Transcript Canadian Cultural Groups

Aboriginal
Cultural Groups
Pre-Contact
• There are six main cultural groups in Canada:
1) Arctic
2) Sub Arctic
3) Northwest Coast
4) Plateau
5) Plains
6) Eastern Woodlands
Aboriginal Culture Groups
Arctic
• Early inhabitation dating back
20,000 years, may have crossed
on the Bering Land Bridge.
• Long daylight hours, moderate
temperatures in summer. Long,
cold winters often spent in near
total darkness.
• Total absence of trees, some low
stubby plants and berries, mostly
dry, barren areas with rocky
outcrops.
Picture:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northam
erica/after1500/history/inuit.htm
• Inhabited by Inuit peoples (descendants of Thule culture
1000CE).
• Eskimo Aleut (Inuktitut) language group.
• Organized in regional bands consisting of 500-1,000.
• Marriage was nearly universal and occurred in early adulthood.
• Economy based on sea-mammal hunting – particular seal.
• Technology includes bone, horn, antler, ivory, stone, animal
skins, baleen for basketry.
• Inuit inventions considered “technological masterpieces” given
available materials.
• Significant ceremonies beginning at birth (naming, betrothal,
marriage) as well as rights of passage (demonstrations of skill
such as sewing or hunting) celebrated at summer gatherings.
Arctic
Arctic
Picture: ewesfn.weebly.com
Picture: ageandanniesramblings.co.uk
Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Picture: northwestpassage2011.blogspot.com
Sub Arctic
• Area is 5 million km2, ¾ of
which is on the Canadian Shield.
• Extremes of temperature: -40C in
winter to +30C in summer.
• Dene, Carrier and Cree peoples
as well as Inland Tlingit.
• Algonquin (East) and Athapaskan
(West) language groups
Picture: canadiangeographic.ca
• Most sparsely populated region of Canada, estimates as low as
60,000 across the entire region
• No formal chief system prior to European contact
• Kinship ties differed over the region
• Few material possessions due to need to follow food supply
• Myths & legends centred on animals that could take human
form
Sub Arctic
Sub Arctic
Picture: ecokids.ca
Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Northwest Coast
• Continuously inhabited for 10,000+
years.
• Narrow section of coastal land
stretching from Northern Washington
to Northern BC and into Alaska.
• Moderate temperatures allowed for
fishing & hunting all year.
• Home to Haida, Tsimshian, Nuuchahnulth, Tlingit, and Salishan
peoples.
• As many at 70 distinct nations inhabit
the region.
Picture: turtleisla.org
Northwest Coast
• Food was varied and abundant allowing for large,
permanent settlements.
• Towering red cedars yielded rot-resistant beams and
framing for their fine homes, logs for their 22-metre-long
canoes, and rain-resistant bark for clothing and blankets.
• Renowned carvers of totems, masks, bowls, and helmets,
they revered shamans for their links to the spirit world.
• The potlatch, a communal ritual of feasting, storytelling,
dancing, and gift-giving, was all important.
Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Picture: news.pcc.edu
Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Northwest Coast
• Arrived in the plateau
country from the south
some 10,000 years ago, as
the glaciers retreated
northwards.
• Inhabit a very small region
in the Southern Interior of
BC and Alberta.
• They had great diversity of dress, religious beliefs, and
language
• Three main language groups: Athapaskan, Salishian and
Ktunaxa.
• Fishing and foraging were mainstays of bands living in this
region.
Plateau
• Most wintered in semi-underground
dwellings they entered through the
roof; in summer they built bulrushcovered wooden lodges.
• The Columbia and Fraser rivers were
their travel and trade routes and source
of fish. Other foods were berries, wild
vegetables and game.
• Fashioned canoes from the area’s pine
and cottonwood, and traded copper,
jadeite, and herbs to the coast Indians
for otter pelts, oolichan oil and
decorative baskets.
Plateau
Picture: wellpinit.wednet.edu
Plateau
All Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Plains
• Region stretches from the
Rocky Mountains to the
woodlands of Southern
Manitoba in Canada, but as
far south as Mississippiin
the US.
• Encompasses the nomadic
Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Gros
Ventre, Sioux and Plains
Cree.
• Athapascan, Algonquin
and Siouan speakers.
• Hollywood “Indians”
Picture: en.wikipedia.org
Plains
• Buffalo culture: other than water and
poles for their tipis, the buffalo met all
their needs.
• Its meat was eaten at every meal.
• Hooves were boiled into glue; sinew
became thread; stomachs served as
pots; horns and bones were fashioned
into tools and utensils; ribs became sled
runners; hides made tipi covers,
clothing, moccasins, and sleeping
robes; buffalo hair made comfy cradle
boards.
• Buffalo were hunted by herding them
into enclosures or over cliffs until
arrival of horses in the early 1700s.
• The Plains women played important
roles in religious rituals.
Picture: britannica.com
Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Plains
Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Eastern Woodlands
• Part of a larger region
stretching from the Maritimes
along the St. Lawrence basin
and to Illinois and South
Carolina in the South and
East.
• Two unrelated language
groups – Algonquin and
Iroquoian.
• Algonquian occupied land
from Lake Superior to the
Atlantic.
• The lived in villages
south of the Great Lakes
and the St. Lawrence.
Picture: uppercanadahistory.ca
Eastern Woodlands
• Iroquoian speakers:
• Warring tradition.
• Men hunted and fished
• Women cultivated beans, maize, squash,
and tobacco.
• When the soil was depleted in one place,
they moved to new sites.
• Algonquian speakers:
• Lives were governed by the seasons
• Hunting in fall and winter; harvesting roots
and berries in summer.
• Shamanistic societies in both.
Pictures: colonialwilliamsburg.photoshelter.com
Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com
Eastern Woodlands