<P> In the early years, as these native peoples encountered European explorers and settlers and engaged in trade, they exchanged food, crafts, and furs for blankets, iron and steel implements, horses, trinkets, firearms, and alcoholic beverages . </P> <P> The majority of Native American tribes did practice some form of slavery before the European introduction of African slavery into North America, but none exploited slave labor on a large scale . In addition, Native Americans did not buy and sell captives in the pre-colonial era, although they sometimes exchanged enslaved individuals with other tribes in peace gestures or in exchange for their own members . </P> <P> The conditions of enslaved Native Americans varied among the tribes . In many cases, young enslaved captives were adopted into the tribes to replace warriors killed during warfare or by disease . Other tribes practiced debt slavery or imposed slavery on tribal members who had committed crimes; but, this status was only temporary as the enslaved worked off their obligations to the tribal society . </P> <P> Among some Pacific Northwest tribes, about a quarter of the population were slaves . Other slave - owning tribes of North America were, for example, Comanche of Texas, Creek of Georgia, the Pawnee, and Klamath . </P>

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