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Article: Indian Economic Life
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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INDIAN ECONOMIC LIFE
INDIAN ECONOMIC LIFE.
In the two millennia before Columbus initiated continuous contact between Europe and the Americas, Indian economies were based on combinations of agriculture, fishing, hunting, and gathering. The horticultural practices of many gathering societies blurred the line between agriculture and gathering; Indians in many areas used fire and harvesting techniques to modify the productivity of the landscape for humans. As a result, berry patches, nut-bearing trees, basketry material, and forage for game animals were more prevalent than they would have been without human intervention. Indians of the Northeast woodlands practiced shifting agriculture as ...