Learning about the Past


Because Canada's original inhabitants had no written form of language, historians have learned about their past primarily in three ways:

  • oral histories

  • archeology

  • primary sources


Oral History


Courtesy of Shannon Thunderbird,
Shannon Thunderbird.com
The histories of Aboriginal peoples were passed from generation to generation through stories. Instead of writing their accounts of events, elders kept important beliefs and stories alive by telling them to their children. Generations learned the cultural knowledge and history of their ancestors through storytellers. If the story was about something of real importance to the identity of the tribe, the storyteller would repeat it as it had been received, word for word. Being a storyteller was important in any First Nations community.

Much of what we know about the history of native tribes has been passed through oral traditions. A great deal of the history of Indigenous people was lost when native tribes disappeared due to disease and culture assimilation. Today, the oral tradition is being revived among First Nations peoples.

The following videos are examples of oral tradition storytelling.

Select this link to watch a Youtube video explaining the oral traditions

Watch the Choogie Kingfisher video to listen to a traditional storyteller as he tells a story about the Creator.



Archaeology


Through the study of items left behind, archaeologists can discover a great deal about the past. Burial sites, human remains, animal bones, pottery, mounds of shells, remains of fires, and the sites of buildings and villages each tell much about the people of the past.


Do a quick Internet search about Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Located in Alberta, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Primary Sources

First-hand accounts written by early explorers explain a great deal about the past. Samuel de Champlain, for example, wrote detailed accounts of the native villages he encountered and the people he met. He also composed many sketches that tell us about the people of the St. Lawrence area.


Paul Kane's artwork is among the earliest record of life in the Northwest before white settlement. His romantic oil paintings along with the best-selling book about his travels influenced domestic and international perceptions of North American Aboriginal peoples into the 20th century. Today his pictures of early native life are used to illustrate history in books, films, and at historic sites. While his artwork is familiar, Kane himself is not well known.

The Irish-born Paul Kane (1810-1871) remains one of the most frequently reproduced painters, past or present. Paul Kane's two-and-a-half year sketching trip across thousands of miles of difficult frontier is still unequaled by any other artist on the continent. In recent years, Paul Kane has been identified as one of the most important ethnological artists of nineteenth century North America. This group includes Kane's U.S. mentor, George Catlin, along with Charles Bird King, Karl Bodmer, and John Mix Stanley.

Paul Kane was one of the first "tourists"—as opposed to explorer, trapper, or surveyor—to travel the northern fur-trade route from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean. He was also the first Canadian painter to be credited with a best-selling book, Wanderings of an Artist Among the Indians of North America. Published in London in 1859, this popular travelogue was translated into French, Danish, and German.