The Native Peoples of CanadaChapter 7

Read: Story on p. 182-3

Write out Chapter 7 Outline

Read Introduction (p.186) as a group

An introduction to Anthropology

• The study of human groupings and the interactions of human beings – how they structure their lives, deal with each other, and deal with the world around them.

• Vocab: Subsistence, hunting and gathering, agriculture, domestication, shamanism, kinship, matrilocal, patrilocal, patriarchal, patrilineal, bilateral.

5,000 years ago •The Tuniit or Dorset Culture peoples arrive in Alaska from Siberia (Bering Land Bridge), and then proceed to spread across the western Arctic and down the coasts of Greenland and Labrador. •The Tuniit bring with them the bow-and-arrow and finely tailored skin clothing similar to that used by the Inuit and northern Siberian peoples today.

The History of the Nunavut Inuit

Ancient and Early History

Between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago • The Inuit peoples appear in the southern

Bering Sea or Northern Pacific About 1,000 years ago • Some of these Inuit peoples moved

eastward across Arctic Canada. • The Inuit displace the Tuniit and establish

the first Inuit settlements in Nunavut. • They bring with them Kayaks, throwing

harpoons, large umiat (skin covered transport boats), strong sinew-backed bows for hunting, and well insulated houses made from boulders and turf.

The Inuit of the Arctic

• The Arctic – N. Cdn, Alaska, Greenland• Inuit – largest ethnic group living in

Canada, they trace their ancestry back thousands of years BCE.

• Most Inuit live along the coast.• Shelter is very important because of

climate – temp can drop to below -30 degrees C in the winter.

• Iglus in winter – warm safe home. How?

• Clothing – made of caribou skin. How?

Caribou Inuit

1a – Copper Inuit

1b – Caribou Inuit

Women’s parka Men’s parka

Caribou Inuit

Children’s Clothing

• The development of clothing from infancy to adulthood reflected a child’s changing role in Inuit society.

• When the child was old enough to walk, it was dressed in a combination suit made from the complete skin of a young caribou.

Copper Inuit men hunting

Looking for Food• Inland Inuit hunted caribou and musk-ox.• Coastal groups depended on seal, walrus,

and whales.• Seal was very important because the

blubber provided both energy and protein.

• Fat was rendered into oil for lamps.• Snow was melted for drinking water.• Meat eaten raw because cooking by

lamps took too long.• Dog sleds and kayaks used for hunting

and transportation.

•The traditional hunting method would be to erect a series of inukshuiit in a funnel shaped pattern narrowing to a dead end on a hillside.

•The hunters would hide behind the inukshuiit armed with their bows and arrows.

•The women and children would herd the caribou towards the hunters by waving hides up and down to create loud noises, enabling the hunters to move behind the herd.

THE INUKSHUK

Social Organization

• Inuit society was organized according to groups of people who hunted together, and on trading partnerships between groups who had different goods to offer.

• Some had patrilineal bonds (p.192)• All Inuit shared a belief in the spirit

force of the universe and the need to behave in a certain way in order to ensure existence with nature.

• Illness and misfortune was a signal to the community that they hadn’t acted properly

The Iroquois of the EasternWoodlands

The Iroquois

• Read p. 193 as a group

Iroquois warrior

Legends p. 194-5

• What is the difference between a legend and a myth?

• Legend – describes the challenges and adventures of a heroic person.

• Myth – explains something about the world.

• Read the legend of Dekanawida• Answer p.195 #1 Activity 7-2

Society & Government

• Iroquoian societies were matrilineal and matrilocal.

• Women owned the fields where crops were grown.

• When a couple married, they lived with the bride’s family.

• 3 level system of government:• Local-• Tribal – • Confederacy -

The Agriculture of the Iroquois

• Make a timeline to discuss what was happening during the 4 periods of time discussed on p. 196:

1. 500 CE –

2. 500 to 1300 CE –

3. 1300 to 1400 CE –

4. 1400 to 1600 CE –

The Peoples of the Plains

• Huge group of NA Indians spanning from current Manitoba to Alberta.

• Depended on mainly one animal – Bison

• 50 to 100 people operated a bison drive

• Subsisted on its meat, made household and personal items from its hide, hair, horns, and bones.

• Examples: tipis for shelter, …

The Hunt

• Bison were unpredictable – could stampede at any time.

• Herds consisted of tens of thousands• Herds were funneled towards a

location where they could be killed.• Ex. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump• Buffalo would be guided into pounds

where hunters could kill them easier.

The Sun Dance

• The central religious festival of the Plains peoples – the dancers sought visions by subjecting themselves to pain and suffering.

• Held in the summer, the sponsor fasted while a lodge for the ceremony would be built.

• Description on p.201

The Sun Dance emphasizes the relationship between mankind and the universe which was perceived as existing in a cyclic harmonious balance.

Artist Peter Whyte (Canadian, 1905-1966) entitled this painting: Blackfoot Sun Dance Camp. (1955, oil on masonite).

THE BLACKFOOT SUN DANCE• The Sun Dance lodge was built by erecting a

central pole hung with offerings to the Great Spirit.

• This was surrounded with a circle of 10 more poles. Leafy branches covered the top.

• The dancers consisted of a few men who fasted and have prayed.

• Sharp skewers (thin sticks) pierce the skin of the dancers' back and chest. Ropes were tied from the skewers to the center pole.

• They danced in the sacred circle around the center pole .

• The dancers try to break away from the center pole to end the dance.