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America had been inhabited for thousands of years when the first
Europeans arrived. Contact between the First
Nations and the newcomers would have a profound impact
on both cultures. The fur trade fuelled trans-atlantic trade,
and the Europeans learned techniques that helped them adapt to
the new land.
To the first inhabitants, contact brought goods previously unknown,
but European diseases and the impact of ever-expanding white settlement
dislocated and in some cases dispersed their societies. European
attempts at converting First Nations to Christianity also changed
their world.
For
Europeans and First Nations alike, the mutual encounter meant
meeting with the unknown. How they viewed each other greatly influenced
their relations. |
Click
to see a larger image (196K)
Champlain, Samuel de.
Œuvres de Champlain / 2nd edition. Quebec : G.-É.
Desbarats, 1870. vol. 4, facing page 25.
Archives of Ontario Library, 971.011 CHB
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Click
to see a larger image (164K)
Champlain, Samuel de.
Œuvres de Champlain / 2nd edition. Quebec : G.-É.
Desbarats, 1870. vol. 4, facing page 81.
Archives of Ontario Library, 971.011 CHB |
The Europeans’ perception of First Nations
was conditioned by their belief in the superiority of their culture
and faith. Often, Aboriginals were depicted as uncivilized “Savages”
and their religions as “devil-worshipping.”
More positive views, such as those of the French
Jesuit Charlevoix
in the early 18th century, sometimes emphasized the “natural”
qualities of Aboriginals, in contrast to European “civilization”
with its moral failings and quest for money. |
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“Most
of them have a nobleness and an equanimity which we seldom
reach despite all the help we can get from philosophy and
religion. Always in control of themselves even in the most
unexpected situations, one cannot notice the slight alteration
of their expression (…) However, what is most surprising
for men whose entire appearance is that of barbarians, is
to see them treat each other with a kindness and a consideration
that one cannot find in the people of the most civilized
nations.”
Pierre-François-Xavier
de Charlevoix.
Journal d’un voyage fait par l’ordre
du roi dans l’Amérique septentrionale.
Paris
: P. F. Giffart, 1744, vol. 6, p 8-12,.
Archives of Ontario
library, 919 CHB |
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 onverting
“pagans” to the Christian faith was, with trade, the
most important motive for French expansion in the interior. Missionaries
attempted not only to convert the populations they encountered,
but also to replace local cultures with French “civilization”.
One of the first historians of New
France, Gabriel
Sagard, wrote in 1636: |
| “There
are others who travel the whole world (…) carrying
the torch of the Gospel, following the commandment that
the Saviour gave his Apostles. Go into all the world and
preach the Gospel. It is for this last reason that of obedience
to what is holy we took the trip to the Hurons and the Canadians
(…) to come to the aid of our brothers in Canada,
take the torch of the knowledge of the Son of God to them
and chase away the darkness of barbarism and faithlessness.”
Sagard, Gabriel. Histoire
du Canada et voyages que les frères mineurs
recollects
y on faicts pour la conversion des infideles depuis l’an
1615.
Nouvelle édition/Paris: Librairie Tross, 1866. vol.
1, p. 22,
Archives of Ontario Library, 971.01 SAG 1 (translation) |
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One of the most important missions was to the
Huron
(Wendat) of the Georgian Bay area, an agricultural
nation with strong ties to the French. |
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Recollets first came to Huronia in 1615, followed by the Jesuits
in 1626. By 1648, the Jesuits had 25 missionaries living among
the Huron people.
Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons, a small settlement
built in 1639 in the heart of Huron country, served as a base
for the missionaries, and was home to a small group of donnés, hired
servants and soldiers.
Sainte-Marie thus became the first French settlement in the interior.
It was comprised of a fortified European compound surrounded by
a walled village servicing the needs of Huron converts to Christianity.
The photograph to the right shows canoes on the Wye River passing
by a modern-day reconstruction of Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons. |
Click to
see a larger image (104K)
Canoes on the Wye River, passing by
Sainte-Marie among-the-Hurons, 1968
Black and white photograph
Tourism promotion photographs
Reference Code RG 65-35-1, 5-C-1468
Archives of Ontario, I0017253 |
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“This house is not meant to welcome our people
only. It is a permanent meeting place for the neighbouring
nations, particularly Christians, who come from everywhere
with various needs, even to die in peace and in the true
spirit of the Faith we had to build a hospital for the sick,
a cemetery for the dead, a Church for the devotions of the
public, a retreat for pilgrims, as well as a more isolated
building where the infidels who pass through are allowed
only during the day but may nevertheless receive a few good
words for their salvation.”
Relation de ce qui s’est
passé de plus remarquable en la
Mission des Pères
de la Compagnie de Jésus, aux Hurons pais de la Nouvelle-France;
Depuis le mois de Juin de l’année 1642, jusqu’au
mois de Juin de l’année 1643,
in The Jesuit
Relations and Allied Documents/ Ruben Gold Twaites,
ed.
Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Company, vol. 26, p. 200 and
202
Archives of Ontario Library, 271.5 THW. (translation) |
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Click to see
a larger image (98K)
Church, Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons, 1968
Black and white photograph
Tourism promotion photographs
Reference Code RG 65-35-1, 3-E-0268
Archives of Ontario, I0017255 |
Despite efforts by the Jesuits to integrate Christian faith
and native culture, their mission had mixed results, and only
a minority – mostly the young and elderly – became
Christians.
The Huron were divided between traditionalists hostile to the
Jesuits and a minority “Christian party” supported
by the French.
Both the Huron nation and the Jesuit mission were destroyed by
the Iroquois between 1648 and 1650. A few hundred Huron took
permanent refuge near Quebec and smaller groups scattered throughout
the Great Lakes area, but most of the population was either killed
or assimilated within the Iroquois Confederacy. |
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The Jesuits abandoned Sainte-Marie, then a second
mission (Sainte-Marie II) built on an island in Georgian Bay.
Eight Jesuits and donnés, killed between 1642 and 1649,
were later canonized by the Catholic Church as the “Canadian
Martyrs”.
The church to the right was built in 1926 in Midland, near Sainte-Marie
among the Hurons to honour the martyrs.
Other missionary efforts were later undertaken, primarily near
the most important trading posts. They met with mixed results
and none had the same importance or impact as the Huronia mission.
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Click to
see a larger image (198K)
The Martyr's Shrine, Midland, 1953
Department of Travel and Publicity, Publicity Branch
Transparency
Reference Code: RG 65-35-3, 11764-X2826
Archives of Ontario, I0005552
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The Ontario government rebuilt Sainte Marie Among-the-Hurons
during the 1960s as an interpretative tourist attraction. The photographs
below show the reconstructed site.
|
Click to
see a larger image (198K)
Plan of Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons, 1964
Black and white photograph
Tourism promotion photographs
Reference Code RG 65-35-1, 7-D-0664
Archives of Ontario, I0017254 |
Click
to see a larger image (105K)
Interior of the residence, Sainte-Marie
among the Hurons, 1968
Black and white photograph
Tourism promotion photographs
Reference Code: RG 65-35-1, 6-L-2568
Archives of Ontario, I0017256 |
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 n
addition to trade goods and their religion, Europeans brought diseases
with them that were previously unknown to the New World. Previous
isolation made First Nations extremely vulnerable to diseases, such
as smallpox, to which Europeans were relatively immune.
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Lethal epidemics first attacked coastal nations, the first
to come into contact with Europeans. From them, the diseases moved
to the interior, affecting local populations sometimes even before
they came into contact with Europeans themselves.
The first reported epidemics in the Great Lakes area occurred
in 1634, followed by four more in thirteen years. Some villages
lost up to half of their population, at a time when European trade
and missionary efforts were changing their world. A Jesuit missionary
described the impact of the epidemics: |
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“It was so devastating for the Savages we
knew that I do not know if any escaped its effects. All
these poor people were greatly inconvenienced particularly
in the fall, during the fishing season and the harvest.
Several villages were buried under the snow and people died
in great numbers; there are still some who have not recovered
yet.”
Relation of Father Le Jeune,
1635,
in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents/ Ruben
Gold Twaites,
ed. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Company,
vol.
8, p. 88
Archives of Ontario Library, 271.5 THW. (translation) |
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The epidemics also affected relations between French
and the First Nations, the latter blaming the diseases on the Europeans
and their religion:
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“The Algonquin and the Huron, followed by
the Iroquois, enticed by their prisoners, feel great hate
and horror towards our doctrine, saying that it causes their
death and that it contains spells that cause the destruction
of their villages and bring contagious, spreading diseases
that are beginning to afflict the Iroquois.”
Relation de ce qui s’est
passé en la Nouvelle-France sur le grand fleuve de
Saint-Laurens en l’année 1647,
in The Jesuit
Relations and Allied Documents/ Ruben Gold Twaites,
ed.
Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Company, vol. 31, p. 120
Archives
of Ontario Library, 271.5 THW. (translation) |
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