They featured a stubby, flat, hammer-like head opposite the blade. Prior to 1763, most tomahawks were the poll-end type. Also, for reasons of their own, of which there were many, the Indians were not particularly desirous to learn or pursue blacksmithing. As long as metal items were high-value trade goods, it was certainly not in the interest of the colonists to freely share the knowledge of how to work hot iron and steel with the Indians. They were efficiently mass produced in European factories and made comparatively cheaply.įrom the perspective of most Indians, any metal blade was superior to a stone one, so these tools were immediately and immensely popular. Most metal trade tomahawks-and in fact most all goods intended for bartering with the Indians-were imported to the British and French colonies in North America. As such, they were quite small and light with long handles. Unlike European hand axes and hatchets, which were primarily tools for cutting wood, Indian tomahawks were primarily fighting tools. ![]() However, it first emerged specifically as an Indian trade item. The metal tomahawk as we recognize it today was a popular weapon with European frontiersmen and Indians alike. European bronze, iron and steel implements (knives, axes, saws, hoes, needles, fish hooks and guns) were very valuable trade goods. ![]() Instead, they worked with tools of stone, wood, shell and bone. Prior to contact with Europeans, the native Indians of the Northern Americas had no knowledge of iron. In both cases, European settlers in the new world adapted existing weapons to their particularly American needs. ![]() The tomahawk is as uniquely an American weapon as the Pennsylvania long rifle. TOPS CUMA Kage: Exclusive Testing of the Brand-New Short Sword The Pipe Tomahawk and Some Piping Hot History
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