Chapter 1: The Land & it’s People- The First Occupants

The First Occupants: Where did they come from? Experts say that Amerindians arrived in North America 30,000 years ago Evidence suggests that the first occupants crossed a ‘land bridge’ that was located where the Bering Straight is now.

Amerindians in what is now Quebec and Ontario Is it believed that people settled what is now Quebec and Ontario 6,000 years ago. For the most part, there were two groups in what is now Quebec and Ontario: – Iroquoians – Algonkians

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Iroquoians Iroquoians consisted of 7 main groups: – Huron – Neutral – Mohawk – Oneida – Onondaga – Cayuga – Seneca

Algonkians Algonkians consisted of 7 main groups: – Algonquin – Montagnais – Cree – Ojibwa – Ottawa – Micmac – Naskapi tribes

Did they live in the same places? NO! Iroquoian tribes  St- Lawrence Lowlands Algonkian tribes  covering areas of the ‘Canadian Shield’ and the Appalachian mountains. Living in different places  main groups had to adapt to different things.

Iroquoians: their way of life Living close to the South end of the St-Lawrence & Lake Ontario  living on FERTILE ground Fertile ground = Agriculture = SEDINTARY Farming vegetables like corn, beans, squash Men hunted from time to time, but not a if they didn’t catch anything, they still had agriculture

Iroquoians Con’t How did they farm, hunt and store food? – Simple tools like stone axes, bows/arrows and baskets allowed them to live and maintain a sedentary life Animal skins/furs comprised most of their clothing  trade with Algonkian tribes

Iroquoians Con’t How did they travel? – Travel by foot (snowshoes in winter) or by canoe (on waterways) What did their housing look like? – They built semi- permanent structures called ‘longhouses’ – Each longhouse housed several families

Longhouses

Iroquoians Con’t Longhouses were meters long There were several Longhouses in one village The village was surrounded by a tall wooden fence for protection

Iroquoians Con’t Why were longhouses semi-permanent? – Every 8-10 years, the soil the Iroquoian tribes farmed became infertile…so they had to change where they lived – A new Group of longhouses was built elsewhere

Iroquoians Con’t Iroquoian social structure was known as MATRIARCHAL What did this mean for them? – Women made important decisions, were the leaders of permanent settlements and decided who would be the chief of the tribe/village (a man)

Algonquians: their way of life Algonquian groups lived in the ‘Canadian Shield’ and Appalachian Mountain Regions  NOT FERTILE NON FERTILE= hunting and gathering= NOMADIC

Algonquians Con’t They did not farm like the Iroquoian tribes, so they relied on hunting animals and gathering wild vegetation like berries Summertime=fishing grounds What was their housing like? – Small/portable dwellings called wigwams – 2-4 families per wigwam

Algonquians Con’t How did Algonquians travel? – Foot, canoe, snowshoes, toboggans Tools? – Bows/arrows, stone axes, fishing implements like nets

Algonquians Con’t The social structure= PATRIARCHY What does that mean? The opposite of MATRIARCHAL Men made important decisions and were placed in leadership roles