Why did Native Americans trade for guns?
Asked by
adr (
439
)
August 27th, 2013
When Lewis and Clark arrived in Oregon, the Nez Perce tribe (estimated population 90,000) welcomed them and began trading with the French for tobacco and guns. Why did it not occur to them that this new white tribe, while friendly at first, might be dangerous? The french appeared out of nowhere, with white skin and GUNS for trade, a technology far beyond what they had previously seen, and obviously deathly. Why were the natives not afraid? Seems like they MUST have known that this white tribe was potentially very strong and dangerous. Was their desire for the guns greater than their prudence? Where was the foresight?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
11 Answers
here are some stabs in the dark
1) trade for guns to fight other tribes
2) there was not a lot of precedent for sweeping conquerors for them, with the massive empires of the Inca and Aztec being far away from them, so they couldn’t imagine in that direction.
They wanted guns to kill their tribal enemies. History is loaded with the theme of somebody making a deal with the devil. Look at our recent elections.
It was a very small group of white men, with something the Indians wanted. What was the harm in trading with them? Or so they probably thought, not having any dealings with Europeans before.
Because guns meant survival on many levels.
On the simpler side. The Amer. Indian had a bow and arrow or spear. The White man had guns. They would want guns for any number of sub-reasons. . . . .
I’m not grasping the connection from Lewis and Clark to “the French”.
You can kill a lot more buffalo a lot faster with a gun than with bows and arrows. And you don’t have to worry about that pesky other tribe (or even the other band of the same tribe) moving into your territory.
Who says they weren’t afraid? If aliens landed on Earth with terrifying weapons and offered to share them with us, surely it would be prudent to take that opportunity to narrow the power gap between our two species. In fact, that would be quite consistent with being wary of the aliens’ ultimate intentions. Better to have the advanced weapons should they turn violent than not to have them.
Basically, there was a monstrous misunderstanding about the number of the the invaders and their intentions.
The time line in the question is not accurate.
They could plainly see that guns were an improvement over the pointed-stick technology they had at the time and, lacking the ability to manufacture their own, trade was the best way to acquire them.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
