Warm Up

The Vikings from Iceland who colonized The First Europeans The Vikings from Iceland who colonized Greenland 1,000 years ago also reached Labrador and the island of Newfoundland. The remains of their settlement, l’Anse aux Meadows, are a World Heritage site. European exploration began in earnest in 1497 with the expedition of John Cabot, who was the first to draw a map of Canada’s East Coast.

Exploring a river, naming Canada Between 1534 and 1542, Jacques Cartier made three voyages across the Atlantic, claiming the land for King Francis I of France. Cartier heard two captured guides speak the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning “village.” By the 1550s, the name of Canada began appearing on maps.

In 1604, the first European settlement north of Royal New France In 1604, the first European settlement north of Florida was established by French explorers Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain, first on St. Croix Island (in present-day Maine), then at Port-Royal, in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). In 1608 Champlain built a fortress at what is now Québec City. The colonists struggled against a harsh climate. Champlain allied the colony with the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron, historic enemies of the Iroquois, a confederation of five (later six) First Nations who battled with the French settlements for a century. The French and the Iroquois made peace in 1701. The French and Aboriginal people collaborated in the vast fur-trade economy, driven by the demand for beaver pelts in Europe. Outstanding leaders like Jean Talon, Bishop Laval, and Count Frontenac built a French Empire in North America that reached from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

What are the points and what do they mean? The points are the short black lines woven into the blanket just above the bottom bar or set of stripes. They are about 4 inches in length.The "point" system was invented by French weavers in the mid 18th century as a way to show the overall size of the blanket. The word point comes from the French empointer meaning "to make threaded stitches on cloth". HBC’s first pointed blankets were made in 1780, although they had been selling unpointed blankets since our founding in 1670 What do the colours of the stripes mean? Nothing intentional. The four traditional colours (green, red, yellow and indigo) were simply colours that were popular and easily produced using good dyes at the time that the multistripe blanket was introduced about 1800. These four colours are sometimes known as Queen Anne's colours since they first became popular during her reign (1702 - 1714).

I have an old HBC point blanket. Is it valuable? Yes. In recent years genuine HBC point blankets have become very collectible and may be worth hundreds of dollars. Things that affect value include age, size, colour, rarity and condition. What colours have the blankets been made in? Point blankets were traditionally made in plain red, white, green or blue with single bars of deep indigo near each end. In the fur trade era white was by far the most common colour, with bars in indigo, red, or blue. The multistripe pattern was introduced in 1798 and became very popular - so much so that it is sometimes known as "traditional".

Value of Furs Value of Trade Goods 1 Blanket = 3 Beaver 1 Beaver = 2 Lynx = 2 Land Otters = 3 Raccoons = 4 Coyote Value of Trade Goods 1 Blanket = 3 Beaver 1 Kg Beads = ¼ beaver 1 gun = 5 beavers Ammunition = 2 beavers 100 m. rope = 1/4 Beaver 1 knife = 1/4 Beaver 1 tin pot = 1 Beaver 1 axe = 1 Beaver