Table of Contents
What are the two main examples of wampum?
Wampum Belts, Treaties and Alliances Some examples include the Hiawatha Belt (the belt of the Haudenosaunee), the Covenant Chain Wampum of 1764, and the Two Row Wampum Belt (Kaswentha). The Two Row Wampum Belt (Kaswentha) of the Haudenosaunee is a well-known example of a wampum belt.
What does the term wampum mean?
Definition of wampum 1 : beads of polished shells strung in strands, belts, or sashes and used by North American Indians as money, ceremonial pledges, and ornaments. 2 dated, informal : money.
What is another name for wampum?
Also called peag, seawan, sewan .
How did colonists use wampum?
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. Wampum was also used by the northeastern Indigenous tribes as a means of exchange, strung together in lengths for convenience. The first Colonists mistook it for a currency and adopted it as such in trading with them.
What does wampum look like?
Wampum was white or purple beads and discs fashioned from two shells: the white beads from the whelk, a sea snail with a spiral shape, and the quahog, a clam with purple and white coloring. Wampum beads were difficult to make back then.
How was wampum shared?
Each position of a Clan Mother of a Chief has their own wampum string. When a person holds this title for the Nation, they carry the wampum to show their place in the community. When a leader falls, the wampum is passed on to the new leader.
What is the meaning of wampum?
Definition of wampum 1 : beads of polished shells strung in strands, belts, or sashes and used by North American Indians as money, ceremonial pledges, and ornaments 2 : money
What are some examples of wampum beads?
Recent Examples on the Web They were also used to make decorative wampum beads. — Larry Bleiberg, USA TODAY, 22 May 2021 One item from the 1680s, a 26-inch wampum belt made of animal hide, glass and shell beads, is said to have been a gift to William Penn, the city’s founder, from a chieftain of the local Lenape tribe.
What is the wampum belt made out of?
— Larry Bleiberg, USA TODAY, 22 May 2021 One item from the 1680s, a 26-inch wampum belt made of animal hide, glass and shell beads, is said to have been a gift to William Penn, the city’s founder, from a chieftain of the local Lenape tribe. — Peter Saenger, WSJ, 2 Apr. 2021
Why are there two portraits of Lenape chieftains hanging above the wampum belt?
Two portraits of Lenape chieftains hanging above the wampum belt come from the 1730s, when William Penn was long dead and a questionable treaty had taken substantial land from the tribe.