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Indians

Submitted by christina on December 21, 2006

Category: American History
Words: 1510 | Pages: 7
Views: 167
Popularity Rank: 69,011
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)

Paper topic: Examine the role of gift exchange in interactions between Europeans (not just the English) and Indians and describe how gift exchanges changed over time. Did both parties to exchanges have the same understanding in the earlier period? In the late period? Did either parties understand change over time?

Thousand of years before the Europeans found North America; it was the Indians who settled the land. When the Europeans came they brought all sorts of germs, viruses and even diseases that were unknown to the Indians. Due to the fact that Indians traded more among themselves they affected their population because the germs had spread more. Trading became gift exchanges amongst the Indians and Europeans to make it a friendlier act. Indians and Europeans were sharing food and knowledge with each other in the beginning. In 1609, they were trading corn for goods, but there was hostility starting to grow between them.
Europeans wanted to trade guns, alcohol, woolen clothing, and goods made out of metal for deerskin and beaver belts. The Indians were aware of the benefits that these goods could offer but at the same time they were aware of the cost. To maintain coalition and closeness to the Europeans, Indian trading involved exchanging gifts to make it friendlier. Animal population was diminishing to provide Europeans on what they wanted rather than needed. The Indians became more and more dependent on these manufactured goods and were falling into debt because they were buying goods on credit.
Indian people were farmers and hunters, the men went hunting, fishing and cleared fields while the women were planting and harvesting. Indians satisfied their needs with little work until the Europeans got there. Because of the debts, land transfers would take place with great hostility. The Indians were getting ripped off because the land will last long but the supplies that they exchange wear out. When Cherokee chief...

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