In this influential article, Ronda argues for a fundamental reorientation of how the Lewis and Clark Expedition is understood in relation to Native American peoples. Rather than treating indigenous nations as passive backgrounds to a European-American adventure, Ronda demonstrates that Native peoples were active agents who shaped the expedition’s course through their decisions about trade, hospitality, military confrontation, and geographic information sharing. The article examines how different tribal nations responded to the expedition based on their own political calculations, existing trade relationships, and strategic interests. Ronda critiques the tendency in Lewis and Clark scholarship to treat the expedition’s journals as objective records rather than as culturally situated documents reflecting the captains’ assumptions and biases. This article laid the groundwork for Ronda’s landmark book “Lewis and Clark among the Indians” (1984), which transformed the field.
Research Article
