Gift exchange versus commodity
Topic: Settler Colonialism: Native Peoples of America and Australia · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Displacing Indigenous Peoples"
Meaning
This is the clash between two different ideas of trade in North America. For the natives, goods passed between people as gifts. Gifts sealed friendships and alliances. For European traders, the same goods (fish, furs) were commodities, meaning things bought and sold for profit. Their prices were set by a distant 'market' that the natives could not understand. The clash shows two different ideas of land, nature and wealth.
Example
In the seventeenth century, Europeans traded blankets, iron vessels, guns and alcohol for beaver furs. Natives were saddened to see hundreds of beavers killed for their fur, and feared the animals would take revenge. Because many natives became addicted to alcohol, Europeans were able to dictate the terms of trade.
Don't confuse with
- Barter: barter is a swap of goods for profit or need. Native gift-giving was about building and keeping relationships.