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Strength Through Trade 

If you look up the word trade in a dictionary, you will see that it is defined as a type of exchange. In North America this type of exchange was very important, because it brought different nations together in the same place.

Trading was only done between allied nations. Therefore, before trading, the chiefs first met to establish an alliance between their nations. Usually the chiefs renewed these alliances each year, at a trade gathering.

An alliance between two nations did not just mean that they could trade with each other. It was also a military alliance. This meant that, in the event of war, these two nations had to help each other. It was often during the trade gathering that chiefs mentioned that they wished to fight an enemy nation. They decided on a meeting place and the time of year when they planned to attack, and asked their allies to join them.

Each nation was also responsible for protecting the trade routes that led to its villages. The routes had to be secure in order to ensure the arrival of essential resources from other nations.