Indians and Europeans... Can they coexist?

Trade and Disease

The implementation of trade allowed from commodities to be exchanged with the natives for materials they desired. With tension over property boundaries mounting, trade began as a casual way for both the Europeans and Indians to receive something they didn’t have. In 1524, Verrazano discovered Indians along the coast of Maine. Although the natives seemed compelled with the items on board,

 “They were nevertheless careful to direct Verrazano’s men to meet them at the rockiest and most dangerous part of the shore where landing was impossible,” (83).

It was if they didn’t have a care for them or an interest in trading. This encounter paved the way for, “the single most dramatic ecological change in Indian lives,” (85). It was the Old World diseases, which included smallpox, malaria, influenza, plague, yellow fever and many others. The Indians had never been exposed to anything like this. There was no development of immunity against them. In turn, women got pregnant with babies and they too didn’t acquire any immunity to fight these pathogens. The population fell from 70,000 to 12,000 in the first 75 years of the 17^th century. In the long run, this provided another reason for the colonists to justify the seizing of their land because of the mast wipe out of the natives.

Getting back to trade, Calvin Harris, a historian, stated, “Indians became involved in the fur trade because they believed that game animals, rather than Europeans, had brought the epidemics upon them,” (91). Europeans offered items such as brass, copper, woven fabrics and iron used for knives and hatchets. This opened a business-like exchange and established markets of trade soon after. However, the Indians had, “little to nothing else,” (95) to offer but its homegrown maize or corn. Maize proved to be a smart item to trade for furs because of its ability to be produced or grown easily. It was also transported easier because of its lightweight. For more commercial exchanges, wampum was used a medium in most deals. Wampum is used as a form of “money” and will be discussed later in the blog. The beaver became the most vital part of the fur trade. The Indians, however, “killed animals only in proportion as they had need for them,” (98).  Although the Indians had always been aware of killing the beavers only out of need, the Europeans changed the Indians’ trading notions and mindset. They weren’t accustom to this kind of commercialization and in turn, the beaver become scarce but still in high demand. Since beavers were the focal point of trade their, “low reproductive rates and sedentary habits made them easily threatened by concentrated hunting,” (99).  Trade ultimately opened up many forms of communications and collectiveness but also exposed the Indians to disease. Trade also cornered the Indians into putting more animals into scarcity because of the fur trade with Indians from the north and south.