Wampum, Colonial Contact, and Preservation

Wampum is an integral component of Haudenosaunee culture, which touched every tradition therein: politics, religion, social organization and oral histories. Its impact throughout Haudenosaunee history, then, must be studied as a crucial, living component; wampum belts and strings are still respected, created, and persistent reminders of the Haudenosaunee and their cultural milestones. The living nature of the wampum tradition opens a larger discussion into the relationships between Native nations and post-colonial powers, the persistence and identification of Indigenous cultures, and the role of academic investigation and communal interaction. While this research project intended to highlight and preserve Haudenosaunee oral history, it naturally expanded to include the role of wampum in a greater North American historical field. In researching oral histories and wampum, an intricate interaction between social, spiritual, and political relationship was uncovered; not only within the Haudenosaunee, but in their interactions with colonial powers, the ensuing treating- process, and how this has unfolded in America history since. Wampum is an integral component of Haudenosaunee culture, which touched every tradition therein: politics, religion, social organization and oral histories. Its impact throughout Haudenosaunee history, then, must be studied as a crucial, living component; wampum belts and strings are still respected, created, and persistent reminders of the Haudenosaunee and their cultural milestones. The living nature of the wampum tradition opens a larger discussion into the relationships between Native nations and post-colonial powers, the persistence and identification of Indigenous cultures, and the role of academic investigation and communal interaction. While this research project intended to highlight and preserve Haudenosaunee oral history, it naturally expanded to include the role of wampum in a greater North American historical field. In researching oral histories and wampum, an intricate interaction between social, spiritual, and political relationship was uncovered; not only within the Haudenosaunee, but in their interactions with colonial powers, the ensuing treating- process, and how this has unfolded in America history since