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FIRST CONTACT. John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497 and returned to England with tales of the briming seas full of fish. Within a short time, European fishing boats which included the Portuguese, Basque, and Spanish began making trips to the Grand Banks each year.
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FIRST CONTACT John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497 and returned to England with tales of the briming seas full of fish. Within a short time, European fishing boats which included the Portuguese, Basque, and Spanish began making trips to the Grand Banks each year. Starting as early as 1501, the Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real returned from Newfoundland with 50 Beothuks he had captured. In 1507 Norman fisherman brought another seven Beothuk prisoners to France.
Fishing • The fishing was phenomenal, and the number of ship grew every year. The Beothuk learned very quickly to stay away from the European to avoid capture or death. By the end of the 16th century the first buildings were being constructed in Newfoundland to house the supplies necessary to conduct the fishery. • Since no one was willing to stay over for the winter, these were abandoned in the fall when the fishing fleet returned to Europe. • What developed was a pattern where the Beothuk would avoid Europeans while they were there in the summer and then pilfer their abandoned dwellings when they left. Eventually, familiarity, curiosity, and a touch of greed led to constant theft while the Europeans were actually there. • Within a few years, contact with the Beothuk became commonplace but it was not the kind that builds friendship and trust. Beothuk stole anything the Europeans didn't have nailed down, and the fishermen treated the Beothuk with contempt, distrust, and even hatred.
In the early 17th century, Henry Clout recorded John Guy's encounter with the Beothucks He described the trade that was conducted and gave a brief description of the Beothuk. Beginning not long after Europeans began to exploit the coasts of Newfoundland, the Beothuks were displaced from their traditional territories, and by the mid-18th century were confined to the Exploits Valley and adjacent coast in central Newfoundland. Even in this area, among the last in Newfoundland to be settled by Europeans, they were soon denied access to the coast and forced to try to subsist on the impoverished resources of the Newfoundland interior.
The Beothuks The Beothuks are the aboriginal people of the island of Newfoundland. They were Algonkian-speaking hunter-gatherers who probably numbered less than a thousand people at the time of European contact. The Beothuks are the descendants of a Recent Indian culture called the Little Passage Complex. Beothuk Carved Bone Objects. Original artifacts housed in the Newfoundland Museum.
The arrival of migratory European fishermen in the 16th century may have provided new opportunities for the Beothuks. These fishermen erected stages, flakes and wharves during the summer fishery, but after they left the island to return to Europe, they left behind nails, lost fish hooks, and scraps of iron and kettle. Evidence from a number of Beothuk sites indicates that the Beothuks picked up these metal objects and reworked them into arrowheads, lance points, harpoon end blades, awls and hide scrapers. Spoon, saw and scissors from a Beothuks site on the Exploits River. The Beothuks often acquired metal objects like these by visiting abandoned European fishing posts. Reworking the metal, the Beothuks were able to construct their own traditional hunting tools which included arrowheads and harpoon tips.
Everywhere else in North America, native people were usually eager to trade furs for metal cutting and piercing tools. The Beothuk, however, had the unusual opportunity to acquire such goods without having to exchange furs for them. This meant that they did not have to modify their traditional way of life by expending effort in the winter hunting fur-bearing animals such as lynx, marten, and the like--animals that provided little in the way of edible meat. Similarly, unlike the Mi’kmaq of the mainland, the Beothuks did not have to congregate at designated harbours to await the arrival of fur traders. This strategy often meant that the assembled Indians would quickly exhaust local supplies of game. By contrast, the Beothuks could make a quick trip to an abandoned European fishing station to acquire the desired metal goods. The Beothuks acquired great skill at refashioning these objects into useful tools, which would have considerably increased the efficiency of their hunting technology. Iron arrow heads were much tougher than those of stone and were easily re-sharpened. Iron harpoon blades would also have been much more effective than those tipped with stone.
While the Beothuks were able to coexist with, and probably to benefit from, a migratory fishery, the beginning of year-round settlement in the 17th century meant the onset of drastic change. As the French established a base at Placentia, and English settlement extended from Conception Bay to Trinity Bay and then Bonavista Bay, the Beothuks withdrew from European contact. Lacking the contacts with traders, missionaries and Indian agents that were characteristic of the mainland experience, the Beothuk became increasingly isolated. After the middle of the 18th century, as the growth of English settlement increased, the Beothuk were increasingly denied access to the vital resources of the sea. In addition, the emergence of Newfoundland furriers, or trappers, meant that the Beothuk were now increasingly competing with white Europeans who were familiar with the Newfoundland interior. The presence of trap parts in 18th and early 19th-century Beothuk sites is clear evidence of the Beothuk practice of taking furriers' traps--a practice which inevitably brought retaliation.
Shawnadithit • By the beginning of the 19th century, the Beothuks were reduced to a small refugee population living along the Exploits River system and attempting to subsist on the inadequate resources of the interior. Although a succession of Newfoundland governors had, since the middle of the 18th century, attempted to establish friendly contact with the Beothuks, it was probably too late to change a pattern which had existed for perhaps 250 years. • Shanawdithit, the last known Beothuk, died in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1829.
Tragedy of the Beothuk Read pages 48-50 • This section describes the development of a more negative relationship. • How did imperialism play a role in the tragedy of the Beothuk? Think about economic and social factors of imperialism
Tragedy of the Beothuk • Economic factors • Social factors • Geography • Disease • What else?
Video: Shawnadithit • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27YTTx4mU28
Remembering Shawnadithit Death Announcement assignment • Notice the misspelling of her name… • How could the announcement be written to offer a more balanced perspective? In partners, • What would you alter or add to this announcement to balance its perspective?
Beothuk Culture • Beothuk material culture consists of the physical things left behind by these people including their tools, weapons and features--the non-movable artifacts of a culture, such as the remains of houses, pits, fireplaces, etc. • Beothukculture changed considerably over time as a result of those new materials. • For example, when Europeans first arrived in this part of the world, the Beothuks made stone points to tip their arrows, spears and harpoons as well as stone knives and stone hide scrapers. Gradually, however, the Beothuks replaced these stone tools and weapons with iron. • As well, while stone tools can be made quite sharp, they are more difficult to re-sharpen than iron edged objects. Also, stone has a tendency to shatter when it strikes a hard surface, while iron merely bends and can be easily bent back into shape.
By the end of the 17th century, those Beothuk groups who had access to European shore premises had largely replaced their stone technology--except for what are probably children's arrowpoints. Boyd's Cove, for example, has produced dozens of very tiny (10-20 mm) arrowheads which are almost certainly meant for children. Certainly, they could not be hafted to the meter-long arrow shafts used by Beothuk adults. A Beothuk birch bark canoe. The high sides and bow and stern of the vessel may have made it more stable in rough water. To be sure, the Beothuks retained many elements of their traditional material culture--much of which was superior to comparable European technology. For example, the Beothuks built beautiful, light-weight, easily reparable birch bark canoes, some of which were capable of making long sea trips. The Beothuks also continued to make light, strong, birch-bark containers for food and water.
BeothukClothing • Wore caribou skins, which were very warm without being heavy. • Sinews from along the backbones of caribou were employed as thread, resulting in a material as strong as fish line. (ewww?) • Wore their hair “somewhat long” and straight; some had it braided and decorated with feathers; others seem to have worn it hanging down or had all of the hair plaited. • Painted their faces and bodies with a mixture of red ochre and grease. The ochre colour was a mark of tribal identity and the first coat, given to infants, was regarded as a sign of initiation.
Hunting Tools and Storage • Used bow and arrows for hunting mammals and birds and in battles with their foes. • Had wooden shields to protect them from enemy missiles • The major tool for hunting caribou was a spear - called amina. It consisted of a 3 m wooden shaft, tipped with a slender, nearly triangular iron point. Originally the spears would have had stone or bone points. • Other furbearers were shot with arrows or caught in snares, deadfalls or traps. Beaver may have been harpooned. • While many North American native people kept dogs to assist in hunting, the Beothuk appear not to have had dogs.
For hunting seals the Beothuk used a special sealing harpoon - called a-a-duth. It consisted of a 3.7 m shaft with a detachable head tied to a long line. Formerly, the head was fitted with a stone blade; later they made blades from iron. When a seal was harpooned and the head was embedded in the animal, the shaft was withdrawn and the seal was hauled in by the line. Shanawdithit's sketch showing a spear and a sealing harpoon.
Fish, particularly salmon, were probably speared. It is possible that the Beothuk also constructed fish weirs, used fish hooks or fished with netting made from rushes or reeds. While the captive Shanawdithit reported that her people considered it the greatest good luck to kill a whale, she did not disclose how they secured such large marine mammals. • The Beothuk also had clubs, knife blades hafted to handles, and perforating tools made from beaver incisors, stone splinters and, in historic times, from nails or pieces of broken glass. • Preservation = they cut some of the meat into strips and dried or smoked it to prevent spoiling. In this form it was easy to carry and could be eaten without further preparation. If there were large amounts of surplus meat (for example, after a caribou drive), it was packaged into bark boxes. Once the meat was frozen it would keep for the winter. Shanawdithit's sketch of a smoking house.
THE BEOTUK TRIBE What is the correct pronunciation of "Beothuk?" What does it mean?How Beothuk people pronounced this name was never accurately recorded. Most English speakers have pronounced it BEE-oth-uck. No one knows its meaning, though some scholars have suggested "the people," "good people," or "kinship." Why were Beothuks called "Red Indians?" Was their skin red?It wasn't really red, but the Beothuks painted their bodies and clothing with red ochre paint. Many Indians used red ochre as an insect repellant, but the Beothuks considered red a sacred color and wore it all year long. Neighboring tribes called them the Red People, and the Europeans called them Red Indians. Are the Beothuks extinct?Yes. The last member of the Beothuk tribe, a woman named Shawnadithit, died in 1829. She did not have any children. Why did the Beothuk Indians die out?There were many factors, all related to colonization. First, some Beothucks were killed by Europeans or died of European diseases like smallpox. Second, population pressures hurt the Beothuks. As Europeans forced more Indian tribes westward and northward, there was no longer enough food for all of them. The Beothucks were pushed into the barren interior of Newfoundland, and many of them starved to death. Third, the Beothucks were very isolated. They didn't have Indian or Inuit allies to help them, and they never learned to communicate with the Europeans. The combination of violence, disease, starvation, and isolation was deadly. The Beothuck tribe is one of the only Native American nations with no known survivors.
