History Unit 1-3 (Shorter version)

Pre-contact

The period before direct, documented encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans. The date differed by region.

Proto-contact

Indirect European influence before face-to-face contact, such as diseases or trade goods spreading through Indigenous networks.

Oral tradition

Histories, laws, values, and knowledge passed between generations through spoken accounts and ceremonies.

Beringia

The land and glacial region that once connected Siberia and Alaska and may have served as a migration route into the Americas.

Why were pre-contact Indigenous societies diverse?

Indigenous nations had different languages, environments, governments, economies, technologies, and traditions.

How did geography shape Indigenous societies?

Different environments supported farming, bison hunting, fishing, marine-mammal hunting, and hunting and gathering.

Three Sisters

Corn, beans, and squash grown together so that the crops supported one another.

Haudenosaunee Confederacy

A political confederacy originally formed by the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Tuscarora joined later.

How was the Haudenosaunee Confederacy governed?

A council of fifty sachems made decisions through consensus or unanimity within a matrilineal clan system.

Matrilineal

A system in which lineage, clan identity, and status pass through the mother’s family.

Wampum

Beads, often arranged in belts, used to record agreements, laws, diplomacy, and important events.

Why did Europeans explore North America?

Europeans sought precious metals, a Northwest Passage, fishing resources, furs, opportunities to spread Christianity, and greater imperial power.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for water route through North America to Asia.

Terra nullius

The European idea of “nobody’s land,” used to claim territory while disregarding Indigenous ownership and sovereignty.

Who were the earliest known European visitors to what is now Canada?

Norse voyagers reached what is now Newfoundland and Labrador around the 10th century.

John Cabot

An explorer who sailed for England in 1497 while seeking a westward route to Asia and new commercial opportunities.

Jacques Cartier

A French explorer whose three voyages from 1534 to 1542 mapped parts of the Gulf and St. Lawrence River.

What happened during Cartier’s 1534 encounter?

Cartier traded with the Stadaconans, erected a cross claiming the land for France, and took Chief Donnacona’s sons to France.

What damaged Cartier’s relationships with Indigenous peoples?

Translation failures, unilateral land claims, kidnapping, disappointment over resources, and disease.

Samuel de Champlain

A French explorer and colonizer who established Quebec in 1608 and formed alliances with Wendat and Algonquin peoples.

How did European explorers depend on Indigenous peoples?

Europeans relied on Indigenous guides, geographic knowledge, food, transportation, survival skills, diplomacy, and trade networks.

First contact

The first documented direct encounter between a particular Indigenous community and Europeans.

Kanata

An Iroquoian word meaning village or settlement that Cartier applied more broadly, contributing to the name Canada.

What were the main effects of first contact?

Contact created trade and alliances but also brought epidemic disease, kidnapping, violence, missionary pressure, political disruption, and European land claims.

Did Indigenous peoples react passively to Europeans?

No. Indigenous nations selected trading partners, established protocols, formed alliances, negotiated relationships, and pursued their own goals.

Nouvelle-France

France’s North American colony, centred along the St. Lawrence River and supported by Indigenous alliances, Catholic institutions, settlement, and the fur trade.

What dates define Nouvelle-France in this unit?

1608 to 1763, from the establishment of Quebec to the British conquest confirmed by the Treaty of Paris.

What was the economic foundation of Nouvelle-France?

The fur trade, supported by Indigenous knowledge, labour, trade networks, and alliances.

Why was Quebec important?

Its St. Lawrence location supported settlement, transportation, trade, military defence, and access to the interior.

How did French-Indigenous alliances shape Nouvelle-France?

The alliances made French trade and survival possible but also involved France in existing Indigenous rivalries.

Jesuit Relations

Reports written by Jesuit missionaries about missions, Indigenous societies, conversions, conflicts, disease, and daily life.

Why are the Jesuit Relations useful but biased?

They contain detailed observations but reflect Catholic missionary beliefs and efforts to justify the missions.

Filles du Roi

Approximately 800 young women sponsored by the French Crown to migrate mainly between 1663 and 1673.

Why were the Filles du Roi sent to Nouvelle-France?

They encouraged marriage, family formation, population growth, and permanent settlement in the heavily male colony.

What changed in Nouvelle-France in 1663?

Nouvelle-France became a royal colony under more direct control of the French Crown.

Why did France and Britain compete in North America?

They competed for territory, waterways, fisheries, imperial power, Indigenous alliances, and control of the fur trade.

Treaty of Utrecht

The 1713 settlement in which France ceded Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, and Acadia to Britain.

Seven Years’ War

A global war fought from 1756 to 1763 in which France and Britain competed for imperial and territorial control.

Battle of the Plains of Abraham

The September 13, 1759 battle near Quebec City in which British forces under James Wolfe defeated French forces under the Marquis de Montcalm.

Why was the Battle of the Plains of Abraham significant?

The British victory led to the fall of Quebec and became a turning point toward the collapse of Nouvelle-France.

Treaty of Paris of 1763

The treaty that ended the Seven Years’ War and formally transferred Canada from France to Britain.

Fur trade

The exchange of animal pelts, especially beaver, for European manufactured goods and services.

Why was beaver fur valuable?

Beaver fur was used to make felt hats that were in high demand in Europe.

Hudson’s Bay Company

An English company established by royal charter in 1670 with a monopoly over trade in Rupert’s Land.

Rupert’s Land

The vast Hudson Bay drainage basin granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670.

What was the HBC’s early strategy?

The HBC built posts along Hudson Bay and waited for Indigenous traders to bring furs to the coast.

How did French and British fur-trade routes differ?

French traders travelled inland through the Great Lakes and rivers, while British traders initially operated from Hudson Bay posts.

What roles did Indigenous peoples have in the fur trade?

Indigenous peoples trapped and transported furs, supplied food, guided traders, shared geographic knowledge, and established trade relationships.

Métis

A distinct people and nation that developed from First Nations-European relationships and became central to the western fur trade.

How did the fur trade affect Indigenous communities?

The fur trade provided manufactured goods and new relationships but also increased disease exposure, conflict, dependency, social disruption, and colonial territorial claims.