Trade
The English relied heavily on their trade with the
native Algonquian population to provide food for the
colony in the first years of settlement. We see that
trade reflected in Indian-made pots in the fort used for
cooking and storage and, perhaps, to deliver corn to the
colonists. But what did the English have to give in
return? Captain John Smith mentions sky-blue beads among
other things. Archaeologists have found a variety of
glass beads at Jamestown, including blue ones, which were
brought from England for trade with the Indians. The
beads are believed to have been made by Venetian
glassmakers, some of whom may have been working in
Amsterdam.
Perhaps even more interesting to the local Powhatan
Indians were copper beads and ornaments. The Powhatans
prized the copper as the English did gold, but were at
war with the Monacan tribe to the west - their main
source for native copper. A jeweler, Daniel Stallings,
was among the craftsmen listed as coming to Jamestown in
1608. He must have been busy making copper items to trade
judging by the amount of copper scraps left behind. More
than anything else, copper may have saved Jamestown from
destruction by the Indians in those first years.
