American Indians followed game paths through the Gap on trading and warring expeditions. For centuries, the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Iroquois fought for control of the land, while in more peaceful times they traveled through the Gap to trade with other tribes. All three claimed the rich hunting grounds in the Wasioto, the Shawnee word for “mountains where the deer are plentiful.” When European hunters entered the mountains they called the Cumberlands, competition for game animals increased and friction between tribes grew. The north-south trail through the Gap became known as the Warriors' Path, but the trails also provided the best route for trading expeditions. Traveling to villages hundreds of miles away, tribes exchanged necessary and sacred goods. American Indians of the Cumberland region traded items such as salt, chert, and tobacco for sea shells, colorful feathers, and other goods of southern American Indians. Trading and exchange also helped maintain peace by giving tangible form to reciprocity, friendship, and alliance, and objects passed from hand to hand and from tribe to tribe across long distances to far remote regions.