New France and the Middle Ground (9/26)

Pequot War (1637)

- colonists’ pigs would eat native Americans crops (the three sisters)
- puritans thought about this as a religious war
- Narrangansetts were appalled, many protested

What were the 3 sisters?

- the 3 main agricultural crops of Indigenous culture: winter squash, maize, and climbing beans

what was the chronology and population of New France?

- 1608: Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City
- 1627: New France has only 85 French colonists

What was the “Middle Ground”

Negotiations between French and Natives, not conquest
- fur trade facilitating cultural and material exchange
- importance of Métis people to translation and intermediation
- balance between cultural evolution and continuity

What did France did that was different from other “colonizers”?

France sought to develop diplomatic relations rather than conquest
- developed trading relations with Indigenous comm. (fur trade - beavers)

What was Trade goods seen as?

- they were things like firearms, kettles, etc.
- the items were a way to form kinship
- matters most when they were giving it away
- think like an engagement ring

Recollects? (Catholic missions in New France)

Attempted to convert the Innu; largely unsuccessful

When did the Jesuits arrive in New France?

- they arrived in 1625
- were society of Jesus, founded in 16th cen., part of the counter reformation

What did the Jesuits do in New France?

- focused on the Wendats, who called them “Black Robes”
- lived in Wendat villages; learned the native language
- disease was both an ally and foe
- the wendats and Jesuits saw similarities in their spiritual beliefs