Canadian History 11

• Aboriginal groups like in groups called tribes• Each exhibited different traditions & living

styles.• Tribes were subdivided into bands or villages

of a few families.• Communities had similarities in language,

culture and political organization. • Some groups were nomadic (constantly

moving) while others were famers (settled down)

• Land and weather played an important role in shaping the lives of the people.

• 52 aboriginal languages spoken in Canada• Common ancestral language• Language can be grouped into 11 families

(relation) • Ex: Athapaskan, Algonquian and Iroquoian.

• Video = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULyRPpYHxdo&feature=related

Woodlands had: deer, bear, moose, caribou, fish and even seals and whales on the coast. • Algonquian tribes had great hunting skills

Gathered wild food like: • rice and berries

Had to move around live in wigwams

Maritime Provinces Algonquian Nomadic (according to the seasons)

◦ Spring, summer and fall: Lived by the seashore (salmon, eel, lobster, clams, seals)

◦ Winter: Lived more inland to hunt (moose, caribou, bear…)

• Southern Ontario• Hurons lived north of Lake Ontario and the

Iroquois confederacy lived south of the lake.• Huron-Iroquois word Kanata = village or

community.• Iroquois named after an animal.• Expert farmers : corn, tobacco, squash and

beans.• They would trade their farmed goods for animal

pelts and porcupine quills with tribe of the north.• Corn, beans and squash = Three Sisters • Towns of 2500 people and shared large

“longhouses”

• Lived north of Lake Ontario • Successful traders • Wanted a monopoly

• Transportation: birch bark canoes• Rivals with Iroquois confederacy

• Bison’s were at large (60 million) • Important to the tribes :(Blackfoot, Cree

and the Sioux).• Culture surrounded the survival of the

bison.• Food, tipis, clothing, containers and

tools. • Later, horses became very important to

their culture. • Walked on foot

• Plain Tribe in Alberta• Religious belief: Medicine bundle and the Sun Dance• Protection against harm• Rawhide bag: medicine pipe, eagle feather or owl, sweet

grass, chokecherry wood, pieces of tobacco, stones etc.

• The Sun Dance:• Early summer • Relieve bad luck• Shaman would make cuts in person’s chest or back

looped leather strips from the skin to the pole.• Danced around the pole gazing into the sun• Scars = badge of courage

• From British Columbia • Depended on the Fraser and the Thomson

River. (full of salmon) Used the rivers for transportation.

• Source of food: Deer, caribou, elk, and mountain sheep

• Made log huts covered with bark for shelter. • Plateau Tribes: Interior Salish, Kootenay, and

Athapaskan.

• Known as the salmon people• The Haida, Tlingit and the other groups

from that area. • Food was plentiful: deer and bear to

ducks, seals and fish, fruits and plants. • Made totem poles • They moved to where the food was

however, they always had a home base.• Communities had 2 groups – nobles and

commoners.• Born into one group or the other.

Found throughout Canada. Tribes= the Gwich’in up in the Yukon, the

Dene in the northwest, The Cree and Ojibwa in the East. (spread out)

Dependant on the migrating herds. Harsh living conditions groups would work

together to survive. They would trade food and medicine.

• Groups would follow the herds, thus making them nomadic.

• Bands(groups) worked together a lot to help each other survive.

• Groups would be assigned certain tasks to help out.

• They would also trade food and medicine.

• Inuit culture is quite different from other groups

• There are no trees, lots of deep snow and thick ice, and unique animals, such as seals, walrus, whales and caribou

• Developed tools: hunting gear, (harpoons; they had dog sleds and kayaks to get around.

• Built temporary shelters igloos and sod house

• Oral history.