[MUSIC] Before we begin our discussion of the fur trade, a major activity that brought Europeans in great numbers to Indigenous lands, we must first talk about the first encounters between Europeans and Indigenous peoples in what is now Canada. We can't begin a conversation about the history of Canada as a nation without talking about colonization. Colonization is a term that describes the ongoing process where one group of people takes control of another group of people. The process of colonization involves one group of people, the colonizers, going into and taking over the land and resources of another group, the colonized, often damaging or even destroying their way of life. The colonizers exploit the land's resources and often utilize the land for settlement. Europe for example, has had many colonizer groups and Europeans have themselves colonized groups from all over the world including Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Colonization is a process. There are many different aspects and not all of the colonizing elements actually happen at the same time or in the same order. Nonetheless, the colonizing process includes: One, the serious modification of Indigenous ways of life including, political, economic, social, and spiritual systems; Two, setting up external political control; Three, forcing the Indigenous population to become economically dependent on the colonizer; And four, providing abysmally poor quality social services, such as education and healthcare, for Indigenous people. The accumulated effect creates social divisions between colonizer and colonized that is determined by race, thereby promoting institutional racism which we will talk about in greater detail in a later lesson. Although first encounters with French and English were often peaceful and had short term beneficial trading, the arrival of Europeans on North America resulted in the colonization of Indigenous peoples. This process happened in Canada over several hundred years. And Canada, as we know it today, would look very different without the colonial impact of France and Britain. >> The fur trade as a commercial venture facilitated colonial dynamics. A small scale trade in furs evolved into a complex and intricate industry. Most Canadian academics specializing in Native History, go so far as to classify the fur trade as a partnership. Trade of furs between Europeans and Indigenous peoples of North America began in the late 1400s. Europeans economies benefited from taking raw materials, like fur, from far away places and bringing the materials back home where they would be manufactured into other products and sold. To do this, European Nations needed colonies that could extract large quantities of raw material cheaply. There was a lot of competition and violence between different European nations for control of these valuable raw materials. This way of thinking is called mercantilism. Mercantilism is an economic theory of commercialism, that is, the belief in the benefits from profitable trade. Mercantilism in the colonies drove European policy and actions from the 1500s into the 1700s. In this era of globalization, Europe created networks that dominated directly and indirectly, distant lands, and peoples. Although the colonial rush of the late 15th and 16th centuries were more significant, archeological records show that the Norse landed and established a small settlement in 1,000 CE, near L'Anse aux Meadows in present day Newfoundland. We don't know exactly how long this colony lasted and it may have only been a few years. The Norse sagas, oral stories later put into writing, recount meeting people they called Skraelings. Skraelings were likely people belonging to the Dorset culture, a group of people predating Inuit, but could have also been Beothuk, Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland. Unfortunately, by the saga accounts these encounters turned violent, and the Norse were eventually driven away by the Skraelings. It is common to refer to the arrival of Europeans, specifically the French and the English, as the discovery of Canada. Of course, this discovery wasn't really a discovery at all for Indigenous people. French and English explorers and traders had merely found a place they didn't know about. Indigenous peoples, having lived on North America for more than 40,000 years, were well aware of the land they lived on long before the arrival of the first Europeans. Can you imagine what was going through the minds of the Mi'kmaq when they first discover a group of lost wandering Europeans? It's not unusual for discussions of the history of Canada to begin around the arrival of explorers like Giovanni Caboto, also known as John Cabot, in 1497, Jacques Cartier in 1534, and Martin Frobisher in 1576. [MUSIC] >> Men of strange appearance have come across the water... Their skins are white like snow, and on their faces long hair grows. These people have come across the great water in wonderfully large canoes which have great white wings like those of a giant bird. The Ojibwe prophet also added, The men have long and sharp knives, and they have long black tubes which they point at birds and animals. The tubes make smoke that rises into the air just like the smoke from our pipes. From them came fire and such a terrific noise. [MUSIC] >> After the Norse settlement, First Nations and Inuit peoples didn't encounter any more Europeans on their lands until the late 1400s. The next group that Indigenous peoples met and began to trade with were the Basque whalers and French whalers and fisherman who were operating off the east coast starting in the 16th century. A sideline trade in furs emerged with these early encounters between Europeans, Mi'kmaq and other First Nations peoples on the east coast. These contacts were casual. At this point, European Nations were mostly interested in profiting from fisheries. Setting up colonies and settlement was not a huge priority for them. These first contacts set the stage for the fur trade. The French, under Jacques Cartier were the first European settlers to set up a sustained colony on North America. In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier traveled as far as the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, amidst large settlements of Indigenous people. Cartier's detailed accounts of the Mi'kmaq relays the wariness of both Indigenous peoples and Cartier in the first encounter of trade. After the successful trading encounters with the Mi'kmaq, Cartier traveled even further inland. Further up the St. Lawrence valley was a large Iroquois village of Stadacona. Led by Chief Donnacona by present day Quebec City. Here, Cartier made the first of his many grave errors. First he erected a large cross which bore the words, long live the King of France, and claimed the land for the King of France. [MUSIC] >> The chief, dressed in an old black bearskin, arrived in a canoe with three of his sons and his brother... He made us a long harangue, making the sign of the cross with two of his fingers, and then he pointed to the land all around about, as if he wished to say that all this region belonged to him. And that we ought not to have set up this cross without his permission. [MUSIC] >> To placate Chief Donnacona, Cartier told him it was merely a directional tool to help navigate his ships. After this, diplomacy and interactions with Cartier just went from bad to worse. Cartier lured and kidnapped Donnacona’s sons, Dom Agaya and Taignoagny, and took them with him, to serve as guides on his explorations. Little did Cartier know that this would have been an acceptable action if Cartier had offered two of his own men as replacements. When Cartier returned he brought Dom Agaya and Taignoagny back with him. Soon after their return, the relationship with Cartier soured. It isn't entirely clear why, but it likely had to do with the fact that Cartier ignored Donnacona's wishes and traveled up the river through the traditional lands controlled by Donnacona to Hochelaga. Unbelievably, on Cartier's second voyage, he kidnapped Chief Donnacona himself, along with six to ten others, to take back to France. It seems that there were some power struggles or disagreements happening in Stadacona at that time, and by bringing Donnacona to France, Cartier would effectively remove him as leader of the Stadaconans. Donnacona and the others would die in France in 1539. While the first two trips that Cartier took were focused on exploration, the added goal of Cartier's third and final voyage in 1541 was colonization. After setting up a French settlement without getting permission from the Indigenous peoples in the area, the colonists were continually hassled by the local peoples. Bad relationships, combined with supplies running out, caused the French to disband the settlement and return to France. This first effort to colonize Canada was brief and ended in 1543. The French were the first Europeans to succeed in setting up a colony in Canada. >> In 1603, Samuel de Champlain arrived at Taddoussac, and formalized an alliance with the Innu, or Montagnais, following Indigenous customs. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in New France. At this time, the Stadaconans and Hochelagans the groups of people that Cartier had met, were not living along the St. Lawrence River any more. So where did they go? It could be that they were driven out by Mohawk groups, who wanted to take control over this key trade area. It is likely that the St. Lawrence Iroquois had moved further west and merged with the Wendat. This area had been an important region of Indigenous trading long before the French arrived, and so, such conflicts were not new. 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