Wampum is a Native American word for purple or white beads made from shells. The beads were made mainly by Native Americans living near the Atlantic coast. They decorated their clothing and other possessions with wampum. They also used it to keep records.
Native Americans carved white beads from the shells of sea snails called whelks and purple beads from the shells of hard-shell clams. Manufacturing the beads required patience and skill because the shells were brittle and the beads were tiny. The beads were about 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) in diameter and about 1/4 inch (6 millimeters) long. People drilled a fine hole in each bead. They then used the holes to string the beads or to sew them onto fabrics or animal skins.
Native Americans often wove thousands of beads into wampum belts. They exchanged the belts as pledges to keep treaties and to assure friendships. They recorded events on their belts by arranging beads in designs. In many cases, the colors of the beads had meanings. White often represented health, peace, and riches. Purple often meant grief or sympathy.
The Algonquin people made the first wampum about 1600. European fur traders exchanged wampum obtained from coastal groups for the furs of inland peoples. Dutch and English colonists, who had few metal coins, adopted wampum as money. However, wampum began to lose its value during the mid-1600’s, when new metal coins began to appear. During the 1700’s, colonists manufactured wampum themselves for use in the fur trade with Native American groups of the Great Plains and Northwest Coast.
