The World of Wampum

Day 1: Wampum Folklore

Read the folktale of "The Wampum Bird." Pay attention to these characteristics that are found in some folktales:

• Folktales were used by early people to explain things they couldn't understand
• Folktales may contain happenings that aren't true
• Folktales might have animals that talk
• People in folktales may perform superhuman tasks. Can you find these features in  "The Wampum Bird"?

Reflection: How did the geography of the area influence the wampum story?

Activity: Write your own tale of how wampum may have been discovered by the Iroquois. Be sure to include how features of geography may have influenced the origin of wampum. Your story should be 250-500 words in length.

Day 2: Trading Wampum

Visit the following web sites to learn about trade amongst the Indians and with white settlers.
         
          How Money Began: From Bartering to Paper Money
          Money for Kids: The History of Money

In a small group or with a partner talk about these words: goods, services, trade, barter. Can you think of a time when you traded …

• money for goods? money
• money for a service?
• goods for a service?
• service for goods?
• service for money?

Activity: Visit "Welcome to the Trade Museum." Read the story and take the quiz.

Activity: Visit the "Wampum Belts Fact Sheet"

• Notice the picture of the wampum belt
• What colors do you see?
• Can you guess how the belt was made?
• Read the story about wampum
• With a partner or group, share two new ideas you learned by visiting this site.
  

Day 3: Wampum Belts

George Catlin traveled to Native American communities at a time of crucial developments in relations between American Indian tribes and the U.S. government. These developments are visible not only in records of written treaties drawn up by the government, but also in wampum belts crafted by Native American tribes to document these important agreements. Wampum belts were used largely by the Iroquois Nations. The belts hold significant ceremonial and cultural importance as actual manifestations of the values and sentiments surrounding an agreement or event.

Visit the following web sites to gain a greater understanding of what wampum belts look like, how they are made, and their cultural importance:

          Wampum Belts and Beads
          A Short History of Wampum
          Iroquois Wampum Beads and Belts in the Eastern United States
          The Haudenosaunee & Wampum
   
Activity: Now that you understand the cultural importance of wampum and wampum belts,  write a  journal entry in which you describe a time in your own life when you have made an important agreement or "treaty" with a friend, family member, employer, or teacher. Your entry should be 250-500 words in length. Consider the following:

• Why was an agreement important in that situation?
• How did you come to the agreement?
• How were both parties held to the agreement?
  

Day 4: Wampum Treaties

The founding of the Iroquois Confederacy was symbolized by the wampum. Native American messengers wore a wampum to signify that their messages were legitimate. Use what you have learned so far, and visit the following links to learn more about significant treaties and the wampum belt:

          Wampum—Treaties, Sacred Records
          The 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua and the text of the treaty
   

Day 5: Iroquois Timeline

Join your fellow students in small groups of 3 to 5 and use the information you have learned so far about the events in American history taking place between 1776 and 1868, in order to place U.S.-Native American relations in a larger historical context.

Activity: Each group will report their findings to the class and have a representative write the events on a large sheet of paper to represent a timeline. The completed timeline should include major events in Iroquois history and significant wampum belt treaties.


Interesting Fact: Prior to European colonization the Iroquois exercised active dominion over most of what is now New York State. Of the 49,576 square miles of the state the Iroquois held title to about 4/5 of the total area (approximately 39,000 square miles). All together the Iroquois Confederacy held as its own 24,894,080 acres of some of the most beautiful and resource wealthy lands in all of North America. Yet traditional Iroquois were careful custodians of the earth for nowhere in this broad expanse of territory was there a single polluted stream, hazardous waste site or open landfill.