EXPANSION OF THE COUNTRY

WHERE NEXT?

WHO CONTROLLED RUPERT’S LAND?

• Metis? First Nations?• Fur trade companies:– 1st: Hudson’s Bay Company– 2nd: Northwest Company

• CHART: Find the difference between the two companies (see chart on website)

WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO WORK FOR? WHY?

• Competition bw the HBC and NWC led to a depletion in fur resources movement further inlandincreased contact with First Nations and Metis

peoples

TYPES OF BOATS IN THE FUR TRADE

• YORK BOAT (HBC): – 13 m long– Carried 3000kg– Weighed 1 tonne– Fort Edmonton –Fort York (30

days)• CANOTS DU NORD (NWC):

– 7 m x 1m– Carried 1500kg– Throughout the northwest– 6 people

• CANOTS DE MAITRE (NWC):– 11m x 1.5 m – From Fort William to Montreal– Carried up to 4000kg

THE FUR TRADE

• What was a voyageur?– Someone who traveled up and down the river

transporting fur

• what does portage mean?– To carry from one body of water to another

NATIVE PEOPLE IN THE NW

• 4 groups:– Ojibwa -Assiniboin– Cree -Chippewyan

• Acted as middlemen in the fur trade:– dealer between two parties who want to

exchange goods– Brought furs to HBC and NWC trading posts

IMPACTS OF FUR TRADE ON NATIVE PEOPLE

1. Moved to be closer to the fur trade2. ↑ competition between HBC and NWC = ↑

demand of fur– Natives becoming full-time trappers

abandon fishing, hunting, preservingSelf-sufficiency is threatened

Cultural values/way of life disturbedChange to more European –style values

3. Exposure to European diseases

– Smallpox– measles

4. Introduction of alcohol

-alcohol had, and still has, a devastating impact on First Nationsculture

high rates of alcoholism

METIS

• Moving further northwest NWC fur traders stayed for winters with FN groups– Married local womengood for both groups• NWC encouraged marriagegood trading relationships• HBC prohibited marriage

– By the 19th century, Metis culture was developing• At first, called themselves bois brule (burnt wood)

– Métis: French word for “mixed”:Native and French

– Country-born: Native and Scottish/British

RED RIVER SETTLEMENT

• Spoke French and Algonkian• Roman Catholic• Mix of Native and European customs• Used seigneurial system• Hunted bison/buffalo– made pemmican

USES OF THE BISON

USES OF THE BISON

THE COLONY ON THE RED RIVER (1812)

• Earl of Selkirk (Thomas Douglas) an HBC director– Wanted to provide a colony for poor Scottish

tenant farmers in the Red River Valley• Fertile soil• Farms could feed HBC employees in the Northwest

– The HBC gives him 300,000 km2 of land in Southern Manitoba, called “Selkirk’s Grant”

• Miles Macdonnell– appointed to bring in settlers to the area– Early and harsh winters, difficulty clearing land,

failed cropssettlers faced starvation

-Macdonnell issues Pemmican Proclamation- bans sale and export of pemmican (major source of income of the Metis who sold it to the NWC

TROUBLE!!!!!

• Angered the NWC traders– Burnt buildings, destroyed crops, fired rifles– Took colonists to Fort William and arrested

Macdonnell

ROBERT SEMPLE-Governor of Red River (1816)

• Brought previous and new colonists Red River• Attacked and burned NWC Fort Gibraltar– Angered NWC and the Metis• Leader of the Metis, Cuthbert Grant, attacked HBC

boats, stole pemmican and took over Red River Colony in the Battle of Seven Oaks