Aboriginal Cultural Groups

1. Aboriginal Cultural Groups Pre-Contact

2. There are six main cultural groups in Canada: 1) Arctic 2) Sub Arctic 3) Northwest Coast 4) Plateau 5) Plains 6) Eastern Woodlands Aboriginal Culture Groups

3. Arctic • Early inhabitation dating back 20,000 years, may have crossed on the Bering Land Bridge. • Long daylight hours, moderate temperatures in summer. Long, cold winters often spent in near total darkness. • Total absence of trees, some low stubby plants and berries, mostly dry, barren areas with rocky outcrops. Picture: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/history/inuit.htm

4. Inhabited by Inuit peoples (descendants of Thule culture 1000CE). • Eskimo Aleut (Inuktitut) language group. • Organized in regional bands consisting of 500-1,000. • Marriage was nearly universal and occurred in early adulthood. • Economy based on sea-mammal hunting – particular seal. • Technology includes bone, horn, antler, ivory, stone, animal skins, baleen for basketry. • Inuit inventions considered “technological masterpieces” given available materials. • Significant ceremonies beginning at birth (naming, betrothal, marriage) as well as rights of passage (demonstrations of skill such as sewing or hunting) celebrated at summer gatherings. Arctic

5. Arctic Picture: ewesfn.weebly.com Picture: ageandanniesramblings.co.uk Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Picture: northwestpassage2011.blogspot.com

6. Sub Arctic • Area is 5 million km2, ¾ of which is on the Canadian Shield. • Extremes of temperature: -40C in winter to +30C in summer. • Dene, Carrier and Cree peoples as well as Inland Tlingit. • Algonquin (East) and Athapaskan (West) language groups Picture: canadiangeographic.ca

7. Most sparsely populated region of Canada, estimates as low as 60,000 across the entire region • No formal chief system prior to European contact • Kinship ties differed over the region • Few material possessions due to need to follow food supply • Myths & legends centred on animals that could take human form Sub Arctic

8. Sub Arctic Picture: ecokids.ca Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com

9. Northwest Coast • Continuously inhabited for 10,000+ years. • Narrow section of coastal land stretching from Northern Washington to Northern BC and into Alaska. • Moderate temperatures allowed for fishing & hunting all year. • Home to Haida, Tsimshian, Nuu-chahnulth, Tlingit, and Salishan peoples. • As many at 70 distinct nations inhabit the region. Picture: turtleisla.org

10. Northwest Coast • Food was varied and abundant allowing for large, permanent settlements. • Towering red cedars yielded rot-resistant beams and framing for their fine homes, logs for their 22-metre-long canoes, and rain-resistant bark for clothing and blankets. • Renowned carvers of totems, masks, bowls, and helmets, they revered shamans for their links to the spirit world. • The potlatch, a communal ritual of feasting, storytelling, dancing, and gift-giving, was all important.

11. Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Picture: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Picture: news.pcc.edu Northwest Coast

12. Arrived in the plateau country from the south some 10,000 years ago, as the glaciers retreated northwards. • Inhabit a very small region in the Southern Interior of BC and Alberta. • They had great diversity of dress, religious beliefs, and language • Three main language groups: Athapaskan, Salishian and Ktunaxa. • Fishing and foraging were mainstays of bands living in this region. Plateau

13. Most wintered in semi-underground dwellings they entered through the roof; in summer they built bulrush-covered wooden lodges. • The Columbia and Fraser rivers were their travel and trade routes and source of fish. Other foods were berries, wild vegetables and game. • Fashioned canoes from the area’s pine and cottonwood, and traded copper, jadeite, and herbs to the coast Indians for otter pelts, oolichan oil and decorative baskets. Plateau Picture: wellpinit.wednet.edu

14. Plateau All Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com

15. Plains • Region stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the woodlands of Southern Manitoba in Canada, but as far south as Mississippiin the US. • Encompasses the nomadic Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Gros Ventre, Sioux and Plains Cree. • Athapascan, Algonquin and Siouan speakers. • Hollywood “Indians” Picture: en.wikipedia.org

16. Plains • Buffalo culture: other than water and poles for their tipis, the buffalo met all their needs. • Its meat was eaten at every meal. • Hooves were boiled into glue; sinew became thread; stomachs served as pots; horns and bones were fashioned into tools and utensils; ribs became sled runners; hides made tipi covers, clothing, moccasins, and sleeping robes; buffalo hair made comfy cradle boards. • Buffalo were hunted by herding them into enclosures or over cliffs until arrival of horses in the early 1700s. • The Plains women played important roles in religious rituals. Picture: britannica.com

17. Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Plains Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com

18. Eastern Woodlands • Part of a larger region stretching from the Maritimes along the St. Lawrence basin and to Illinois and South Carolina in the South and East. • Two unrelated language groups – Algonquin and Iroquoian. • Algonquian occupied land from Lake Superior to the Atlantic. • The lived in villages south of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Picture: uppercanadahistory.ca

19. Eastern Woodlands • Iroquoian speakers: • Warring tradition. • Men hunted and fished • Women cultivated beans, maize, squash, and tobacco. • When the soil was depleted in one place, they moved to new sites. • Algonquian speakers: • Lives were governed by the seasons • Hunting in fall and winter; harvesting roots and berries in summer. • Shamanistic societies in both.

20. Pictures: colonialwilliamsburg.photoshelter.com Pictures: firstpeoplesofcanada.com Eastern Woodlands