History Midterm Study Guide PDF

1.​ First Nations and the five subsistence groups of Indigenous peoples before contact with Europeans. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, you would draw almost entirely (say, about 90 percent!) from relevant lecture material, but you would also bring in a bit of mater...

1.​ First Nations and the five subsistence groups of Indigenous peoples before contact with Europeans. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, you would draw almost entirely (say, about 90 percent!) from relevant lecture material, but you would also bring in a bit of material from “Where the First People Came From,” pp. 3-4, in your textbook. Be aware that, if there’s a question on this topic, it would not ask you to discuss Indigenous women; they are covered by topic 2 (below). -​ Great Lakes farmers -​ Iroquoian-speaking and relied on agriculture for much food. -​ Huron Confederacy lived at Georgian Bay, Ontario, had 30,000 people, and consisted of four nations. -​ Five Nations Confederacy (Iroquois) lived in New York state and consisted of five nations (six as of 1713) with 16,000 people. -​ Mohawk, oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, tuscarora (last nations making it now the six nations) -​ Economy based on slash-and-burn agriculture. -​ Cleared enough agricultural for their needs, exhausted it, than moved on -​ Everyone lived in semi-permanent villages. -​ Each longhouse home to extended family: a woman and her daughters or sisters and their husbands and children; thus, households maternal. -​ When the men married, they would move into his wives household -​ Everyone belonged to a clan; each had a civil chief and military chief (both male). -​ Civil chiefs served on village councils; nations represented in the confederacy council. -​ Diplomacy and most decisions were made with consensus -​ Motives for war: desire for revenge, plunder, new hunting territory, to prove manhood. -​ Women and children captured in war usually absorbed into captors’ society. -​ Male captures were typically tortured to death -​ Trade widespread; Hurons traded extensively with Algonquian groups. -​ Center of a large trade network -​ Animal skins and fish in exchange for corn, corn products, and twine for fishnets. ​ -​ Woodland/subarctic hunters, fishers, gatherers -​ Mainly Algonquian- and Dene/Athapaskan-speaking; included Micmac (Maritimes), Montagnais, Algonquins, Ojibwas, Cree. -​ Followed seasonal movement in pursuit of game. -​ In winters, lived in small extended family groups/bands; in summer, winter groups came together to fish and gather plants and berries. -​ Moose, or caribou in the subarctic - main food -​ No formal political structure like the Huron or Iroquois. -​ Partial exception of the micmac -​ Few councils -​ Leadership informal: each winter band had a leader who was a good hunter; summer bands had a chief. -​ Chief was most accepted if the winter bands -​ Expected to be generous  -​ Decision-making collective and usually based on persuasion rather than force. -​ Sharing, including of hunting territory, practiced in times of need. -​ If game was scarce in one area, neighbouring bands would allow other bands to hunt in their territory -​ Women’s work was essential for these peoples -​ Plains buffalo hunters -​ included nations of Blackfoot Confederacy: Piikani (Peigan), Kainai (Blood), Siksika (Blackfoot), Tsuu T’ina. -​ From buffalo, plains peoples obtained food, clothing, lodging, tools. -​ Hunted buffalo in several ways: -​ Isolated and surrounded -​ Coral and forced buffalo into it to trap them -​ Drove the buffalo over a cliff -​ Followed seasonal cycle of movement. -​ Main social units tribes (nations) made up of bands. -​ Although fairly independent, bands had common political policy and gathered as tribes for ceremonies -​ Regulgary gathered together as tribes for religious ceremonies -​ Tribes had societies (clubs), such as military societies, that cut across the bands – had unifying effect on tribes. -​ Specific songs and dance -​ No tribal wide society -​ Each band had its own society with its own rituals and ceremonies -​ Leadership generally exercised through persuasion. -​ Force was sometimes used -​ Sun dance important religious and social occasion; among Siksika, was presided over by medicine woman. -​ A few siksika women would become shamans - although with less privileges from their male counterparts. -​ West-coast fishers -​ Three social classes: nobles, commoners, slaves. -​ In the north, lineage traced through maternal line; in the south, through male line. -​ central/costal areas it was through both lines -​ No political units beyond individual villages -​ West-coast economy and culture -​ Relied on sea animals and fish; salmon their staple -​ Halibut and herring -​ Cedar and fir used to build boats, totem poles, houses. -​ Potlatch was a ceremony used to inaugurate a new chief, mourn the dead, or confirm status -​ Gift giving and social event -​ Kootenay and salish and well as athapaskan speaking groups -​ All relied on the salmon  -​ In their social structure, culture, and way of life, were more like the plains peoples than west coast peoples -​ More contact with the plains and would sometimes hunt with them -​ Arctic hunters -​ Far north uninhabited until 4,000 years ago. -​ Early migrants included Thule, ancestors of Inuit. -​ ​ Inuit fished for char and followed movements of sea and land animals they hunted. -​ Adopted technology of early Inuit people and created new ones -​ Followed migration of their food -​ Seals, whales, caribou -​ For summer hunting and whaling, used kayaks and large boats. -​ Large, skin covered boats -​ In winters, dog sleds. -​ Wood framed houses in summer and Igloos in winter -​ Most of year, hunted in small family groups. -​ Leadership informal and temporary, but in summer village leaders in charge of whale crews. -​ Religion of Indigenous people in general -​ Saw no distinction between humans and the environment. -​ Animals and objects could have spirits that must be placated. -​ Most Natives also believed in a supreme creator or Great Spirit and tried to access spirit world through vision quests, shamans, or religious societies. -​ Happiness and survival depended on their spiritual communion -​ Believed that If they broke faith, their resources would disappear 2.​ Carefully discuss and compare Indigenous women across what is now Canada before the arrival of Europeans. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, your answer would be based entirely on relevant lecture material. -​ Great Lakes farmers -​ Gender roles/power in Great Lakes culture -​ Men hunted and fished, built houses, cleared land, waged war, filled political offices. -​ Women controlled households, did most of farming, controlled most of property (inheritance through the female line). -​ Leading women selected and deposed chiefs, though men alone were on the councils and made most important decisions. -​ Women had some political power in these societies -​ The amount of power of the women have been debated by scholars -​ Woodland/subarctic hunters, fishers, gatherer -​ Woodland/subarctic women -​ Pitched tents. -​ Set up camp. -​ Carried bands’ effects from camp to camp.  -​ Fetched water. -​ Cut firewood. -​ Snared animals. -​ Caught fish. -​ Prepared hides. -​ Dressed game. -​ Wove baskets. -​ Collected birch bark. -​ Made snowshoes, moccasins, clothes, tools. -​ Gathered berries, nuts, shellfish. -​ Cooked. -​ Looked after the children. -​ Men did the fighting and hunted for big game. -​ Place of women in woodland/subarctic -​ Montagnais women apparently enjoyed equality with men in group decision-making, but many woodland/subarctic women had little say about marriage partner. -​ In some tribes, women could be shamans. -​ Plains buffalo hunters -​ Spent much time processing buffalo. -​ Created useful items and pemmican -​ After horse arrived on plains, hunters could kill more buffalo, making women, the main processors, more valuable. -​ Women were the main processors of buffalo -​ This growing economic importance, along with increased male casualties from mounted warfare, encouraged polygamy, which lowered status of some Siksika women, since third and fourth wives had lower status. -​ Siksika chiefs and shamans had more wives and larger tipis than other men; thus, Siksika had more of social hierarchy than some other Native groups. -​ -​ West-coast fishers -​ West-coast women’s roles, status, power -​ Among Haida, property inherited through the female line. -​ Haida women active traders. -​ Shrewd hagglers/ bargoners -​ Haida marriages arranged by bride’s father and her mother’s uncle. -​ Wives were expected to accept their husbands authority -​ There were a few female Haida chiefs, but Haida women normally had little political power, though a wife’s consent required for trade deals. -​ Excluded from hunting and fishing -​ Mothers consent was necessary for most trade deals -​ Could be shamans -​ Salish women had little input into community decision-making, their husbands were chosen by their parents, and if a divorce, children remained with the father. -​ Lived in their husbands village  -​ Arctic hunters -​ ?? 3.​ Why Indigenous peoples participated in the fur trade -- what their motives likely were. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, your answer would be based entirely on the relevant lecture material. -​ European exploration, the fur trade, and the earliest years of New France French interest in North America rekindled because of European developments and potential of fur trade. -​ Fishery continued to thrive -​ French interest was rekindled -​ End of religious civil war in France -​ Rise of economic theory -​ Advocating colonization -​ Economic policies and possibilities of the fur trade. ​ Trade began as an adjunct to the fishery, but starting in 1580s French companies sent ships to Canada just to trade for furs. -​ In exchange for a few pelts, early fishermen exchanged goods with the Indigenous people along the atlantic coast and the shores of the St. Lawrence -​ French fur trade companies began sending vessels to Canada with the sole purpose to trade for furs. -​ Some Indigenous people (mi'kmaq) relied entirely on the fur trade for their survival. -​ Hunting for furs and trading goods away from their traditional food and hunting patterns -​ Relied on what they received from the french. ​ Tadoussac first main fur-trading centre. Schools of thought about why Natives got involved in fur trade ​ Relativists: Cultural or religious reasons - less about material gain ​ Neo-liberal: Practical/economic considerations - as time went on, trade goods made Indigenous peoples lives easier George Hammell (relativist) ​ Asserts that in sixteenth/seventeenth centuries Natives traded because of the spiritual significance they accorded to trade items. -​ No economical motives ​ Evidence for Hammell’s thesis: Initially Natives perceived white traders as spirits/mythical figures and apparently sought trade goods for their magical powers. -​ Buried their dead with cooper kettles - likely a religious/spiritual reason Calvin Martin (relativist) ​ Argues many Natives’ involvement in trade stemmed from determination to exterminate fur-bearing animals whose spirits had inflicted European diseases on Natives.  -​ Indigenous peoples used this as self-defence -​ Traded the furs of the animals they killed almost as an afterthought -​ Not necessarily of what they could get from the furs. -​ Based more on conjecture rather than hard evidence. ​ Critique of Martin’s thesis: Some say it is based on conjecture; others say most aboriginals blamed white traders and sorcerers for epidemics (not animals). -​ Although some Indigenous groups believed this -​ Most blamed whites for being awful and sorcerers Abraham Rotstein (relativist) ​ Maintains tribal security main reason for trading: in Natives’ culture, to trade with a group was to create military alliance; thus, by trading with Europeans they sought military assistance from traders and their nations. -​ Learned the language of the Indigenous peoples and encouraged them to trade Champlain’s vision for New France – presented to king ​ Establish substantial towns and diversify colonial economy. 1618 - [resented to king Louis the 13th a plan that included the establishment of towns and colonial fishing, whaling, mining, lumbaring, and agriculture as well as the fur trade Such a prosperous colony would be able to launch trips that could find a Asia Would greatly enrich the royals ​ Resulting prosperity would allow colony to search for northwest passage and enrich royal coffers. ​ Not much came of this plan! -​ His dream was still not realiszed 4.​ Wars between New France and the Five Nations Iroquois and the peace of 1701. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, your answer would be based entirely on the relevant lecture material. Five Nations League -​ Formed between 1475 and 1525 to end wars between Iroquoian nations. -​ Hurons’ refusal to join League contributed to Iroquois’ hatred of Hurons -​ The fur trade rivalry between them only furthered their hatred Jesuits and Huron -​ French insisted Huron allow Jesuits to live among them, but by late 1630s many Hurons believed Jesuits had inflicted diseases that had killed half the Huron. -​ Established villages in the main huron communities -​ The jesuits were evil shamans that were responsible for the European disease that killed half the Huron. -​ Some Huron contemplated killing or banishing the priests -​ Majority would not agree on this plan -​ Such action would end their access to french guns - Consequently, some Huron wanted to kill or banish Jesuits, but majority resisted, knowing it would end access to French guns, which they needed to defend themselves. Why Jesuits some success in 1840s? -​ Epidemics ended, alleviating suspicions about priests. -​ Several reasons for the missionary -​ End of the epidemics -​ Eliminated the suspicions that the priests caused the epidemics - Economic and military incentives to convert. -​ French officials gave Christian Huron better prices for their furs -​ Supplied them with more guns - Catholicism’s ritual and messages had parallels to Huron religion attractive. -​ Belief in the afterlife and in the power of prayer. ​ Jesuits’ courage during Iroquois attacks impressed Huron. -​ Became increasingly menacing Iroquois attacks (1640s) created Huron factions : 1.​ Pro-French party (many Christian; all wanted maintain relations with French) 2.​ Traditionalists (resented French cultural influence and sought alliance with Iroquois) -​ Tried to form an alliance with one of the 5 nations (the onondaga) Huronia destroyed (1649) -​ After all-out Iroquois attacks, Huron forced to flee their homeland. -​ Many died from the attacks or starvation; some absorbed into Iroquois tribes and tribes of Huron allies; a few resettled near Quebec. Why Iroquois annihilate Huronia? Longstanding animosities between Five Nations and Huron a factor. -​ Two confederacies have been fighting before first contact with Europeans -​ Backdrop to the attacks Neo-liberal scholars (emphasize economic motives) say main reason for the attacks was that the Iroquois wanted to improve position in fur trade. Allen Trelease (neo-liberal) ​ Aim of Iroquois to secure new fur-hunting territory from Huron. ​ Critique: Huron territory had been hunted out. George Hunt and Bruce Trigger (neo-liberals) ​ Iroquois’ primary goal: to steal furs from Huron and Algonquian fur brigades and force Huron to trade with them (rather than with the french); when Huron refused, Iroquois destroyed them. -​ Only when the Huron refused to cooperate, the iroquois then destroyed them and their allies  -​ Not necessarily a convincing argument -​ Problem with what happened to the furs - W.J. Eccles’ critique: Of 147 recorded raids after 1626, Iroquois only seized furs seven times. -​ Other times the furs were left to rot -​ Economic was not the key motive behind the attacks W.J. Eccles and Dale Miquelon (relativists -- emphasize culture/social objectives) -​ Attacking Iroquois sought tribal security: felt surrounded by enemies and believed destroying Huron would ensure own survival. -​ Create territorial buffer zones and assure their own survival. Daniel Richter (relativist) -​ Iroquois attacks were “mourning wars,” wars to take Huron captives and absorb them into Iroquois society to make up population losses. -​ Loses from diseases and death caused by the french. Why Iroquois able to destroy Huronia? -​ Some scholars argue religious tensions among Huron (from missionary activity) weakened ability to defend themselves, but Iroquois also destroyed Iroquoian nations Jesuits had barely contacted. -​ Religious division cause a weakening of the Huron to defend themselves. -​ No real evidence that religious division had much of an impact while on the battlefield -​ Petun, Erie, Neutral ← Iroguioian -​ had little contact with the jesuits and were also destroyed. -​ Iroquois had four times more guns (500) than the Huron (120); French had not given Hurons more guns because they: -​ feared Huron would destroy the Iroquois, which would divert some of Hurons’ trade away from French. -​ Iroquois prevented french allies from trading with the English or the Dutch -​ underestimated Iroquois’ strength. -​ Overestimated the strength of Huronia -​ Didn’t see the need to supply more guns Fall of Huronia – new opportunities for New France (1649) -​ Because Huron could no longer supply Algonquians and French with corn, French colonists now had market for agricultural products. -​ Stimulated farming and settlement -​ French fur trade also benefited -​ Without Huron intermediaries, French had to go inland themselves – and found new (and richer) sources of fur. Bishop Laval (first bishop of new france)  -​ Tried unsuccessfully to stop liquor trade with Indigenous peoples. -​ His campaign was opposed by the fur trade company and the governor who convinced authorities in france who convinced them that it would destroy the fur trade but also the colony. -​ Church was not successful in their the liquor trade Marguerite Bourgeoys -​ Began school in Montreal (1658) and founded teaching community. -​ 1671 - founded a teaching community that became Congregation de notre dame -​ Reduced illiteracy in colony. New France besieged - Frustrated they could not control northern fur trade, Iroquois turned their fury on St. Lawrence settlement; from 1650-3, 55 colonists captured or killed. -​ Truce with the iroquois started in 1653 -​ Tribulations resumed by 1658 -​ 70 frenchmen were killed with tomahawks -​ Responding to pleas from New France, beginning 1662 king sent soldiers. -​ Consequently, in 1666 French launched offensive against Mohawk, which prompted Iroquois to sign peace treaty in 1667, but tensions remained, partly because Iroquois resented French presence in Illinois. -​ Tensions still remained -​ Iroquois resented the french presence in the area (currently Illinois) -​ Therefore, war resumed when Seneca attacked Fort St. Louis; French governor responded by burning villages in Seneca country. -​ Sent over 2000 french troops and native warriors, rasing villages and destroying crops -​ 1689: Iroquois retaliated by attacking Lachine (near Montreal), taking 90 prisoners. -​ More than 100 french colonists were killed -​ 1692: Iroquois attack at a farm held off by 14-year-old Madeleine de Vercheres and her family’s tenants; she became symbol of French Canadians as resilient people. -​ Became a legendary heroine, -​ High water mark of Iroquois military success -​ French reinforced by more troops and had learned Native guerrilla warfare. -​ French reinforced by 1500 troops and having learned Indigenous guerilla war tactics, gained the upper hand on the Iroquois that were destroyed by war casualties and disease. -​ Iroquois decimated by casualties and disease and defections of Christians who had moved to missions around Montreal. -​ Especially mohawk, which moved into the christian missions around montreal.  -​ Ojibwa moved into southern Ontario and forced Iroquois to retreat to territory south of Lake Ontario. -​ Recognizing futility of further struggle, in 1701 Iroquois concluded peace treaty with French and their Native allies. -​ Promising to remain neutral in future colonial wars between England and France -​ Thanks to this treaty, new france would never again be seriously threatened by an Indigenous group. 5.​ The lives of farm families in Canada (the future Quebec), including, but not limited to, whether or not they were exploited. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, your answer would draw heavily from lecture material, but also, to a much lesser extent, from the following two readings from your textbook: “Memoir of Jacques Raudot, Intendant,” pp. 73-75, and Allan Greer, “The Feudal Burden,” pp. 92-102. Yea: Allan Greer concluded seigneurial dues took “substantial proportion” of farmers’ surpluses. -​ Seigneurs dues amounted to about half of the farmers surplus -​ Concluded that by the 1750’s a “substantial proportion of grain not needed to keep family members alive was being siphoned off by the colonies seigneur” Nay: R. Cole Harris and W.J. Eccles maintain seigneurial dues not burdensome. -​ Not burdensome and the seigneurs were not exploiters Facts: Seigneurial system Initially, seigneurial dues 10 percent of farms’ produce. Seigneur is not allowed to increase rent. Few seigneurs became wealthy from rental income. Tenants could not (normally) be evicted. If censitaire met obligations, could bequeath his land to heirs or sell it if paid a tax to seigneur. Did the church exploit habitants? Tithe (compulsory church tax) half of what it was in France. -​ Not as heavy as they were in the mother country Did state oppress habitants? They had to serve in militia and work few days a year on public works, but did not have to pay royal taxes (half a peasant’s income in France). Could lower classes rise up social hierarchy? A few indentured servants became merchants. -​ More opportunities to move up than there were in France A few habitants earned enough to purchase seigneuries. -​ In a few cases, awarded for bravery -​ Charles le Moyne became a noble. -​ Exception not the rule Upward mobility became rarer as time went on.  -​ Those that were able to rise up were not that much and became smaller during the french regime ​ - scholars highlight exploitation who emphasis social class as a force in history and believe that the metropolis or the mother country were able to replicate its culture into the colonies -​ Scholars that view new france as a more equitable society tend to be influenced by a belief that the new world with its abundance of relatively free land and opportunities in the fur trade, as well as the need for settlement and advancement, assured that these people were well off, at least better off than their counterparts would be in France. 6.​ The women of New France. If there’s a question on this topic and you answer it, your answer would be based entirely on the relevant lecture material. Jan Noel: Had more legal protection, equality, and opportunities than women in old world because of flexible gender ideas inherited from France, shortage of women in colony, and because men often away in military or fur trade. -​ Were generally better treated that they otherwise would have been -​ The military nature of New France and its reliance of the fur trade open doors for women's presence in the economy Micheline Dumont: Only upper-class women better off, and women never appointed to political or judicial offices. -​ Most women were not as well off as the upper-class women. -​ No woman ever became a governor, attendant, counsellor, or judge. -​ Husbands had the legal right to physically discipline their wives and control the family property -​ Law favored men over women in marital separation Legal protection for women Husbands could not alienate certain property women brought into marriage. Widows could continue community of property arisen from marriage. -​ Could renounce the property if the debts were too high Wives and daughters guaranteed share of family property. -​ Could not be written out of the will -​ Daughters were entitled to the same share as their brothers. Women’s work contributions Housework and children. Helping with farm work. Helping artisan husbands with bookkeeping/other tasks. Ran own businesses. -​ taverns -​ Agathe de Repentigny - set up a factory to manufacture cloth -​ Ransomed 9 english -​ Hired them to learn the trade  -​ Had 20 looms in operation Ran husbands’ businesses when they were away. -​ Wives of merchants could help if their husbands were away Took over deceased husbands’ businesses. -​ Marie-anne Barbel -​ Helped her fur-trader husband with his work After gaining this experience, she looked after his affairs in quebec when he was away. When he died (1745) he took over his businesses and obtained a fur concession Bought and sold land and established a small pottery Able to support herself and her unmarried children until she was 90 Marie de l’Incarnation and Marguerite Bourgeoys showed acumen in managing projects. Women in new france had more rights and opportunities than those in France and British Colonies Mainly middle and upper class women that benefited from these opportunities Women suffered from serious legal disadvantages.