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Article: Indian Trade and Traders
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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INDIAN TRADE AND TRADERS
INDIAN TRADE AND TRADERS.
The Indian trade of North America has traditionally been described as the web of economic relations between Europeans and their successors (Euro-Americans and Euro-Canadians) with Native Americans. Ever since Columbus's first land-fall, Indians and whites have exchanged items of material and cultural significance as part of complex diplomatic and economic relationships entered into by two or more parties to secure exotic goods, establish and maintain political alliances, and ensure cohabitation of lands. By this same convention, the Indian trader has been portrayed as a Euro-American or Euro-Canadian male engaged in supplying Native ...