Northwest Coast Uses of Polynesian Art

The first European to meet and trade with the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast was the Spaniard! Juan Perez! in July! 1774. He was followed four years later by the famed British explorer! James C0ok.l From the beginning of this contact! Euro-American explorers and traders have noted and commented upon the readiness of Native Americans to acquire those non-native objects and goods which enhanced and expanded their traditional lifestyle. Shrewd traders! they obtained from the Euro-Americans iron! blankets and other materials which they incorporated into an already rich and elaborate c u l t ~r e . ~ It is interesting to note that the Euro-American componentf although by far the most significant! was not the only culture with which these Northwest people came in contact nor the only source from which new objects were introduced. Evidence suggests that prior to Euro-American contact! the wreckage of Japanese vessels drifted on prevailing currents to the Northwest Coast! some even with surviving crew membersS3 As early as 1788! if not before that date! Polynesian people and material culture were known to at least some Native Americans and had begun physically to reach the Northwest Coast of North America

Citation · Citation database · Download · Icon · Information retrieval · Library science · Political science · World Wide Web · Computer Science · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

• Contact and Conflict

  Robin Fisher, Robin S Fisher•Contact and Conflict•2007

  Add to list

• Hawaiians in the fur trade of north‐west America, 1785–1820

  George I Quimby•Journal of Pacific History•1972

  Add to list