Geography

Economy & Resources

Note: The following information is taken with permission from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Web pages entitled, "First People: The Early Indians of Virginia" at http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/arch_NET/timeline/time_line.htm. The information from the Web pages is taken from the book First People: The Early Indians of Virginia, produced by the Department of Historic Resources, and published by the University Press of Virginia.

Regarding the nature of exchange, there is little discussion in the published literature. We know that some luxury goods and corn were accumulated as tribute by paramount chiefs and that gifts were given in order to secure military alliances among chiefdoms. There is little discussion of the existence of standardized media of exchange (money), and yet shell beads and copper were used to purchase goods. Apparently most of the disk-shaped shell bead strings used in trade, called "roanoke," were manufactured at Cuscarawaoke, a village on the Eastern Shore that was outside of the Powhatan realm (Turner 1993:83). Roanoke was taken on trade missions and used to purchase other goods. But was it a standardized medium such that rates of exchange (prices) were known and important features of trade? Davidson says, "Smith and other early English visitors to the Chesapeake region considered roanoke and peak to be types of Indian 'money,' and these beads were commonly used as currency by both the Indians and the English later in the seventeenth century."

The constant infusion of trade goods into Indian society by the end of the 17th century had a profound effect on an individual chief's ability to acquire more trade items, thereby increasing his wealth and social status and legitimatizing his power. At the same time, the geographic dispersal of colonists limited a chief's ability to control people under his influence. Indians now could encounter colonists and trade with them on their own.

The extent of this uncontrolled trade was dependent upon a number of factors. One of these was an individual Indian's proximity to an English settlement or homestead. Native Americans were more likely to establish independent trade relations with individual European settlers and traders who lived nearby. For those Indian groups, however, that were further away from English settlements but still well within the range of chiefly power and control, compliance with what Grumet calls the "persuasion of power" was enhanced as trade goods made their way to the periphery and hunters sought more furs.

As mentioned above, this growth in deer skin production was done not only to increase the numbers of trade objects that a hunter, his family, or his village would receive, but also to comply with greater production demands made by chiefs as they became more enmeshed in colonial trade and relied more heavily upon the products of that trade to reinforce their status and power.

Demand for deerskins is reflected in the historical records documenting export figures. Prior to 1699, accurate figures are not available on an annual basis. For 1699 and after, large numbers of skins were exported every year. Indeed, many researchers assert that these numbers are extremely low, estimating that for some years, skins were exported in the millions. Export figures did not routinely account for skins that were of poor quality, which rotted in transit, that were small, or that were acquired and transported outside of the major traders. The pressure on hunters to kill that many deer and process that many skins must have been intense, especially in times of rapid change as disease and conflict decimated some tribes and as expanding European settlements displaced others.

In Virginia, this network of relationships began to fall apart at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century for a number of reasons. One reason for the collapse of trade networks incorporating Virginian Indians is that Indian groups in the Carolinas were very successfully competing for control of the fur and skin trade. As can be seen in the chart (opposite page), the Carolinas consistently exported more deerskins than did Virginia. By 1707, they had an almost tenfold advantage. Virginia did export more beaver than the Carolinas. This could be due to environmental differences affecting beaver population size. It could also be that the beaver trade became more marginal for the Indians in the Carolinas because they focused so much on the deerskin trade while the beaver fur trade was so well developed to the north.

Sophisticated craftsmanship created a wide range of pottery forms, stone artifacts, and bone tools such as awls, fishhooks, needles, beamers, and turtle shell cups. Accoutrements for the rich, such as beads and pendants, were made from imported shell and copper. Ceremonial and symbolic objects of stone, copper, and shell were also manufactured.

The economy of the Chesapeake Bay region has always been tied to the accessibility of convenient transportation for goods and people. The region's fertile soil, plentiful supplies of fresh water, and situation on the Bay make this an ideal location for agriculture and transportation.

Starting in the Middle Woodland and continuing into the Historic Period, people lavished their artistic ability on their tobacco pipes. Tobacco pipes in the Early Woodland Period resembled large, straight cigars. Later pipes were fashioned into exquisite effigy carvings of birds and animals. Most of the Late Woodland pipes were a short-stemmed elbow type into which wood or reed stems were inserted. Tobacco introduced during the Late Woodland Period and considered a gift from the gods, was reserved for reverent use in medicinal and spiritual supplications. In later times, particularly after contact with the Europeans, smoking for pleasure developed among the Indians, and pipes became commonplace.

Although the gardens were an important food source, the Powhatans' diet was far more extensive. John Smith remarked that for the bulk of the year, Powhatans relied on other sources of food. The waterways afforded a rich diet of fish and shellfish and the woods yielded nuts, fruits and berries. Since the dog was the only animal domesticated by the Powhatans, hunting was an important way to supplement the diet, and was a task relegated to the men of the tribe. At a very young age, a boy was taught the use of the bow. Rather than a recreational activity for the wealthy, as hunting was perceived by the English, Powhatans considered it a very serious business, an important way of securing food and clothing.