page_title: Great Plains Indian Trading Networks before Lewis and Clark
section_title: Geographical and Tribal Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Great Plains Indian Trading Networks before Lewis and Clark / Geographical and Tribal Structure
context_page_description: The Great Plains Indian Trading Networks encountered by the first Europeans on the Great Plains were built on a number of trading centers acting as hubs in an advanced system of exchange over great distances. The primary centers were found at the villages of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, with a surplus of agricultural produce that could be exchanged. Secondary centers were found at the villages of the Pawnee, Kansa and Osage on the central plains, and at the Caddo villages on the southern plains. The Dakota rendezvous was an important annual trading fair among the Sioux. European demand for fur changed the relations of the plains, increased the occurrence of war, and displaced several Indian nations that were forced away by the Sioux coming from the east. On the northern plains, European trade lay in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, although most of the territory belonged to France, and later Spain. European trade on the central plains was controlled by French merchants, first from New Orleans, later from St. Louis.
context_section_description: The trading networks encountered by the first Europeans on the Great Plans were built on a number of trading centers acting as hubs in an advanced system of exchange over great distances. The major centers were found at the villages of sedentary peoples with a surplus of agricultural produce that could be exchanged. Treasured commodities such as marine shells, obsidian, and turquoise were transported thousands of miles from their origin.
  The primary trading centers were found on the middle Missouri River, at the villages of the Mandans, Hidatsa, and Arikara. The central place of these villages in the exchange system was based on an advantageous geographical position combined with a surplus from agriculture and craft. Historical sources show that the Middle Missouri villages were visited by Cree, Assiniboine, Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Plains Apache  and Comanche. The Arikara villages were also frequented by the Sioux. South of the Arikara the Sioux gathered at the Dakota Rendezvous, an annual fair exchanging goods acquired from other Indian nations.  The villages of the Pawnee, Kansa, and Osage were secondary centers on the central plains. On the southern plains, the Caddo villages formed important secondary centers whose westward exchange connected the Plains trading networks with the Southwestern trading networks.
  Important middlemen in the exchange system were Assiniboine and Cree, who connected the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara trading centers with the Northern Plains, and with the forest peoples north of Lake Superior. The Sioux brought goods from the Dakota Rendezvous to the Arikara, while the Kansa acted as intermediaries between the Osage and the Pawnee. The Cheyenne were intermediaries between the Comanches and the Plains Apaches, and the primary trading centers on the Middle Missouri, thereby connecting them with the Shoshone Rendezvous and the Great Basin trading networks. On the southern plains, the Comanche became an all important factor after their arrival.
caption: Hidatsa village.
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