Trade Across Nations - The Economy Before and After Contact (light)

Show 3 trade-good artifacts (obsidian from Oregon found in Ohio; copper from Lake Superior found in Florida; dentalium shells from BC found in Wyoming). Ask 'how did they get there?'

• Surface guesses (walked, swam, magic, traders)
• Reveal: extensive TRADE NETWORKS pre-1500

Long before Europeans arrived, the nations of North America were ALREADY part of huge trade networks. Obsidian (volcanic glass) from Oregon was traded all the way to Ohio. Copper from Lake Superior was traded to Florida. Dentalium shells from the Pacific Northwest were traded as far as the Plains. Turquoise from New Mexico traveled north and east. Macaw and parrot feathers from Mexico were traded into the southwest pueblos. The Hopewell people (Ohio) ran trade routes that reached the Gulf coast and the Rockies. The Mississippian people built cities (Cahokia) larger than London at the same time. Wampum (shell beads from the Wampanoag and Narragansett coastal regions) was used for ceremonial and treaty purposes across the Northeast. After European contact, trade networks shifted - now beaver furs, horses (introduced by Spanish), and metal goods were added.

• Native America was connected by trade long before highways.

  model It was TRADED - person to person, nation to nation, across thousands of miles, over hundreds of years.

  prompt How did Lake Superior copper end up in Florida graves?

• Name one good and where it traveled from.
• True or false: nations only traded after Europeans arrived. (False - extensive pre-1500 networks.)

M-2-F-CUL-14-B Photograph

Photo 8x10 of an authentic wampum belt - the 1701 Penn Wampum Belt or the Two-Row Wampum (Gus-Wen-Tah) replica - with permission from a recognized Indigenous source (Haudenosaunee Confederacy or the National Museum of the American Indian). Caption details: belt name, year, dimensions, ceremonial/treaty purpose, current location. Source line: 'Wampum belt (c) [holder/museum], used per educator agreement, photographed [date]. The Two-Row Wampum records the original Haudenosaunee/Dutch treaty 1613 and is still recognized by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy today.'

• MG-14 trade-route map activity. Each pair takes ONE trade good and uses yarn to trace its route on the map (pinned at origin + pinned where found).

  scaffold Pre-marked pins
• Class assembles the map together - 8 yarn strands connecting 8 trade goods to 8 destinations.

M-2-F-CUL-14-A Map

Wall map 36x48, North America c.1500, with major Indigenous trade routes drawn as colored arcs: (1) Hopewell network (Ohio to Gulf and Rockies); (2) Mississippian network (Cahokia centered); (3) Pacific coastal canoe network; (4) Pueblo macaw/turquoise routes; (5) Northeast wampum routes. Eight trade-good source-pins (obsidian Oregon, copper Lake Superior, turquoise NM, dentalium BC, macaw feathers Mexico, wampum Atlantic coast, dried salmon Pacific NW, alligator teeth Florida). Source line 'Compiled from Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Mississippian Iconographic Workshop, NMAI, and the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.' Style: clean cartographic, dignified, with photos of each trade good as marginalia.

• Name one pre-contact trade good and one of its routes.

• Add 'trade', 'route', 'wampum', 'obsidian' to Word Wall
• Preview tomorrow: corroboration deep-dive practice

• Find one thing in your home that traveled a long way to get to you. Bring its origin tomorrow.