European presence in First Nation regions
- Trade route maps (tab 3): http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/learning/map/home
- Trade map routes: http://hbcheritage.ca/content/trade-routes
- Trading posts map, page 134-135: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/files/K-12/Curriculum/social-studies/Gr5/people-stories-of-canada/Grade-5_People_Ch8.pdf
- Settlements: Many Aboriginal groups moved from season to season to places where food was available. They followed animal migrations. Those who farmed, moved their village every 30 to 40 years when the land became less fertile. As more and more Europeans moved into North America and claimed land, Aboriginal peoples’ settlement patterns and traditional routes were disrupted.
Guns
- Weapons and tools: The Aboriginal peoples quickly gave up their use of stone arrowheads and axe heads. Metal ones were much sharper and could be purchased readymade. Guns were a new weapon they could use for hunting, although bows and arrows were still used much of the time.
- As it had near the eastern Great Lakes, the uneven distribution of firearms among First Nations resulted in deadly conflicts between communities. For example, Ininew (Cree) and Nakota (Assiniboine) traders were among the first communities in the Northwest to receive firearms from the HBC. Using these guns, they pushed back other communities and expanded their territories to keep their position in the fur trade.
Alcohol
- page 99: https://www.mheducation.ca/web_resources/sch/ShapingcanadaCH3.pdf
- Aboriginal peoples had never had alcohol before the fur trade. When it was first introduced, priests spoke out against it. At times, people tried to control the use of liquor as a trade item. Even so, liquor became an important trade item of the fur trade. Traders took advantage of many Aboriginal peoples by getting them drunk before trading so they could get cheaper furs. In some places, alcohol was the only item offered for trade.
Sickness
- Chapters 7-9 in The Birchbark House
- Disease: Aboriginal peoples had no immunity to many of the diseases the Europeans brought with them. Diseases such as smallpox and measles wiped out entire villages and groups of people. Aboriginal peoples died in such large numbers that they could not resist European settlement.
beaver populations
- Beavers numbered anywhere from 60 to 400 million prior to European colonization, but colonists in eastern North America so coveted the animal’s thick, waterproof fur that the beaver was nearly trapped right out of existence. In fact, beaver pelts were so valuable that, for much of Canada’s early history, they were even used as standard currency. By the early 1900s, the beaver population had dropped to as few as 100,000 due to overtrapping and land clearing, which largely destroyed their wetlands habitat.
- Beaver trading data
The metis
- A whole new group of people arose out of this time in history. The Métis were the result of the intermarriage of European immigrants and the Aboriginal inhabitants of North America. The combination of these two backgrounds created a new culture and way of life.
Changes in culture
- The native peoples became dependent on the trading posts for firearms and ammunition and for European food. Because they were devoting most of their time hunting for the fur trade, they didn't have time to hunt for their own food as they had in the past.
- Rather than having an economy based on "shared" food, they now had an economy based on individual profit from furs. Communal hunting grounds started to be divided and the concept of territorial ownership began to take hold in native communities.
- With the fur trade, conservation was abandoned. When hunting for food, native peoples would take only what they needed. Surpluses were not necessary. Now, the fur trade economy meant that the more furs hunted, the more money there was to be made. Eventually this decimated beaver population.
- The fur trade caused changes in Aboriginal Peoples’ beliefs. New beliefs changed the special bond the Aboriginal Peoples had with the animals they hunted.
- The fur trade also changed some Aboriginal ways of keeping order. Instead of picking their leaders because of their wisdom, some chiefs were chosen because of their skill as fur traders.
- As the fur trade grew, Aboriginal ways of life began to change. For some groups, such as the Mi’kmaq, hunting and trapping for furs to trade replaced summer food gathering and other activities. Aboriginal groups that changed in this way became dependent on trade goods such as clothing from Europe. The European clothing was not as warm or well-suited to Canada’s climate as the clothing the Aboriginal Peoples had made themselves from furs and hides.
sources
http://masters.ab.ca/bdyck/early-canada/fur/index.html
https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/files/K-12/Curriculum/social-studies/Gr5/people-stories-of-canada/Grade-5_People_Ch8.pdf
https://www.mheducation.ca/web_resources/sch/ShapingcanadaCH3.pdf
https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/files/K-12/Curriculum/social-studies/Gr5/people-stories-of-canada/Grade-5_People_Ch8.pdf
http://www.caht.ca/resources/beavers-natures-engineers/