Wampum
About Wampum
Shell beads used as currency and record keeping by Native American tribes of the Northeast. White beads from whelk shells and purple beads from quahog shells. Wampum belts recorded treaties and historical events. Dutch and English colonists began manufacturing wampum industrially in the 17th century, causing inflation that destroyed the traditional economy. Wampum remained legal tender in some colonies until the 1660s. The word comes from wampumpeag meaning white string of beads.
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