Trades and Women

Learning about the Comanche trade centers this week was some of the more interesting information that I hadn't previously known. When we were studying the early European contact with natives and the various goods which were exchanged between the groups, I really got a good sense of how trade relations went near the East coast, but was still lost as how the great plains tribes where able to thrive off of trade. I didn't know about the expansive trade network that the Comanches had set up nor did I know that lots of their goods that they had for trade were acquired by raids. With the addition of the variety of environments that they Comanches dominated and the already important cultural significance of trading to them, it doesn't surprise me that they were able to set up one of the most diverse trading networks in the west. This week's class also enlightened me on the impact of the horse on the Native populations. I found the part of the presentation which told how a man would compare to other men by the amount of horses he owned most interesting, although learning more about the impacts of horses and the different tribes that were able to procure them was also good. There are many different aspects to life in the West which both Natives and Europeans had to adapt too which makes studying this time period very worthwhile.