CHAPTER #1

Oral culture, not written

3 problems with oral history
1. Human memory is fallible
2. Our knowledge of the past is shaped by contemporary issues - external truths
3. Structural amnesia- we forget or transform elements that are no longer relevant
for contemporary society
Oral traditions also distort by those who recorded them
Until recently, usually men and European descents- lots of biases
Womens role often dismissed
And until recently, scholars would only accept oral tradition when backed up by these
independent sources
Well crafted pottery sherds tell us that the Iroquoian- speaking peoples of the ate 16th century
had weather and leisure time
Burial mounds some 7000 years old uncovered along Labradors coasts
A strong indication of agricultural people who lived there before hunting gathering peoples
came along
There were multiple arrival routes
Eastern hemisphere was populated with homo sapiens who then made their way to the
Western hemisphere (people migrated to the Americans)

Aboriginal people were

1. Sophisticated
2. Diverse
3. Dynamic (changed from one period to another)
Land bridge Berginia exposed between Siberia and Alaska during most recent ice age ~
18,000 years ago
Recent studies have suggested the so-called land bridge was covered with birch, heath and
shrub willow
Grassland and tundra more than 2000 km wide
Served as a highway for mammals (mostoclon, giant bison, antelope, predators, including
humans) passing between Asia and the Americans
The linguistic diversification proceeds slowly and is related to the length of occupation
Greatest language diversification in California and on the Gulf Coast
Japanese currents sweep eastward toward the Americans, providing a natural aquatic highway
Evidence suggests humans have been sailing for at least 30,000 years
Australia peopled at least 50,000 years ago
And its inhabitants could only arrive by boat
Trade -very extensive and for- reaching trade networks
Algokians hunters trade furs for Iroquoian - grown corn and tobacco

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Natives on the prairies travelled to summer trade fairs on the Missouri

First Nations on the Pacific Coast traded sea products fur dried meat, moose hides and goatwool blankets
Aboriginals were successfully adapted to their environment
The way that many groups lived was optimal to where they lived
They had no more and no less people in their bands than needed
Anymore and it would be difficult to feed them all, any less, and the work wouldn't get done
Where they lived also determined their social system
~5000 years ago, ice receded n the northern areas
The Bering Strait attained its width of 800km, and land animals could no longer cross between
Siberia and Alaska
People did not go further but no longer from Asias inland centers
Mostly sea-mammals and fishers who traded across the Strait
Technological and social complexity was achieved in Mexico, Central America, and the Andes of
Peru (highest population densities)
Agriculture (corn, beans, and squash) and rich sea resources formed the basis of these
civilizations
They develop without the aid of Europes domesticated animals horses, oxen, and donkeys
Also lacked sufficient supplies of useable copper and in to allow for replacement of stone tools
~ 10 million aboriginals north of Mexico prior to European contact
Europeans assumed they were contacted small, tribal populations
They reduced the Aboriginal population dramatically by exposing them to diseases new to the
Americas
By 20th century aboriginal population reduced to less than 1 million
First nations had 11 indigenous language units
They were also classified through 6 culture areas:
1. Northwest Coast
2. Plateau
3. Plains
4. Subarctic
5. Arctic
6. Northeast Coast

Summary of Chapter 1

First nations lived in six different culture areas that parallel Canadas major geographical areas:
West coast, the interior of British Colombia, The Prairies, The Canadian Shield, The Eastern
Woodlands, and the Arctic
More than 50 different languages being spoken in the six culture areas
In each culture area, nature and the availability of natural resources determined the lifestyle of
particular groups
Indigenous societies were accustomed to adjusting to the change and new opportunities

First Nations communities traded across the linguistic and cultural boundaries
These exchanges sealed economic, political, and military relationships
Culture Areas
Groups
Mode of Subsistence Social Organization
Northwest Coastal

Tshimshian, Kwakiutl,
Tlingit, Haida

Plateau

Salish, Lillooet,
Okanagan, Kutenai

Plains

Dakota, Assiniboine,
Blackfoot

Northeastern Woodlands

Micmac, Maliseet,
Abenaki, Iroquois
Confederacy (Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga,
Cayuga, Seneca,
Tuscarora) Huron
Confederacy (and its
neighbors: Petun and
Neutral), Akgonkian
speaking (Ottawa and
Algonquin)
Eastern region:
Montagnais, Naskapi,
Beothuk, Cree, Ojibwa

Subarctic

Arctic

Western region:
Chipewyan, Dogrib,
Sarcee, Slavey, Carrier,
Beaver, Dene
Inuit

Salmon, Land and Sea

Mammals, Gathering

Highly structured complex

societies, Hierarchically
organized, Permanent
villages
Salmon, Gathering,
Semi-migratory, NonHunting, Fishing
agricultural, Small in
number
Bison, Trade for
Small nomadic bands (50agricultural products with 100)
southern neighbors
Hunting and fishing,
Large villages 2000+
Agriculture Corn,
Complex political and
squash, and Beans, Trade religious systems, i.e.
Iroquois Confederacy

Hunting, Fishing,
Small hunting bands
Gathering (wild rice,
linked by family ties,
maple syrup)
Congregating in large
Traded meat and leather groups in summer,
for corn and squash
Encampments for
Hunting caribou and small religious, social, and
game, Fishing, gathering, political purposes
Moose
Hunting Caribou, Walrus Bands, Structured around
seals, Whales
family units

CHAPTER #2
The Norse (newcomers) arrived along the Labrador and Newfoundland coast
Year of ~1000, they were gone after a decade of settlement
Aboriginals people the rock; Europeans the sea
Conquest and assimilation
Cultural persistence or survival
To interval of nearly five centuries, other Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French)
came to the Americans thinking they were the first to discover this new world
It was the lack of surviving source material that allowed knowledge of the Norse excursions to

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slip into obscurity

Europeans did survive
First Europeans interested in voyaging westward and capable of reaching North America
Travelled in Curraghs, wood-framed boats covered with sewn ox hides, powered by oars and
square sail
Eric the Red founded the Norse settlements in Greenland in A.D. 985
He was exiled from his home country, Norway, as punishment for committing murder
Escaped to Iceland only to become involved in a feud and get banished for more murders he fled
further west to a vast uninhibited subcontinent
Found it to have many animals and a large sea (fish, large mammals)
Called it Greenland
He returned to Iceland encouraging people to migrate with him
Accompanied by 15 shiploads of Icelanders, Eric founded 2 settlements where they raised cows,
horses, pigs, sheep, and goats
Bjarni Herjlfsson went to join in Greenland, found land covered in woods that didnt fit the
description he had of Greenland
So he continued until he sighted the eastern North America (Labrador) but never landed there
(became first European known to sight North America)
The Norse occupied Greenland for ~500 years
Raising stock, hunting and fishing
Traveled for timber and to trade with Inuit
Climate became colder, hurting their prosperity
Vital supplies stopped arriving and 1/3 of the population killed by epidemic bubonic plague
Greenlandic settlements disappeared in 1450
John Cabot set sail to North Atlantic as per the kings demand to find the land and claim it for
England
Entered Gulf of St. Lawrence, believing it to be a direct route to China and India
Went again on second voyage but 4/5 ships were lost causing interest for the English
Jacques Cartier entered PEI and continued to Quebec, they encountered Iroquoians and gave
them knives, combs, glass beads, and other small value things to win their friendship and get
information about the area
Kidnapped aboriginals and brought them back to Europe as proof and to serve as guides
France, Spain, and Portugal produced lots of solar sault used for green fishery- method of
salting fish immediately after catching them
English developed dry fishing drying their lightly salted fish before returning home

Summary of Chapter 2

Arrival of the first Europeans The Norse around 1000 A.D.

Aboriginals were not immune to European diseases that were brought in since they were isolated
from Europe, 90% did not survive i.e. small pocks
In old world

10-15% deaths
In new world
As many as 90-95% of some native populations
Results of high rate of sickness
Higher death rate
No one to care for the sick
Dehydration
Indirect effects
Disruption of society
Decline of agriculture
Transmission of culture in oral tradition
5 centuries later the arrival of the English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Basques
On the middle ground- worlds of Algonquians, Europeans overlapped
New systems of meaning created
Both groups contributed to new systems of meaning
Both groups had to change to accommodate the other
Europeans could not control, ignore Indians
Europeans needed native peoples
1.As allies
2.As partners in exchange
3.As sexual partners
4.As friendly neighbors
John Cabot, Corte-Real brothers, and Sir Gilbert (claimed Newfoundland for England) lost their
lives during exploration
The black death
(Richard white-the middle ground: Indians empires, and republics in the great lakes region)
Some Europeans came in search of profitable northwest passage to China and the Indies
Most were lured by promise of economic gain of cod, whale fisheries, and fur trade
No permanent European settlement as of late 1600 in northern North America
Fur trade as gift-giving
Familial relationships (onontio=father- their duty provided, give people what they needed)

CHAPTER #3

Trade was profitable and made for good for business- didnt result in settlement
Competition for the coveted position of middlemen with French caused the St. Lawrence
Iroquois to vanish (driven out of their location) were victims of contact with French
Algonquian obtained iron weapons from coastal trade giving them advantage in warfare
Jesuits arrived as established a French religious mission, but English colonists attacked and
burned the French colony
French entered Quebec a warzone

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Like Europeans, the French didnt recognize the First Nations rights to the land
Each Montagnais (First Nations) group occupied specific territory and guarded it, going into war
over transgressions
French created alliance with Algonquians and they taught them how to survive winter
(snowshoes, brichbark canoes, toboggans, etc.) also learned how to make sugar
Algonquians first middlemen in supplying fur
Hurons were also valuable fur trade partners
Hurons were
Large confederacy
Powerful and able to challenge Iroquois confederacy
Had economic power
If colony was to rival those of England and Spain it had to be based on more industries than the
fur trade
Needed impressive and wealthy colonies in the new world
Protestants- individuals who no longer recognized the spiritual and moral authority of the pope
but instead they recognized the authority of biblical scripture and the right of individuals to have
direct relationship with their god