2.6 Imperialism in Canada


To what extent have the legacies of historical imperialism affected Canada?

Indigenous Tribes of North and South America


As European nations began to form stronger national identities during the 14th and 15th centuries, they began to expand their global interests in a search for more wealth and resources. As a result, the nations of Europe began to expand their empires into newly discovered lands.

Canada was created as a direct result of colonialism and imperialism as both France and Britain expanded their empires. In 1497, an Italian explorer, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), who was employed by the British king, landed in Newfoundland and claimed it for the King of England. He brought back tales of bountiful fish stocks, which was a very important resource in Europe during those times.

Later, 1535, a French explorer Jacques Cartier would sail up the St. Lawrence River and claim the land for the French King.

Samuel De Champlain, another French explorer traveled a great deal in New France, the name the French gave to their new colony, and wrote reports filled with information about what he saw and the Indigenous people that he met. He set up close relations with some of the people that he met and was drawn into the traditional hostilities between the Ouendat (Huron), Kichesiprini (Alonquin) and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). His narrations have given us some information about European views of the Indigenous people of North America.

Before the first Europeans came to the Americas, the land was inhabited by many Indigenous tribes. Evidence of human settlement of the Americas goes back twelve millennia. These tribes varied greatly in social structure and technological development. Although some tribes were simple bands of hunters, others were complex civilizations with incredible art, agriculture, armies, architecture, religious beliefs, and government.

There were multicultural tribes with many languages, customs, and beliefs. Tribes were interconnected through kinship ties and trade, but they had very separate cultures. Some Indigenous tribes, especially in Central and South America, created their own empires, such as the Incas of Peru, the Aztecs of Mexico, and the Mayans of Central America.


Unlike what happened to the natives of the Caribbean and South America, the Indigenous people of Canada were not exploited as slaves. Initially, early white arrivals in North America tried to live with respect for the Aboriginal people. In return, the Native people helped them survive. There was equal transfer of technologies between the two groups. European traders brought technologies that helped First Nations people improve some parts of their lives. For example, Indigenous people taught Europeans about toboggans and snow shoes to move about in the winter, and Europeans provided Indigenous people with metal pots and axes, which lasted much longer than the clay pots or stone axes. However, wealthy merchants became aware of the possibility of gaining wealth from the American trade, so they enlisted the aid of governments to help access the resources of North America. In this way, imperialist motives of "God, gold, and glory" were introduced into North American colonization and influenced behaviours.

As imperialism became more and more of a force in North America, both the French and the British began to dominate the land, the people, and the resources. Furs, fish, and timber were exported in huge quantities to help drive the emerging industries of those countries. Eventually, land was taken away by eager settlers who arrived to make a new life for themselves without a thought about dispossessing the people who lived there already. In addition, both the British and French nations recruited warriors from opposing tribes to help extend the field of their European conflict. New diseases brought by Europeans caused the death of thousands of natives as well. All of this changed forever the lifestyles and natural rhythms of Indigenous people.