- Term
Commerce and Connections
- Qualifier
Encounters exhibition
- Remarks
From the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and the Midwest Great Plains to the Southwest desert, the American West has always been a vast trading area. The peoples of North America traded extensively among themselves; and trade networks connected the continent. Soon after their arrival, European merchants set up trading posts to exchange goods with North American Indian hunters. Mexican and Spanish ranchers traded with American and European merchants on the Pacific Coast and along the Santa Fe Trail, the two-way trading route between the United States and Mexico. Nearly everyone participated in the exchange of the resources of the region for the goods of the world. Trade created relationships and links between individuals, families, and communities.
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Fur Trade (Encounters exhibition)
Western Market Centers and Transportation (Encounters exhibition)