Meeting European Newcomers:Contact Experiences in Canada

Themes

• Diplomacy

• Sovereignty

• Land and Resources

• Disease

• European need for Indigenous knowledge

• Trade

• Religion

• Marriage

• Warfare

Diplomacy

• Gift diplomacy

• Diplomatic agreements

(e.g. The Covenant Chain)

• Personal exchanges

(e.g. Etienne Brule, Nicolas du Vignau, Savignon)

Sovereignty

• Native understandings of sovereignty

• European understandings of sovereignty

• Rhetorical disjunct between diplomacy and European views of sovereignty

“The Islanders would prefer that the Hurons should not come to the French, nor the French go to the Hurons, so that they themselves may carry away all the trade; for this reason, they have done all they could to block the way...It is strange that although the Hurons may be ten against one Islander, yet they will not pass by if a single inhabitant of the Island objects to it, so strictly do they guard the laws of this Country…”

Father Paul Le Jeune, 1636

Land and Resources

Brief Exercise

• What do the Algonquins see as the basis of their right to the land and resources of the region?

• What does Philomen Wright see as the basis of his right to the land and resources of the region?

Disease

Sample figures

• Huron population in 1616 (32,000) and 1639 (9,000)

• Mohawk population in 1630 (7,740) and 1640 (2,830)

Indigenous Knowledge

• Food

• Guiding

• Transportation

• Medicine

Trade• Trade was of primary importance to Europeans.• Native economies changed to respond to

opportunities for trade.• Native ways of life incorporated European goods.• Reliance on trade was less stable and less

sustainable than previous Native economies.• Competition for trade gave Native people a

significant amount of authority and leverage.

Religion

Workshop #1

• Read the passage from the Jesuit Relations and consider/discuss the questions provided.

• Write a thoughtful answer for at least three of the questions. (6-10 lines)

• Continue considering the other questions, as time permits.

Marriage

Example• Charles La Tour’s marriages (Mi’kmaq partner,

Francois Jacquelin, Madam D’Aulnay)

Warfare

(See next week’s lecture notes)