8 Items the Pioneers Bartered with and What They Got in Return

by Aaron Reddington

Please welcome Aaron Reddington to Plan and Prepared. The article was gladly contributed by Prepper Aaron from TheSimplePrepper.com The Simple Prepper is a survival blog devoted to educating the casual Prepper on topics such as disaster preparedness, emergency survival, prepper kits, self-reliance, and personal defense. Their mission is to make prepping easy and fun!

First contact between Europeans and Native Americans was a collision of worlds and cultures like nothing we have seen in a modern times. It was like us finding an alien civilization today, or them finding us. To truly understand this interaction, you must read from the journals of those who experienced this first hand.

…This people has no belief in God that amounts to anything; for they believe in a god they call Cudouagny, and maintain that he often holds intercourse with them and tells them what the weather will be like. They also say that when he gets angry with them, he throws dust in their eyes. They believe furthermore that when they die they go to the stars and descend on the horizon like the stars. Next, that they go off to beautiful green fields covered with fine trees, flowers, and luscious fruits.
—Jacque Cartier 1535-1536

While we struggle with first accounts from the Native American side, we do know that the Chief Powhatan looked at the Europeans as a resource and power source. Powhatan was a big man with much respect and fear attributed to him. His position would have been taken by the 25 tribes he led. He did not fear the Europeans, in fact, it could have been just the opposite.

“He is of parsonage a tall well-proportioned man… his head somwhat gray…. His age neare 60; of a very able and hardybody to endure any labour. What he commandeth they dare not disobey in the least thing. It is strange to see with what great feare and adoration all these people doe obay this Powhatan.

For at his feet, they present whatsoever he commandeth, and at the least frowne of his browe, their greatest spirits will tremble with feare: and no marvell, for he is very terrible and tyrannous in punishing such as offend him.
—Captain John Smith

While barter was necessary to the survival of the Europeans and the settlements growth, it probably played the biggest role in peace among groups. Had they not the reason of barter to get along, it might have been total war.
Barter also forced the cultures to begin to understand each other. They had to understand what each valued and what each did not. A notable example of this nuance was how the Dutch undertook the creation of their own Wampum back home only to find that the Native Americans told them it held no value in the New World.

This interaction between Natives and Americans would grow and grow as the Pioneers began to forge Westward. Barter with the Native Americans was a crucial part of surviving the long trek west. While the American pioneer needed a lot of what the Natives offered, it was not a one-way street. Pioneers brought access to many things that changed the Native Americans way of life as well.

Lets have a look at 8 items that the pioneers bartered with and what they got in return.

From the Pioneers

1. Metal

While it is easy to get all dreamy-eyed at the thought of homemade bows, stone headed arrows and the incredible bushcraft skills of the Native Americans, they didn’t have that luxury. They did not bask in the glory of their carving and flint napping skills. No, they had to concern themselves with survival above all.

They had duties to an entire tribe!

Native Americans found great value in metal. They had never seen metal as we know it until European contact. Just think about that for a second. The closest analogy I can think of is if someone came down from the sky and brought you a lightsaber. If there was pride in the stone tools and knives they used, it was overshadowed by the durability of metal.

Everything from cooking pots to knives to axes were high on the list of items to trade with the Natives. They were simply in love with the durability of European metal.

2. Alcohol

England was also running a successful sugar cane trade during this time. The West Indies was not only delivering sweet sugar to Europe, it was also bringing the necessary ingredient for distilled spirits like rum. Colonists regarded alcohol as a gift from God and the abuse of it was the only evil that lied therein.

Settlers also had rules and codes about alcohol which kept things about as good as they could be. When these pure, distilled spirits fell into the hands of the Natives they had no past experience with alcohol this strong and were not prepared for the consequences. They had little experience, and this was part of the reason it sold so well and was so hard on the tribes.

3. Fabric

Fabric was another product of European life that the Indians liked. This was not a material that they preferred to their traditional clothing, but they liked to have it around. Fabric was new, and it was softer than hides.

4. Guns

Of course, the fire stick was high on the list for Native Americans to own. Guns made hunting much easier and it gave the Native Americans an edge over other tribes without guns.

From the Native Americans

5. Furs and Hides

The Europeans had all but hunted the beaver into extinction in Europe, but they were plentiful in the New World. Having learned nothing, many believed that the wildlife in the New World was limitless!

They would often trade for furs and hides.

6. Ready to Eat Foods

Native Americans were by far the better farmers of this land. Europeans had no idea what to grow nor how to grow it. It was very common to barter for things like beans, pumpkins, squash and corn. These foods were plentiful and easy for the Native Americans to produce.

7. Rawhide Strips

A strange little item that is often missed in many writings on bartering. Rawhide strips might have been an add on that was part of these barters. Like glass beads to the Indians, the Europeans liked these multipurpose rawhide strips. These were used for a number of things like bailing furs, tying bed rolls and securing items for carrying on horseback.

8. Medicinal Plants

Perhaps the most obvious item to barter would be medicinal plants. Remember, the Europeans knew very little about the plants on this new continent. They were almost always ill after the Atlantic voyage. If they had escaped those things on the ride over, the exhaustion and struggle of survival in the New World would have the sick before long.

There was also injury and infection. The Natives had answers for all of this but the used these answers in the barter and made out well because of that knowledge.

The End of Bartering

As American dominance blew through the continent it became clear that the United States Government regarded the Native Americans as little more than a nuisance. Sadly, through policy and military action the Native Americans were eventually pooled into reservations. The U.S claimed their land, skills and knowledge to help create the America we know today.

I cannot help but wonder what our nation would have looked like had our relations with them been much more diplomatic. The collapse of the Native Americans and the eradication of those that remained, is one of the greatest tragedies in history.

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