Wampum

Wampum beads were manufactured by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people through a difficult and painstaking process through which small, smooth, cylindrical beads were created out of shell. The word "wampum" is derived from the Algonkian word "wampumpeag." The beads vary in colour, from white to a dark purple-black, and each colour had a certain value attached to it, with the darker colours being more valuable. Along with the Haudenosaunee, other nations, largely those along the Northern Atlantic coast, manufactured and used wampum. Contrary to popular belief, wampum was not used by the Haudenosaunee as a direct form of currency, but rather as a means of exchange or barter. The beads had many other varied uses, including as a gift, given upon the negotiation of treaties, as a burnt offering upon the death of an individual, as an invitation to council, or even given to the family of a murder victim, as a compensation for the slaying. Wampum belts, which consist of many beads of varying colour strung together to form often complex patterns were an important diplomatic tool among native peoples and acted like modern day treaties. Perhaps the best known of these belts is entitled The Hiawatha Belt, which memorializes the Iroquois Great Law of Peace, which united the original five nations, which were later joined by the sixth, the Tuscaroras. The Great Law represents one of the earliest forms of diplomacy, and has lasted far beyond modern treaties and alliances. These beads were found in the community of St. Davids in Niagara-on-the-Lake.