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Copyright/Source
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1492 - 1779: From First Contact to the Peace and Friendship
Treaties
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Before the discovery of North America by European explorers, Aboriginal
peoples had an entire continent to themselves. They each had their
own cultures and traditions, which ranged from nomadic lifestyles,
such as the plains peoples who followed the buffalo, to settled
farmers such as the Iroquois. The arrival of the white man would
eventually change everything, and fundamentally affect the Aboriginal
people's relationship with the land and its resources.
Topics in this section:
Decision Making Among Aboriginals
Oral Treaty Making
Covenant Chain
The Great Peace of 1701
Aboriginal-European Relations in the 1700s
Peace and Friendship Treaties
Other Interesting and Important Documents
Decision Making Among Aboriginals
Aboriginals did not have centralized, formal governments in the
European sense. Aboriginal societies were largely governed by unwritten
customs and codes of conduct.
Oral Treaty Making
Aboriginals had treaties
with each other long before European fur traders or settlers arrived
in what is now called Canada. Aboriginal nations would use oral
treaties to settle land disputes and end other conflicts, including
war. Trade and marriage arrangements were commonly made between
tribes as well.
When the Europeans arrived, they brought with them their own methods,
especially the written treaty. Particularly after the conquest,
when the British gradually began to establish a strong hold on the
continent, Aboriginals were not always happy with the
outcomes of these written treaties - for governments of the time
sometimes did not include oral promises made to the Aboriginals
in the written treaty. This forms the basis of many land
claims today, as Aboriginal leaders demand to be given what
they were promised.
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The Great Law of Peace of the People
of the Longhouse is one of the earliest recorded
treaties negotiated between Aboriginal tribes.
It predates the year 1450, and covered 117 articles
governing customs and relationships between the
Seneca, Mohawk and Cayuga tribes, among others.
It was passed on orally from generation to generation,
and was written down for the first time in 1880.
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Copyright/Source
Covenant Chain
In the early 1600s, a series of treaties were negotiated between
the Thirteen
Colonies, which would eventually make up the United States,
and the six-nation Iroquois
Confederacy. These agreements likely originated between the
Mohawk nation and the colony of New York, and were represented by
iron or silver chains that symbolized the binding of a promise.
These agreements would often be re-negotiated as more financial
aid to the Aboriginals was needed, and the chains would be symbolically
polished to show that revisions had taken place. Other colonies,
including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island,
would later join the chain as would the Tuscarora
tribe.
The chain lasted until June 1753, when the Mohawk
broke it, upset that Anglo-American settlers had begun occupying
Confederacy lands without permission of any of the six nations in
the chain. In 1754, an elaborate condolence ceremony was held in
Albany, New York, which saw colonial leaders make peace with the
Aboriginals by offering gifts. The chain was then restored.
The Great Peace of 1701
One example of early treaty making between Europeans and Aboriginal
peoples was the Great Peace of 1701. One 1300 delegates of more
than 40 First
Nations converged on Montreal. The treaty that followed the
negotiations ended almost 100 years of war between the Iroquois
Confederacy and New France and its allies.
The significance of the treaty lasts to this day, as it set a precedent
the use of negotiation to settle disputes between First Nations
peoples and European colonial representatives in what is now Canada.
It also set the foundation for the expansion of the "empire"
of New France to the south and west, and ensured the neutrality
of the Iroquois Confederacy in case of war between the French and
English in North America. At the outbreak of the Seven
Years War between British and French forces in 1756, the Iroquois
Confederacy was neutral.
Aboriginal-European Relations
in the 1700s
By 1701, Aboriginals and Europeans had had about two centuries
worth of contact. While there had been wars between the Europeans
and Aboriginals, the relationship between both parties had stabilized.
Aboriginal skills and knowledge about the harsh landscape helped
many Europeans survive cold Canadian winters. These Aboriginals
provided access to land to furs for trading, as well as food supplies
from fishing and big game hunting.
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For more information about the fur trade in
Canada, visit:·
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On the other hand, European goods and technologies found their
way into Aboriginal culture. The Natives
now had blankets, iron kettles, guns and gunpowder as new tools.
Over a period of time, the Aboriginals and Europeans slowly became
more interdependent. Cultural and social aspects were borrowed from
both cultures and incorporated into trading ceremonies.
A new cultural group, the Métis,
came out of this interaction between European and Aboriginal civilizations.
Early European explorers and traders were virtually all men, and
some of them decided to settle down and start new lives in Canada.
Many started families by marrying Aboriginal women. The ancestors
of these children form the basis of Canada's Métis population.
Area of Peace and Friendship Treaties
Peace and Friendship Treaties
Other colonial governments in the area now covered by New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia and the northeastern United States began to sign peace
agreements with the Aboriginals in the early 1700s. Starting with
the first Peace
and Friendship Treaty in 1725 and lasting until 1779, these
treaties were designed to stop and prevent wars with the Aboriginal
peoples so that European settlers could begin to safely live on
this land and use its natural resources.
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To learn more about the Peace and Friendship
Treaties, visit:
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Area of Peace and Friendship Treaties
Other Interesting or Important Documents
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