was the introduction of the horse to the Ute in New Mexico. Gradually, horses bred and their use

5202-459: The Spanish colonists. The Wichita people were a loose confederation that consisted of sedentary agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers who resided in the eastern Great Plains . They lived in permanent settlements and even established a city called Etzanoa , which had a population of 20,000 people. The city was eventually abandoned around the 18th century after it was encountered by Spanish conquistadors Jusepe Gutierrez and Juan de Oñate . When

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5304-445: The Tlaxcalans for preserving their culture and for their assistance in defeating the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans would once again assist to the Spaniards during the Mixtón War and the conquest of Guatemala . Cuzcatlan was a Pipil confederacy of kingdoms and city-states located in present-day El Salvador . According to legend, Cuzcatlan was established by Toltec migrants during the Classic Maya collapse in approximately 1200 CE. During

5406-466: The US. After the formation of the United States, the commerce clause of the Constitution gave Congress the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Native tribes." In the 19th century, the American government passed legislation to support the relocation of tribes to reservations to extinguish their title to lands that could be sold to European Americans. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced tribes such as

5508-508: The War Department, issued licenses to traders in the Native Territory . Under removal, the largest tribes from the Southeast and north of Ohio were moved west of the Mississippi River. By 1834, Native territory had been designated as what was then most of the United States west of the Mississippi, primarily what became Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Territories of the upper West were still occupied by native tribes as well. Mountain men and traders from Mexico freely operated there independently of

5610-451: The Yokuts and Chumash tribes  from the coastal regions. Tribes engaged in trade also obtained a variety of goods in return. These included natural resources such as obsidian, fish, salt, acorns, pine nuts, and manzanita berries. Maidu baskets originate primarily from northeastern California, the native territory of the Maidu people. The Maidu are indigenous to the Sierra Nevada foothills and adjacent valleys, including areas such as

5712-443: The calendar, were bequest from the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs. The Mexica-Aztecs were the rulers of much of central Mexico by about 1400 (while Yaquis , Coras, and Apaches commanded sizable regions of northern desert), having subjugated most of the other regional states by the 1470s. At their peak, the Valley of Mexico where the Aztec Empire presided, saw a population growth that included nearly one million people during

5814-457: The city's economic and cultural prowess. Teotihuacan's economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about 650 CE—but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around 950 CE. Contemporary to Teotihuacan's greatness was that of the Maya civilization. The period between 250 CE and 650 CE

5916-406: The civilizations in its area, the Tarascan Empire was the most prominent in metallurgy, harnessing copper, silver, and gold to create items such as tools, decorations, and even weapons and armor. Bronze was also used. The great victories over the Aztecs by the Tarascans cannot be understated. Nearly every war they fought in resulted in a Tarascan victory. Because the Tarascan Empire had little links to

6018-429: The cliff dwellings constructed by the Salado are primarily located in Tonto National Monument . The Iroquois League of Nations or "People of the Long House" was a politically advanced, democratic society, which is thought by some historians to have influenced the United States Constitution , with the Senate passing a resolution to this effect in 1988. Other historians have contested this interpretation and believe

6120-404: The coast in southeast Veracruz . The Olmec influence extended across Mexico, into Central America , and along the Gulf of Mexico . They transformed many peoples' thinking toward a new way of government, pyramid temples, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion. Their achievements paved the way for the Maya civilization and the civilizations in central Mexico. The decline of

6222-518: The customs of the other side. When Europeans first encountered a tribe, they would often be offered fur, food, or other items as gifts. The Europeans did not understand they were supposed to take on an alliance with the natives, including helping them against their enemies. Native American tribes regularly practice gift-giving as part of their social relations. Because the Europeans did not (or most of them), they were considered to be rude, and savage. After observing that Europeans wanted to trade goods for

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6324-432: The de Soto expedition wandered the American Southeast for four years, becoming more bedraggled, losing more men and equipment, and eventually arriving in Mexico as a fraction of its original size. The local people fared much worse though, as the fatalities of diseases introduced by the expedition devastated the populations and produced much social disruption. By the time Europeans returned a hundred years later, nearly all of

6426-463: The decline of the Toltec civilization came political fragmentation in the Valley of Mexico . Into this new political game of contenders to the Toltec throne stepped outsiders: the Mexica . They were also a desert people, one of seven groups who formerly called themselves "Azteca", in memory of Aztlán , but they changed their name after years of migrating. Since they were not from the Valley of Mexico , they were initially seen as crude and unrefined in

6528-451: The development of archaeology in the 19th century, historians of the pre-Columbian period mainly interpreted the records of the European conquerors and the accounts of early European travelers and antiquaries. It was not until the nineteenth century that the work of people such as John Lloyd Stephens , Eduard Seler , and Alfred Maudslay , and institutions such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University , led to

6630-430: The empire from 700 BCE to 700 CE. The Zapotecs resisted the expansion of the Aztecs until they were subjugated in 1502 under Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl . After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , the Zapotecs resisted Spanish rule until King Cosijopii I surrendered in 1563. Like the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs thrived in the Oaxaca Valley. The Mixtecs consisted of separate independent kingdoms and city-states, rather than

6732-409: The end of the period when they were replaced by bows and arrows . The Mississippian culture was spread across the Southeast and Midwest of what is today the United States, from the Atlantic coast to the edge of the plains, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Upper Midwest, although most intensively in the area along the Mississippi River and Ohio River . One of the distinguishing features of this culture

6834-408: The establishment of cities, such as El Tajín as important commercial trading centers. The Totonacs would later assist in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire as an opportunity to liberate themselves from Aztec military imperialism. The Toltec civilization was established in the 8th century CE. The Toltec Empire expanded its political borders to as far south as the Yucatán peninsula , including

6936-405: The establishment of missions. 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

7038-414: The exchange of baskets to obtain goods, forge alliances, and foster social connections. For instance, the Yokuts tribes, located in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills, engaged in extensive trade networks with neighboring tribes such as Miwok , Coast Miwok , and Tubatulabal . Similarly, the Salinan people, residing along the Central Coast of California , participated in basket trade with

7140-429: The first Europeans on the Great Plains were built on a number of trading centers acting as hubs in an advanced system of exchange over great distances. The primary centers were found at the villages of the Mandan , Hidatsa , and Arikara , with a surplus of agricultural produce that could be exchanged. Secondary centers were found at the villages of the Pawnee , Kansa , and Osage on the central great plains, and at

7242-403: The first Cazonci, Tariacuri, united these communities and built them into one of the most advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica. Their capital at Tzintzuntzan was just one of the many cities—there were ninety more under its control. The Tarascan Empire was among the largest in Central America, so it is no surprise that they routinely came into conflict with the neighboring Aztec Empire . Out of all

7344-400: The former Toltec Empire , they were also quite independent in culture from their neighbors. The Aztecs, Tlaxcaltec , Olmec, Mixtec, Maya, and others were very similar to each other, however. This is because they were all directly preceded by the Toltecs, and they therefore shared almost identical cultures. The Tarascans, however, possessed a unique religion, as well as other things. Tlaxcala

7446-596: The impact was minimal or did not exist, pointing to numerous differences between the two systems and the ample precedents for the constitution in European political thought. The Calusa were a complex paramountcy/kingdom that resided in southern Florida . Instead of agriculture, the Calusa economy relied on abundant fishing. According to Spanish sources, the "king's house" at Mound Key was large enough to house 2,000 people. The Calusa ultimately collapsed into extinction at around 1750 after succumbing to diseases introduced by

7548-687: The influence that astronomical activities had upon Mesoamerican people before the arrival of Europeans. Many of the later Mesoamerican civilizations carefully built their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events. The biggest Mesoamerican cities, such as Teotihuacan , Tenochtitlan , and Cholula , were among the largest in the world. These cities grew as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology, and they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures in central Mexico. While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mesoamerica can be said to have had five major civilizations:

7650-429: The initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené , Inuit , and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA) mutations, however, and are distinct from other Indigenous peoples with various mtDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later populations. Asian nomadic Paleo-Indians are thought to have entered

7752-472: The late Aztec period (1350–1519). Their capital, Tenochtitlan , is the site of modern-day Mexico City . At its peak, it was one of the largest cities in the world with population estimates of 200,000–300,000. The market established there was the largest ever seen by the conquistadores on arrival. Initially, the lands that would someday comprise the lands of the powerful Tarascan Empire were inhabited by several independent communities. Around 1300, however,

7854-607: The late twentieth century, archeologists have studied, analyzed, and dated these sites, realizing that the earliest complexes were built by hunter-gatherer societies, whose people occupied the sites on a seasonal basis. Watson Brake , a large complex of eleven platform mounds, was constructed beginning in 3400 BCE and added to over 500 years. This has changed earlier assumptions that complex construction arose only after societies had adopted agriculture, and become sedentary, with stratified hierarchy and usually ceramics. These ancient people had organized to build complex mound projects under

7956-432: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indian_Trade&oldid=1249503731 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Native American trade The term Native American Trade in this context describes

8058-461: The majority of the Y-chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis . This has the effect that the historical pattern of mutations can easily be studied. The pattern indicates Indigenous peoples of the Americas experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes: first with the initial peopling of the Americas and second with European colonization of the Americas . The former

8160-516: The only true writing system native to the Americas using pictographs and syllabic elements in the form of texts and codices inscribed on stone, pottery, wood, or perishable books made from bark paper. The Huastecs were a Maya ethnic group that migrated northwards to the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The Huastecs are considered to be distinct from the Maya civilization, as they separated from the main Maya branch at around 2000 BCE and did not possess

8262-573: The other a comparative advantage in the fur trade industry. The opportunity cost of hunting beavers in Europe was extremely high: by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Eurasian beaver was near extinction in England and France. On the other hand, traders and trappers thought the wildlife in the New World was essentially limitless. Native Americans made use of the trade goods received, particularly knives, axes, and guns. The fur trade provided

8364-657: The people abandoned their settlements, likely due to drought. The Mogollon resided in the present-day states of Arizona , New Mexico, and Texas as well as Sonora and Chihuahua . Like most other cultures in Oasisamerica, the Mogollon constructed sophisticated kivas and cliff dwellings. In the village of Paquimé , the Mogollon are revealed to have housed pens for scarlet macaws , which were introduced from Mesoamerica through trade. The Sinagua were hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists who lived in central Arizona. Like

8466-448: The people involved in the trade. The products involved varied by region and era. In most of Canada, the term is synonymous with the fur trade , since fur for making beaver hats was by far the most valuable product of the trade, from the European point of view. Demand for other products resulted in trade in those items: Europeans asked for deerskin on the southeast coast of the United States, and buffalo skins and meat, and pemmican on

8568-422: The pre-Columbian era, many civilizations developed permanent settlements, cities, agricultural practices, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks , and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had declined by the time of the establishment of the first permanent European colonies, around the late 16th to early 17th centuries, and are known primarily through archaeological research of

8670-416: The prehistoric Americas . The culture reached its peak in about 1200–1400 CE, and in most places, it seems to have been in decline before the arrival of Europeans. Many Mississippian peoples were encountered by the expedition of Hernando de Soto in the 1540s, mostly with disastrous results for both sides. Unlike the Spanish expeditions in Mesoamerica, which conquered vast empires with relatively few men,

8772-624: The reconsideration and criticism of the early European sources. Now, the scholarly study of pre-Columbian cultures is most often based on scientific and multidisciplinary methodologies. The haplogroup most commonly associated with Indigenous Amerindian genetics is Y-chromosome haplogroup Q1a3a . Researchers have found genetic evidence that the Q1a3a haplogroup has been in South America since at least 18,000 BCE. Y-chromosome DNA , like mtDNA , differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that

8874-542: The region. Rabbit skin blankets were a textile category that was often traded among California groups. Great Basin and other desert groups fringing California, with a good supply of hares and cottontails, were important sources for trade. The Surprise Valley Northern Paiute traded them to the Central and Southern Miwok but also received them, especially from the Tübatulabal . The trading networks encountered by

8976-515: The rest of North and South America. Exactly when the first people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate. One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture , with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago. However, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed. Some genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas dates from between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago. The chronology of migration models

9078-566: The skins and other items, Native Americans entered into that. Both sides became involved in the conflicts of the other. In New France , Carolina , Virginia , New England, and New Netherland , the Europeans became drawn into the endemic warfare of their trading partners. As Native Americans were pressed into alliances by the Europeans for Queen Anne's War , the Seven Years' War , the Nine Years' War , and other standing competitions among

9180-553: The southern tip of South America by this time. In that case, the Inuit would have arrived separately and at a much later date, probably no more than 2,000 years ago, moving across the ice from Siberia into Alaska. The North American climate was unstable as the ice age receded during the Lithic stage . It finally stabilized about 10,000 years ago; climatic conditions were then very similar to today's. Within this time frame, roughly about

9282-564: The subject of considerable research. There is evidence of trade routes starting as far north as the Mexico Central Plateau , and going down to the Pacific coast. These trade routes and cultural contacts then went on as far as Central America . These networks operated with various interruptions from pre-Olmec times and up to the Late Classical Period (600–900 CE). The earliest known civilization in Mesoamerica

9384-674: The territory belonged to France , and later Spain . European trade on the central plains was controlled by French merchants, first from New Orleans , later from St. Louis . 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

9486-555: The visits to the Caribbean by Christopher Columbus. Mesoamerican is the adjective generally used to refer to that group of pre-Columbian cultures. This refers to an environmental area occupied by an assortment of ancient cultures that shared religious beliefs, art, architecture, and technology in the Americas for more than three thousand years. Between 2000 and 300 BCE, complex cultures began to form in Mesoamerica. Some matured into advanced pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as

9588-553: The ways of the Nahua civilization. Through political maneuvers and ferocious martial skills, they managed to rule Mexico as the head of the 'Triple Alliance' which included two other Aztec cities, Tetxcoco and Tlacopan . Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau , the Mexica thought of themselves, nevertheless, as heirs of the civilizations that had preceded them. For them, arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosaic work, and

9690-420: The wheel, but it was used solely as a toy. In addition, they used native copper , silver , and gold for metalworking. Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo León ) demonstrate an early propensity for counting. Their number system was base 20 and included zero . These early count markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore

9792-722: The word tracing its origins to a Navajo word meaning "ancestor enemies". The Hohokam thrived in the Sonoran desert in what is now the U.S. state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora . The Hohokam were responsible for the construction of a series of irrigation canals that led to the successful establishment of Phoenix, Arizona via the Salt River Project . The Hohokam also established complex settlements such as Snaketown , which served as an important commercial trading center. After 1375 CE, Hohokam society collapsed and

9894-493: Was a Nahua republic and confederation in central Mexico. The Tlaxcalans fiercely resisted Aztec expansion during the Flower Wars ever since the Aztecs expelled them from Lake Texcoco . The Tlaxcalans would later ally with the Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés as an opportunity to liberate them from the Aztecs and managed to successfully conquer the Aztecs with the help of the conquistadors. The Spaniards would reward

9996-416: Was a time of intense flourishing of Maya civilized accomplishments. While the many Maya city-states never achieved political unity on the order of the central Mexican civilizations, they exerted tremendous intellectual influence upon Mexico and Central America. The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the continent and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics. The Maya also developed

10098-941: Was adopted across the Great Plains, dramatically altering the lifestyles and customs of many Native American tribes. Many Natives switched from a hunter-gatherer economy to a nomadic lifestyle after they began using horses for transportation. They had a greater range for hunting bison and trading with other tribes. Native Americans used obsidian for thousands of years pre-contact with Europeans. As Native Americans began to settle at centralized mission establishments, they brought in obsidian items such as projectile points . 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. The majority of imported ceramics arrived in Alta California , via annual supply ships from

10200-583: Was adopted in more temperate and sheltered regions, permitting a dramatic rise in population. After the migration or migrations, it was several thousand years before the first complex societies arose, the earliest emerging about seven to eight thousand years ago. As early as 5500 BCE, people in the Lower Mississippi Valley at Monte Sano and other sites in present-day Louisiana , Mississippi , and Florida were building complex earthwork mounds , probably for religious purposes. Beginning in

10302-588: Was one of the main economic activities in Northern America from the late 16th century to the mid-19th century. At the time, the demand for fur was surging in Europe as it was used to make cloth and fancy hats. Data collected from England in the 18th century highlights that the years from 1746 to 1763 saw an increase of 12 shillings per pelt. It has been calculated that over 20 million beaver hats were exported from England alone from 1700 to 1770. Both trading partners, Native Americans, and Europeans, provided

10404-538: Was the construction of complexes of large earthen mounds and grand plazas, continuing the mound-building traditions of earlier cultures. They grew maize and other crops intensively, participated in an extensive trade network, and had a complex stratified society. The Mississippians first appeared around 1000 CE, following and developing out of the less agriculturally intensive and less centralized Woodland period. The largest urban site of these people, Cahokia —located near modern East St. Louis, Illinois —may have reached

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