 Beads and Your History Book
By Peter Francis, Jr.
Here are a couple of questions you can try on your
history teacher –
1. What did the Dutch use to buy Manhattan Island, the heart of New York City?
2. Why did the English fight their first war against Native Americans in 1637?
1. Manhattan
An old postcard with a drawing of the purchase of Manhattan Island by the Dutch. What was used to gain the rights to the land?
Many people think that Manhattan was bought for beads worth about $24. The Dutch did buy Manhattan in 1636 for trade goods worth (at the time) about 24 gold dollars. That is a lot now, but still almost nothing for this important piece of land.
Were trade beads part of the trade goods? Most history books say so, but it is not true. There is no proof that beads were used to buy Manhattan. The story was started by Martha Lamb in her book on New York history in 1877 (250 years after the purchase) and almost everyone has copied her since then. But it is just a story. There is no evidence that beads bought Manhattan.
However, it is likely that another sort of bead was involved, wampum. But the Dutch didn't bring it from Holland.
2. The Pequot War
And what was the first war the English fought against the Native Americans? It was the Pequot War of 1637. Why did they fight? Over a bead.
The bead was wampum. What is wampum? If you look up "wampum" in a dictionary it will probably say it was "Indian money." But this is wrong. Wampum are small, tubular shell beads. The Indians didn't use them for money, only the white men did. The Indians used wampum for many things, but not for money.
The white men used wampum to trade with the Indians, especially the Iroquois of New York. But they also used it like pennies and nickels among themselves. You could buy anything with these beads at the time of American Independence in all thirteen original states.
Once the English discovered how important wampum was, they declared war on the Pequots, the people who controlled the wampum trade. It truly was a war fought over beads.
Wampum
Wampum is the most important bead in American history and no doubt the most written about bead anywhere. It was not "Indian money," but was used as money by the European settlers, who lacked coins. It was legal tender in all 13 original states and was still being regulated as a currency into the 18th century.
The first two wars Britain fought in the Americas was over this bead: the Pequot War of 1637 and the war with the Dutch when England took over New Amsterdam (now New York).
To the Native Americans, especially the powerful Iroquois League, wampum was sacred. It had been given to them by Hiawatha, founder of the League and was  needed for every public action to be validated.
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We at The Bead Bugle are honored to be able to reprint several of Peter Francis’ articles that originally appearer in his publications and website. Everyone in the Bead Industry will miss Peter and his contributions.
"When a wise man dies, a library burns to the ground." This African proverb reflects the way many of us felt, on hearing the shocking news of the premature passing of Peter Francis Jr. Peter was our encyclopedia. Whenever we had a question about bead history or technology, or wanted to learn more about a bead we couldn't identify, we could call on Pete to either give us the answer, or point us in the right direction. And always with a spirit of sharing; never making us feel ignorant or insignificant. For this, we will miss him. Much of Peter's work lives on, through his many books and articles, both for the scholarly and the more popular press. But much more may be lost. Pete had a wonderful ability to combine his prodigious knowledge with keen intelligence, to make connections between one seemingly unrelated piece of information and another, and to come up with a unique insight which could be the beginning of a new story or theory. We will certainly miss his enthusiasm for learning, and his courage to pursue his work, even at peril to his own health.
Part of Eulogy for Peter Francis Jr.
Delivered at the Memorial Service January 21, 2003 by James Lankton
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