Native American Foods: Before and after Contact: Contact and Ongoing Change

Intertribal contact was common throughout America. Tribes changed locations, traveled long distances for trade and social events, and engaged in both warring and peaceful relationships. Despite regional, tribal, and language differences, a common worldview and basic sign language facilitated Indian transactions. Long-distance trade routes and contacts spanned the continent. For example, long before European encounters, Pueblo Indians, unrestrained by modern political borders, established exchange with Mexican trade centers. (Vikings and Basques had followed the fishing to the Newfoundland Banks long before Columbus but had little, if any, effect on cooking.)