Wampum, the common English name for the shell beads used for ornament and as currency among the northern Algonquin and Iroquois tribes of American Indians. They were made chiefly on Long Island and around New York bay. There were two kinds: wampum or wampumpeag, which was white and was made from the conch or periwinkle; and the suckanhock, black or rather purple, made from the hard-shell clam, and worth twice as much as the white. The shell was broken in pieces, rubbed smooth on a stone till about the thickness of a pipe stem, then cut and pierced with a drill. It was strung or made into belts. As money its use passed to the New England, French, and Dutch settlers, being known in French as porcelaine and in Dutch as zewant. In the Dutch colony four beads, and at a later date six, passed for a stiver; in New England it varied also, and was fixed in 1640 at six beads for a penny. The strings were called fathoms, and varied from 10s. to 5s. It was strung and used by the Indians for ear rings, necklaces, bracelets, and belts. It was used in all treaties and on all public occasions, a string or belt being given to bind each article of a treaty, and a treaty belt being delivered as a solemn ratification.

On these figures were elaborately worked with the different colored beads, not arbitrary, but according to a recognized system, so as to form a record of the event that could be read.