Lesson 11 — Activity 2: The Way of Life of Indigenous Peoples Before European Arrival
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Lesson 11 — Activity 2: The Way of Life of
Indigenous Peoples before European Arrival
Warm Up
In the beginning...
Indigenous peoples, Canada's
first inhabitants, included groups of First Nations and Inuit people who lived
across the country.
Courtesy of Martin Krotil, Pixabay
In this activity, you will
learn about the way of life of Indigenous peoples before contact with Europeans.
We are not sure exactly where these people first came from, but a popular theory is that they walked across a "land bridge" between Asia and North America. This land bridge does not exist today, but it is thought to have joined Russia and Alaska more than 10,000 years ago.
In L2 — A2, you learned that storytelling is part of the long-standing oral tradition of Indigenous communities.
Sky Woman
Long before the world was created, there was an island in the sky inhabited by sky people. One day a pregnant sky woman drops through a hole created by an uprooted tree and begins to fall for what seems like eternity.
Coming out of darkness, she eventually sees oceans. The animals from this world congregate, trying to understand what they see in the sky. A flock of birds is sent to help her. The birds catch her and gently guide her down onto the back of Great Turtle. The water animals like otter and beaver have prepared a place for her on turtle's back. They bring mud from the bottom of the ocean and place it on turtle's back until solid earth begins to form and increase in size.
Turtle's back becomes Sky Woman's home and the plants she's brought down with her from Skyworld, including tobacco and strawberries, are her medicine. She makes a life for herself and becomes the mother of Haudenosaunee life, as we know it today.
Shelley Niro, Kanien'kehaka, 1999
Keller George, Oneida Haudenosaunee, 2001
Alan Brant, Tyendinaga, 2001
(Adapted from the Canadian Museum of History)
How did these first people live?
Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples:
In northern North America, Indigenous cultures were shaped by the environment and the evolution of technology.
• The plentiful resources of sea and forest enabled west coast peoples to build societies of wealth and sophistication.
•
On the prairies and northern tundra, Indigenous peoples lived in close
harmony with vast, migrating herds of buffalo and caribou.
One hunting technique: Bison were driven toward cliffs in tightly bunched, fast-running herds. The animals were unable to stop before plunging over the edge. Such cliffs became known as bison jumps.
-
In the forests of central Canada, Indigenous peoples harvested wild
rice from the marshes and grew corn, squash, and beans beside the river
banks, supplementing their crops by fishing, hunting, and gathering.
•
On the east coast and in the far north, the bounty of the sea and land —
and their own ingenuity—enabled Indigenous peoples to survive in harsh
conditions.
Source: People to People, Nation to Nation: Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government
Services, 2007, and courtesy of the Privy Council Office.
Indigenous peoples lived off the land. They had to meet all three physical needs by using the things that nature provided.
flickr.com
For this reason, the first economy in Canada was not based on money. Instead, different groups would trade goods. Below are some of the goods that were traded.
Canada's first people had to use the things around them to meet their basic physical needs. Not all groups had the same resources. By trading, each group could get useful items that they were unable to make or find themselves. Over many years, Canada's Indigenous peoples developed an economy based on the trading of goods.
Indigenous peoples travelled to trade fairs to meet with groups from far away. Trade fairs enabled people to share resources and ideas, and they contributed to an exchange network that spanned North America. Trade fairs brought together large groups of people for several days to trade, socialize, and settle disagreements. Trade fairs were only one of many ways that Indigenous peoples exchanged goods and ideas. Others included long-distance trading expeditions, permanent trade centres, ceremonial gatherings, and raiding parties.
Trade fairs lessened geographical and political distances between groups and were held in many areas of Indigenous North America.
Today, many First Nations go to pow-wows. These are social gatherings that feature many of the same activities as ancient trade fairs.
(adapted from the Canadian Museum of History)
Digging Deeper!
Click on the Play button to watch a video that further explains the Indigenous peoples way of life before the arrival of Europeans.