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Colonial Culture Clashes In Eastern North America

8 Coates, 7 Shirts, 15 Fathom wampum: Early Settlements

Explore the interconnected relationships between the Dutch, Swedes, English and Algonkian peoples in their respective regions during the early colonial period of the late 1600s.

Track the adaptation of Native American life to European settlement and trade goods, including the importance and use of wampum through this critical period along the mid-Atlantic region. Understand the magnitude of the earliest American culture clashes through customs of war, adoption, captivity, alliance, friendships and marriages between Natives, Europeans, and Africans.

* This project has been financed in part with State funds from the Maryland 250 Commission, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. Project contents or opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the State or Maryland 250 Commission.

Drew Shuptar-Rayvis (Pekatawas MakataweU “Black Corn”) holds a cum laude Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Western Connecticut State University and a Certificate Degree in Archaeology from Norwalk Community College. A true American of the mid-Atlantic region, his family includes indigenous Pocomoke heritage, Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, Swiss, English, Scots Irish, Boyko Ukrainian and Ashkanazi/ Sephardic Jewish, he honors all of his ancestors as a practicing living historian and regularly participates in colonial era reenactments, interpretations and public educational events. He works diligently in the research and preservation of the Eastern Woodland languages, particularly Renape, southern Unami and Nanticoke and is educated in the many European languages at use in the Colonial Period. He was the first garden manager of Western Connecticut State University’s Permaculture Garden, and practices Native horticulture. In July 2021, Drew was elected by his Paramount Chief Norris Howard Senior and Council member Norris Howard Junior as Cultural Ambassador of the Pocomoke Indian Nation of Maryland. In June of 2023, Drew was hired as a contractual research and preservation specialist with Maryland State Archives where he worked to record oral histories, life ways and traditions of Maryland’s eastern shore tribal communities, this contractual work concluded in June of 2024. Drew also serves as the Algonkian historical consultant for the New Amsterdam History Center of NYC where he writes numerous articles on 17th century Algonkian culture.

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