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Indians in Canada
The aboriginal inhabitants of Canada were what are now known as “Indians” – a misnomer which was due to the mistaken belief of Columbus that he had in 1492 reached the Asiatic Indies rather than the West Indies. How long the Indians had been in America before the coming of Europeans is a matter of conjecture. Attempts have been made to prove that man reached America in inter-glacial times, since supposed traces of his occupation, such as worked flints and other remains, have been found in American interglacial deposits. There is no doubt that the American mastodons of inter-glacial times must have come from Asia by way of the land connection which once existed between Siberia and Alaska; and if mastodons came, man may have come also. On the other hand, no conclusive proof of the existence of man in America before the last glacial period has yet been found; and it is clear that, during this glacial period, man could not have existed in the northern part of the continent which now constitutes Canada.
From the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in America to the present, the origin of the Indians has been the subject of many speculations. The theory of Cotton Mather, a famous New England divine of the seventeenth century, was that they were an accursed race which the devil had inveigled to America to remove them, ‘beyond the tinkle of the gospel bells.’ Other writers have maintained that they were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel . More recently it was believed that the Indians were not the aboriginal inhabitants of America , but that they had been preceded by a race known as “the Mound Builders,” who had built mounds found in many parts of America, typically in the Ohio valley. It is now known, however, that these mounds were built by the Indians themselves, and not by any prior race. The theory now held most widely by anthropologists is that the Indians were not indigenous to America, but that they emigrated from Asia. With the melting of the glaciers and the gradual retreat of the ire that marked the close of the Pleistocene age, bands of nomads must have pushed their way into north-eastern Asia in their constant search for new areas in which the food resources had not been depleted. At Bering strait, Asia and America are separated by only fifty miles of water, and it must have been by this means that the greatest flood of immigration into America took place. The coast of Alaska is discernible on clear days from the Asiatic side, and natives to-day make their way in boats from one coast to the other, making use of the Diomede islands which lie midway between the two continents. It is probable that the migration continued for many thousands of years, since the Indians, lacking wheeled vehicles and beasts of burden, moved slowly. Moreover, because of the high development which was reached by the autochthonous cultures of central America, and because of the great diversity of linguistic stocks in aboriginal America, fifty-six occurring north of Mexico alone, and for kindred reasons, some writers have concluded that the migration to America began not less than fifteen thousand years ago. On the other hand, others would ascribe a much more recent date to the first migration of man into the western hemisphere.
Other theories tend to supplement rather than displace the Bering strait theory. For many years scientists toyed with the idea of a lost continent of Atlantis which might have served as a stepping-stone from Africa to America, but it is more probable that Atlantis had . no existence outside of classical legend. Some writers, however, believe that the [Black Africans] made frequent voyages to America in ancient times, although the American Indians appear to reveal no traces of mixture with that stock. Others again hold that the civilizations of central America were derived from Egypt by means of trans-Pacific contacts, so similar were they in several respects. According to another theory, many parallels exist between the grammatical structure of the Melanesian languages of the East Indies and that of the Rokan group in California. These parallels have been cited in support of the theory of trans-Pacific contacts between the Old World and the New. Another group of scientists, approaching the problem from a different angle, have claimed to discover certain similarities between the Melanesian type of skull and that type found in parts of America, notably at Lagoa Santa in Brazil, and in southern California . Some have attempted to explain these American and Asiatic similarities by asserting that a vast archipelago once stretched across the southern Pacific, bridging the gap between, the two continents. It is said that Easter island, the closest of the Polynesian group to the American coast, is a remnant of this once large and populous archipelago, which was inhabited by a people who built the large monolithic statues still to be seen on the island. Other students of the subject maintain that this archipelago never existed, since in their opinion the ocean floor is slowly rising rather than falling. But it is not difficult to assume, even under existing geological conditions; that Asiatic peoples may have reached America by way of the Pacific, when it is remembered that the Polynesians sometimes made ocean voyages of over a thousand miles in open boats, and that, two thousand years ago, some adventurous Malay groups are said to have made their way across the Indian ocean. to Madagascar.
However plausible many of these theories may be, it is certain that the American aborigines are closely akin in their physical features to the Mongoloid peoples of north-eastern Asia . Many of their cultural characteristics display a marked similarity, and the languages of some of the. Indian groups, such as the Athapaskan and the [Inuit], are in certain respects not unlike Tibetan, Turkish, Magyar, and Finnish. It used to be thought that the [Inuit], who inhabit the northern fringe of the American continent, and who were found in historical times as far south as the gulf of St. Lawrence, were a race quite distinct from the Indians. But recent investigations have established the fact that they too are largely of Mongoloid stock and not sharply distinct from many of the neighbouring Indian groups. It is thought that the [Inuit] and the Athapaskan of the North-West Territories represent recent migrations from Asia; whereas the Siouans of the Plains, and the Iroquoians and Algonkians of the eastern woodland areas, were perhaps among the earliest peoples to enter America.
During the many thousands of years which elapsed between the first coming of the Indians to America and the arrival of the Europeans, the Indians achieved in some parts of America a considerable civilization. The Peruvians, the Mayas, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs, of South and Central America, constructed magnificent stone buildings; they acquired the art of working the softer metals; they made elaborate and artistic pottery; they developed agriculture to a relatively high level; and they knew something of astronomy and surgery. But unlike the western European peoples who were closely connected by trade routes with Africa and Asia, the American aborigines were isolated in the western hemisphere from those important discoveries and inventions which permit a very high degree of civilization. They had no knowledge of the wheel and its uses; they did not learn how to make tools and weapons of iron and steel; fire-arms and paper were unknown to them; and they never acquired, save in a very elementary way, the art of writing. As for the Indians of Canada, the material aspects of their culture were still relatively simple when the first white men reached America in the sixteenth century. Their clothing was made of the skins of animals, sometimes ornamented with beads or porcupine-quill designs; and feathers were sometimes worn on the head by persons of a certain status for ceremonial and other purposes. They had no metal implements, but used stone hatchets, gouges, chisels, and scrapers, and stone and flint spear and arrow heads, together with other tools and utensils of bone, wood, bark, and antler. Some peoples, such as the Ojibwa and the Indians of southern British Columbia, made excellent baskets, but pottery was generally made from thick clay, crudely when compared with the higher developments of the Old World . All the Indians lived on fruit, nuts, fish, and game animals which the country afforded. Some, such as the Iroquoian peoples, cultivated corn, or maize, beans, pumpkins, and squash extensively, the seeds of which they planted in clearings in the forest. Wild d rice was an important food among the Ojibwa of the Great lakes . The dwellings of the Indians varied from the permanent houses of solid lumber on the Pacific coast, the bark longhouse of the Iroquois, and the snow but of the [Inuit], to the conical skin tipi of the Plains and the dome-shaped bark lodge of the Montagnais. It was in the realm of transportation that they excelled. Their most important invention, when considered in the light of colonial history, was the birch-bark canoe, in which they travelled far and wide over the natural waterways of the country. They also invented the snowshoe, which enabled them to travel over the deep snow in winter.
The clan system of society prevailed among such peoples as the Iroquois and the Pacific coast Indians; but whereas the Iroquois were essentially democratic, the Pacific coast tribes knew nobles, commoners, and slaves. In the league of the Five Nations, the Iroquois attained a more efficient political organization than the nations of western Europe have ever been able to achieve. Other Indians, such as those of Athapaskan and Algonkian stock, wandered about their territories in small bands of closely related families, and were generally without any clan organization. Polygamy was not uncommon among most of the Indian peoples. All possessed rich mythologies, and the curative properties of herbs were well-known. Their art was generally confined to bead, porcupine-quill, or moose-hair embroidery, painting, and wood-carving. The totem pole art of the Pacific coast attained its greatest development under European stimulus in the nineteenth century. A considerable variety of religious beliefs prevailed among the Indians. In general it may be said that they personified the mysterious forces of nature which they sought to placate or control in order to ensure abundant food, general well-being, and to avert disasters: The next world was conceived of as an idealized replica of this. The “Great Spirit” and the “Happy Hunting Ground” were largely the imputation of Europeans.
At the time of European discovery, the Indians of Canada numbered about 220,000, whereas to-day there are about half that number. Linguistically, they were divided into eleven distinct stocks; six of which were confined to British Columbia alone. The most widely distributed were the Algonkian which included among others, the Micmac , Abnaki, Montagnais, Ojibwa, Cree, and Blackfoot; the Iroquoian, which included also the Hurons anti the Neutrals; the Siouan, which was spoken by the Assiniboin; Athapaskan, which was the language of the Chipewyans, Slaves, Yellowknives, and others; and the [Inuit]. Notable among those of British Columbia were the Salish, Haida; and Tsimshian.
Source : A. G. BAILEY, “Indians”, in W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada , Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., pp. 257-264.
The French Period
See Indians in the French Period.
The British Period (1763-1830)
See Indians in the British Period.
The Canadian Period (1830)
See Indians in the Canadian Period.
See Also
Indians
Indians in the Canadian Period
Indians in the French Period
Indians in the British Period
Further Reading
- D. Jenness, The Indians of Canada (Ottawa, 1932)
- The Jesuit Relations and allied documents, edited by R. G. Thwaites
- Sagard-Theodat, Grand voyage au pays des Hurons of
- Voyages of the Baron Lahontan, edited by R. G. Thwaites
- The American Indian frontier by W. C. MacLeod
- F. Parkman’s Conspiracy of Pontiac
- H. A. Innis, The fur trade in Canada (New Haven, 1930)
- De Smet’s Life, letters, and travels (New York, 1905)
Manual of the Indians of Canada, J. White (editor) - Rev. George BRYCE, “The Indians of Western Canada”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 220-227.
- E, M. CHADWICK, “History of the Iroquois to 1898”, in J. Castell HOPKINS, Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 217-219.
- Jean-Baptiste A. FERLAND, “Moeurs des Amérindiens – Première partie”, dans Cours d’histoire du Canada, Vol. 1, Québec, Augustin Côté, 1861, 522p., pp. 105-118.
- G. Bernard GILPIN, “The Micmacs of Nova Scotia”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, J. Castell HOPKINS, ed., Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 241-245.
- J. Castell HOPKINS , “The Indians of Canada “, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 206-214.
- J. Castell HOPKINS , “Canadian Treaties with Indians”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 272-278.
- J. Castell HOPKINS, “The Iroquois and the Land Issue”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 240-241.
- J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indian Attitude to Europeans in their First Encounters”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 236-239.
- J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indian Cruelty?”, Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 239-240.
- J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indians of British Columbia”, Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., p. 245.
- J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indians of the Yukon and British Columbia”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 245-249.
- E. Pauline JOHNSON, “The Organization of the Iroquois”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, J. Castell HOPKINS, ed., Toronto, Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 215-217.
- Rev. John MACLEAN, “The Indians of the Canadian North-West”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 228-235.
- Map of Indian Treaties in Canada , 1850-1921 (Land surrender by Canadian Indians/Extinguishment of Native rights over land in Canada)
- Map of Indian Treaties in Ontario, 1784-1850 (land surrender by Canadian Indians/Extinguishment of Native rights in Ontario
- Joseph SANSOM, The League of the Iroquois, Five-Nations, from Travels in Lower Canada, 1820.
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This entry was last updated: November 5, 2014