Prior investigations in the early contact era have not extensively analyzed the Miami Indian tribe. This time period offers a classic interaction between a pre-industrial economy and a more advanced industrial economy. The vehicle linking the Miami economic system with the European system was the far reaching fur trade. This investigation was undertaken to examine the impact of the European fur trade upon the Miami Indian economic system and subsequently the Miami Indian culture. The economic system was the most influential component in the Miami culture during that time period. Changes to other cultural components were directed through the changing Miami economic system. The changes to the Miami culture during the latter half of the seventeenth century helped establish a foundation for later Miami Indian cultural changes, which occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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