1. Early Encounters with European Colonists
When Europeans arrived in North America, Native American tribes were thrust into unfamiliar economic and social systems. Trade soon extended beyond goods like furs and food—human lives became commodities. Some tribes, devastated by disease and warfare, were captured and sold into slavery by colonists seeking labor for plantations. Others entered into alliances with Europeans, exchanging captives from rival tribes for weapons or goods. These early encounters laid the groundwork for complex slave trading relationships that would evolve as colonization spread across the continent.
