Wampum

• TRIBES AFFECTED: Widespread but not pan-tribal

SIGNIFICANCE: Indigenous Americans used wampum to record the lives of significant people, Indigenous laws and events, and treaties or alliances

The historical literature points out that the term “wampum” is not Indigenous in origin. Instead, wampum was coined by New England settlers who shortened an Algonquin term, Wampumpeag, meaning a string of white beads. In the Seneca language, it is called Otekoa, a name for a small freshwater spiral shell. Wampum has been described as finely embroidered belts or strings, many with glass beads that were typically cylindrically shaped, about one-quarter inch (0.64 centimeters) long and one-eighth inch (0.32 centimeters) in diameter. The original bead, before glass ones were introduced, was purported to be a round clamshell (called a quahog) that was traditionally drilled by hand, using stone or reed drills, before iron drill bits came from Europeans. Porcupine quills and animal whiskers were also traditionally used, and according to Mohawk tradition, eagle feathers had once been incorporated into wampum.

Coastal Indigenous peoples along the Atlantic seaboard, together with the Indigenous peoples of New England, first used wampum. The Long Island Indigenous Americans were especially noted for their skill in manufacturing wampum, which took a lot of labor and patience in a time-consuming process. The belts and strings could be of varying length and width, depending on their representative purpose. Five- to 10-foot (1.5- to 3-meter) lengths of wampum could be made in one day. Wampum strings were made from bark or leather, and later, they also incorporated beaver skins and painted sticks.

The Indigenous nations primarily used wampum for commercial relations, often symbolizing a ritualization of reciprocity. It was only later that the belts were made for ornamentation or adornment to wear as jewelry, which eventually led them to be viewed as craft art showpieces for exhibition. A wampum myth is that the term is synonymous with “Indian money”—the traditional Indigenous American societies never used it as currency. It was actually American colonialists who initiated its monetary use. The Dutch, in 1627, were the first to produce counterfeit wampum.

Wampum was originally used for documentation and keeping records of significant events and agreements, such as treaties between two sociopolitical entities and seals of friendship. They were also viewed as certificates of authority and credentials that guaranteed a message or promise. They were thought of as ritual ratification when accompanying treaties or alliances, which may have involved emigration, a prisoner’s ransom, or the extradition of a criminal. The Haudenosaunee used wampum for both official communication and religious purposes. According to their oral history, it was introduced to the Eastern Woodland nations by Hiawatha at the time of the founding of the League of the Five Nations.

The Haudenosaunee Council meetings were recorded with wampum, and there were Wampum Keepers who kept the records among the Onondaga Nation. At special councils, these record keepers would recite the message or law that went with a particular wampum to a gathering of the people. It is also said that the Great Orator first introduced wampum to the Mohawk to bring binding peace among disagreeing parties and to take the place of the shedding of blood.

Each distinct peoples among the Haudenosaunee traditionally had a unique design of wampum that was representative of their respective nation. It is also said that traditionally, every chief of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and every clan mother had a designated wampum as a certificate of their esteemed office. Wampum could also be named for an individual important to the confederacy or a particular membership group among the people of the nations. Some of the most well-known wampum belts are named after significant events in Indigenous history. The Two Row Wampum Belt (Kaswentha) of the Haudenosaunee was one of the most well-known examples of a wampum belt. It was symbolic of an agreement of peace between the Haudenosaunee and European settlers that neither group would force their laws, traditions, customs, or language onto the other. Both groups would attempt to coexist peacefully.

Even though a few Indigenous individuals still act as guardians of certain wampum belts and strings, most of those that have not been lost are found in glass-enclosed showcases in US museums. Some Indigenous Americans are fighting to reclaim them in the twenty-first century. In the 2020s, efforts to repatriate wampum belts gained momentum under strengthened federal repatriation rules and tribal advocacy. In 2024, the Penn Museum agreed to return a belt to the Passamaquoddy, and the National Museum of the American Indian repatriated eleven belts to the Haudenosaunee. That same year, the McCord Museum in Montreal arranged the return of the historic Two-Dog Wampum Belt to Kanesatake. Several US museums, including the American Museum of Natural History, also closed exhibit halls to comply with updated repatriation standards.

A select few non-Indigenous Americans may even have one or two in their private possession as collector’s items, but this is unusual. The traditional meaning and use of wampum has been denigrated by American law and policy. Its mnemonic significance is still a powerful symbol of unity and hope for the future among those Indigenous nations who still honor its sacred symbolism, if not its secular use, in rituals of ratification and reciprocity.

Bibliography

Beauchamp, W. M. "Wampum Used in Council and as Currency." American Antiquarian, vol. 20, no. 1, Jan./Feb. 1931, pp. 1-13.

Bruchac, Margarat M. "Broken Chains of Custody: Possessing, Dispossessing, and Repossessing Lost Wampum Belts." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 162, no. 1, 2018, pp. 56-105, /www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/attachments/Bruchac.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

Deer, Tehosterihens. "‘It Has to Happen Now’: 300-year-old Two Dog Wampum Belt to Be Repatriated In Kanesatake ." CityNews Montreal, 10 Nov. 2024, montreal.citynews.ca/2024/11/10/wampum-belt-repatriated-kanesatake. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

Fenton, W. N. "The New York State Wampum Collection: The Case for the Integrity of Cultural Treasures." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 115, no. 6, Dec. 1983, pp. 437-61.

Gadacz, Rene R. “Wampum.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 5 Nov. 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/wampum. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Haas, Angela M. "Wampum as Hypertext: An American Indian Intellectual Tradition of Multimedia Theory and Practice." Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 19, no. 4, 2007, pp. 77–97, Project Muse, muse.jhu.edu/article/235980. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Tehanetorens. Wampum Belts. Reprint. Iroqrafts, 1983.

"Wampum." Haudenosaunee Confederacy, www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/wampum/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

"Wampum." Onondaga Nation, www.onondaganation.org/culture/wampum. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Yang, Maya. "New York Museum to Close Halls Featuring Native American Artifacts ." The Guardian, 27 Jan. 2024, www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/jan/27/new-yorks-natural-history-museum-to-close-halls-featuring-native-american-artifacts. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.