Canada, 1534.
Explorer Jacques Cartier:So, what do you call... this place?(Meaning, "What do you call this vast and impressive land that I plan to take credit for discovering?")
Iroquoian Chief Donnacona: We call it "a village"--Ka-na-ta. (Meaning, "Haven't you ever seen a city before? It's a 'village,' you poor hick.")
...and so M. Cartier came to dub the entire country "Village," or as we say, "Canada." It was a quirky beginning for our neighbors to the North (are they the original Village People?), but it's just one of the many miscommunications, adventures, and occasional trade disputes that emerge from Canada's earliest history. Did I mention that there are movies? And human cannibalism?
If you've ever wondered about the story of Canada--how Canadians came to be just a little bit different from their gun-totin', Revolution-lovin' southern neighbors (that's us)--then read on for the first installment of CAN HIST 101, Canadian History for Americans:The Era of Encounter! (Written at the request of the Unitary Moonbat.)
The Bering Strait (And All That)
Before there was Canada, the United States, or Mexico, there were the First Nations, whose ancestors crossed the Bering Strait land bridge thousands of years before Columbus (or Norsemen) sailed across the Atlantic. The descendants of those migrants make up the “First Nations” of Canada.
A later group of Asian migrants were the ancestors of today’s Inuit people, whom you may know as “Eskimos.” But that word means “people who eat raw meat” (probably), so it’s widely considered offensive. In any case, the peoples of Northern Canada generally prefer to call themselves “Inuit,” a word meaning “the People.”
By 900 CE or so, these hardy whalers and sealers had reached Newfoundland and were heading towards Greenland. There, the “Era of Encounter” began in the North just when some guys in longboats showed up. Seems both groups were interested in same bit of real estate....
The Story of Vinland, or, Propaganda to Make Karl Rove Blush
Ever wondered why Greenland (often covered with ice and snow) is named Green/land? Some historians believe that it was a propaganda ploy by Erik the Red–a shady Norseman who had fled Iceland on murder charges around 950 CE. He was hoping to get other Norsefolk to join him in
Freezing Cold Land errrrr, GreenLand.
His son Leif was a chip off the old block; after a bit of trouble in Greenland around 980, he sailed west and made several stops, including one that grew into a Norse colony, Vinland, meaning either Another Really Cold Land “Land of Vines” or possibly “Land of Green Meadows.”In the 1960s, Swedish archaeologists found the remains of a Viking settlement in northen Newfoundland, at L’Anse Aux meadows. This may or may not be the legendary Vinland, but it’s the best evidence for Norse settlement on the North American mainland.
Vine-y or not, the settlement was short lived. The Norse and their neighbors didn’t get along so well (it didn’t help that the Norse dubbed the peoples they encountered “skraelings,” meaning something like “scrawny ones” or, in modern parlance, “99-pound-weakling-dudes.”)
There were attempts at peaceful trade, like when the Norse gave some dairy products to the “skraelings.”
But this seems to have triggered a bad round of lactose intolerance, and the natives of Vinland, thinking themselves poisoned, attacked and nearly drove off the handful of Norse settlers at Vinland. (And you thought the softwood trade dispute was bad!)
Leif’s sister Freydis, 8 months pregnant, was left alone to defend herself while the men fled for their ships. She grabbed a sword, bared her breasts, and gave a battle cry that scared off the attackers. (You can bet Leif heard about that one at the Eriksson family gatherings!) It would about 500 years before another European colony was attempted in Canada.
External Link See a re-enactment of Vinland's founding and its re-discovery here.
So Nice to Eat You! Or, the Coming of the Great Peace
Meanwhile, one of the world's oldest democracies was getting started in the Niagara region. The trees, the rivers, the tasty humans just waiting to be eaten....(Wait. Did I say that out loud?)
Around 1142, the Iroquoian-speaking tribes of New York/Ontario were battling it out amongst themselves in bloody years of warfare and cannibalism. Yes, cannibalism. Although Iroquoian oral traditions are somewhat unclear on why cannibalism might have become so prevalent, they are clear that the tribes were competing quite ruthlessly for scarce resources. Although the tribes of the area were culturally close and shared a language, they lived in chaos, war, and constant fear of being “invited to dinner” (if you know what I mean).
The crisis gave rise to the greatest prophet you’ve never heard of: Deganawidah. Like Jesus (“the Christ” or Annointed) and Siddartha (“the Buddha” or Enlightened), Deganawidah is most often known by the title given him–The Peacemaker.
As with many great prophets, the Peacemaker’s origins are shrouded in fantastic details–he was born of a Wyandot (Huron) virgin, grew rapidly, and used a white stone canoe to travel amongst the Mohawk tribe, where he delivered a message from the Creator: Cannibalism is wrong and warring must cease. The People must learn the way of the Law, and keep a Great Peace amongst themselves.
His message was little heeded until a woman named Jingosaseh took him into her longhouse, fed him, and accepted his message. Because of her faithfulness, the Peacemaker decreed that woman would forever be Clan Mothers, holding great power in Iroquois Assemblies and wielding a veto over whether the men may go to war, or if they should stay at peace.
The Great Peace was further spread by the Peacemaker’s greatest disciple, a reformed cannibal named Ayenwatha (Hiawatha to you Longfellow fans). Ayenwatha’s eloquence more than made up for the Peacemaker’s apparent speech impediment, and persuaded leaders of Five Nations ( Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) to join in an alliance that is most commonly called the Iroquois ( Haudenosaunee) Confederacy.
They conceived of their united nations as several families speaking together in a longhouse. Decisions were debated and voted upon by Chiefs, leaders selected by the veto-holding Clan Mothers. Diplomacy was the preferred method of dealing with other tribes and groups, who could even be symbolically “adopted” into the longhouse; war was, of course, another option, but only against outsiders. The laws of the Great Peace forbade killing within the Confederacy, and urged that Chiefs consider the consequences of their actions not only for the present, but for seven generations. By the 1600s, the Iroquois Confederacy held direct or indirect sway over most of eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. The Iroquois Confederacy remained a major player the jointly shared histories of the United States and Canada for many years to come.
External LinkSee a re-enactment of the Founding of the Great Peace here.
“Turn Left at Greenland:” Exploring Ca-na-da
In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the still-unexplored New World between Portugal and Spain. Brokered by the Pope, the treaty certainly didn’t consider the land rights of the inhabiting peoples. And it didn’t consider other European nations, either. In a fine bit of Renaissance snark, King Francis is supposed to have commented...
“I fail to see the line in Adam’s will that divides the world between my brothers the Kings of Spain and Portugal...”
Nevertheless, the treaty made it wiser for both France and England to concentrate resources on exploring to the North, well away from Spanish interests. The English hired a Genoese guy named Giovanni Caboto (but they called him John Cabot, because 15th century Englishmen didn’t deal well with “furriners”) to sail east and find China.
In 1497 and 1499, he tried, but kept finding only forests, rivers, and cold. Further 16th century English-sponsored expeditions to find the “Northwest Passage” also failed, convincing the English that it would be more profitable just to sponsor piratesheroes to rob and plunder appropriate gold from Spanish vessels sailing between South America and Europe.
External LinkSee a re-enactment of Cabot’s discovery here
Lies, Damned Lies...and Cod
The French, however, thought there might be something worthwhile further inland. So, between 1534 and 1545, a Breton navigator names Jacques Cartier led three expeditions across the Atlantic, exploring the St. Lawrence River Valley. He met new people, made good friends, and then kidnaped them.
On his first voyage, Cartier kidnaped persuaded two Iroquoian-speaking Natives, sons of the Chief Donnacona, to come back to France, learn French, and serve as interpreters on his subsequent missions. (Perhaps the mistranslation of “Ka-na-ta” was their revenge?) Cartier visited Stadacona (Quebec City) and the large village of Hochlega (Montreal), and wintered in the country during 1535-36. learning how to drink white cedar tea from the locals, which helped save them from scurvy–well, 85 out of 110 of them, anyway.
Cartier made some diplomatic successes with his Iroquoian allies, and recorded many observations about their way of life in his journal, but his version of diplomacy was occasionally quite reminiscent of a certain Texas faux-cowboy: lie, screw, and steal—and then act surprised when people don’t want to be your friends. For example, he "mis-spoke" and told Donnacona that the 30 foot crosses he was erecting (claiming the land for France) were, uhhh, nothing important. Really! Just decoration.
And after his second voyage, he invited Chief Donnacona to a little “goodbye party” which ended when the chief, his sons, and a young girl were all whisked away to France where they told the King whatever Cartier wanted them to say–namely, that “Ka-na-ta” was a land of gold, spices, and jewels. Upon his return to Canada in 1541, Cartier tried to cover up the fact that all of his victims had died in France (save one) by claiming that they had liked it so much, they’d decided to settle.
He must have been unconvincing , because Franco-Iroquoian relations quickly soured. Although Cartier brought 1500 settlers with him in 1541, losing the support of their neighbors made the colony a losing proposition. Colonists eagerly dug up “gold” and “diamonds” only to find they were quartz and pyrite–worthless minerals. In 1542, Cartier and the surviving colonists packed up and left for home, never to return.
External link: See a re-enactment of Cartier and Donnacona’s first encounter here.
In fact, the most profitable result of Cartier’s voyages was not gold or spices, but the distinctly un-glamourous codfish. French fishermen continued to harvest fish off of Canada’s coasts for the rest of the 16th century and beyond. Since Catholic Europeans spent many fast days (and all of Lent) forbidden to eat any flesh other than fish, this was actually quite a profitable expedition. The Spanish might have all the shiny, precious metals from their mines in Central and South America, but the French fishermen (and Basques, and Englishmen) did all right with their humble salted cod.
Still, they avoided wintering over in the harsh new land, leaving the First Nations to heave a sigh of relief that they had (hopefully) seen the last of their ill-mannered kidnapers guests. But 'twas not to be...
Next time: The return of those pesky Frenchmen, the sneaky dealings of the English, and a truly “world” war. ”Plus! Acadians! Fur traders! And HOT mail-order brides for a very COLD country! All here in CAN HIST 101: Canadian History for Americans!
(Note: re-enactments courtesy of the Canadian History Minutes at www.histori.ca)