lecture 11: beaver wars & the destruction of the Wendat

french crown put out restrictions on trade? explain. (2)

• french crown put restrictions on trade saying that they had to include missionaries in the trade to try to convert the First Nations to Christianity

• beginning in 1626, the jesuits operated among the Wendat - as they established themselves they tried to keep the traders from coming inland to avoid them corrupting the Wendat and exerting their own control

jesuits were interesting why?

because they took a keen interest in the culture of the people they were trying to convert and tried to adjust their preaching to fit that culture

most of what we know about the Wendat comes from where?

the jesuit relations

jesuit relations:

the annual reports the jesuits wrote/sent back to their superiors in France

what was the second best income source in Canada, that the jesuits had a keen interest in?

importing ginseng - medicinal plant the Chinese were using (they noted it on turtle island and that the Haudenosaunee used it medicinally also)

how did the french crown add to the problem (after imposing trade restrictions)? (2)

they said that the traders could only trade guns to christians and gave preferential trade rates to the christians

meanwhile the dutch were busy trading guns to the Haudenosaunee down south

what did the jesuits want the wendat to do?

to settle in permanent communities as they had done in south america with the reducciones - established ste marie among the hurons as the base of their operations

by the 1640s…

there were a significant number of converts and the Wendat communities were internally divided over christianity

the missionaries and the encounters with traders at quebec introduced what?

a number of epidemics beginning in 1634, especially the smallpox epidemic of 1638 (reduced the population 50-75%) severely reduced Wendat population

why did some Wendat think the jesuits were evil?

because during the spurring epidemics in the 1600s; the jesuits would baptise people on their deathbeds to ensure they would enter heaven

1649: (4)

• Haudenosaunee receive a major shipment of guns from the Dutch at fort orange (1647) - start organizing a major campaign

• maintaining their blockade against new france thru the 1630/40s they disrupted traffic along the ottawa river holding the french and their forts along the st. lawrence

• 1649 - they launched a major attack on Huronia (killed 3 jesuits) driving the Wendat from their homes; they burned all the crops, attacked every village, caused mass relocations

• many Wendat escape to christian island in georgian bay and are abandoned there by their french allies (about 5000 starve over winter)

many Wendat escape to christian island in georgian bay where… what happens? (3)

• 5000 starve over winter (most)(abandoned by french allies)

• those who did survive moved yo just outside quebec city; loretta settlement protected by the french

• a large number also moved south joining the Petun and Neutral - became the Wyandot peoples (Michigan)

after the attack on Huronia, the Haudenosaunee basically…

cleared out all other nations from southern ontario and kept the country empty for 20 years - Anishinaabe took advantage of situation, began expanding south and east to occupy southern ontario - led to a series of major series of wars between them which were resolved by 1700 with the Anishinaabe getting the upper hand

how many Wendat went to create Loretta? (2)

about 600, moved to create the settlement of loretta just outside quebec city

• these may have originally been the stadaconans

it had long been Haudenosaunee custom to what?

replace their people who had died in epidemics/warfare by adopting those they had conquered in warfare: replacing and rebuilding up their nations

what occurred to Wendat who were conquered by the Haudenosaunee?

many were adopted, particularly into the kanien’keha:ka - as many of the adopted were christian, christianity was introduced to the kanien’keha:ka creating an opening for jesuits to begin missions among the kanien’keha:ka creating - eventually moving them to christian communities around montreal (kanawake and kanesetake)

Kanawake & Kanesetake:

christian communities of kanien’keha:ka/adopted wendat called the praying indians of montreal

the Haudenosaunee always practiced a ____ custom?

condolence custom (adoption to rebuild numbers)

despite being moved into christian communities the Kanien’keha:ka continued to what?

maintain relationships with their buddies down south in america and continued to run across borders searching for the best fur prices

how did the fallout of the Wendat effect new france? (2)

• new france no longer had a source for agricultural produce (because Wendat were 3 sisters; bean, squash, corn agriculturalists) to feed its occupants and thus had to expand its own agricultural production around its st. lawrence valley forts

• new france had to move from their forts and begin to travel into the pays en haut themselves to trade for the furs - would outfit coureur de bois with supplies, moving into pays en haut to trade, bringing back furs to montreal themselves

the collapse of the Wendat coincides with another important event…

very early first emergences of the metis in the upper great lakes and ohio valley - beginnings of the communities of the metis as a distinct people

great peace of montreal 1701: (6)

• Haudenosaunee continued their stranglehold on new france, ongoing french attempts to invade and defeat them - complicated by the fact that fort orange had been taking by the english in 1664 and became fort albany so the kanien’keha:ka became allies of the english (MANY conflicts at this time)

• same time, the three fires confederacy and the nations in michigans upper peninsula were fighting the Haudenosaunee on the west front

• 1701, 1300 people from 39 First Nations and french delegates met in montreal to negotiate a peace treaty

• allowed Haudenosaunee to trade freely with the french at reduced rate

• kept fort detroit neutral in any war between the french and english

• kept Haudenosaunee neutral in the event of a wat betwern french and english