Of all the southeastern Indian tribes, none were more eager for trade
or more adept at securing it than the Creek, or Muscogulge, In-
dians. For the Creeks, the maintenance of a steady trading rela-
tionship with a European power was essential to their survival as a people.
Guns were necessary for defense, woolen and cotton textiles offered im-
provements over traditional attire, and metal tools were prerequisite for
more efficient labor. Geography placed the Creeks in the midst of the three-
cornered struggle for empire among Spain, France, and Great Britain. At
one time or another, all three of the great powers courted the Creeks. As it
turned out, the Creeks courted only those who offered a plentiful trade.

It was the Anglo-American colonists, first in South Carolina and later in
Georgia, who cultivated Creek friendship and captivated Creek consumers.
The Philadelphia naturalist William Bartram, who toured the Creek country
during the 1770s, recorded that the establishment of a peaceful trade al-
liance with the British colonies was regarded by the Creeks "as one of the
most glorious events in the annals of their nation." ¹ By the late eighteenth
century, Creek town life, government, and economy had been irreparably
changed by the Indians' participation in the trade. It is these changes in
Creek life--social, political, and economic--that this study will detail. At
the same time, certain features of Creek society proved remarkably resistant
to change, and these too will be examined.

Trade is a mutual affair. The deerskin trade, so very important to Creek
history during the eighteenth century, should also be considered in light of
its importance to the history of several British colonies, notably South Car-
olina, Georgia, and East and West Florida. Frontier entrepreneurs combined

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