Wampum
WAMPUM
Wampum were beads or disks of polished mollusk shells that were used as money by the Native Americans. The word is a shortened form of wampumpeag, an Algonquin word meaning "white string of beads." Wampum was used primarily by the Eastern Woodlands Indians, who came into contact with the European settlers during the early 1600s. The colonists adopted wampum as money, and helped broaden its circulation. English fur traders, for example, sold their wares to coastal Indians in exchange for wampum; as the fur traders moved inland, they used wampum as exchange with other tribes, such as those of the Great Plains. Like gold or silver today, wampum was valued not only as a form of money but also as decoration. The white or purple shell beads were made into necklaces, woven into belts, and sewn to clothing. After treaties were signed, wampum belts were sometimes exchanged as a gesture of goodwill and continued peace. As foreign coinage and colonial coinage came into circulation, the use of wampum as money declined during the mid- to late-1600s.
See also: New Netherlands, Pieces of Eight