7H social studies - class notes on Mi'kmaq

The French
· Started to settle in Mi’kma’kik in 1600’s because they wanted to build settlements and show other countries that they controlled the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean
· Paris encourage settlers to settle in Acadia – they worked as farmers and drained saltwater rather then cut down trees
· French government was interested in Fishing rather than fur trade.
Exports from Louisbourg
· Fish and Fish Products
· Lumber and Lumber Products
· Furs and Hides
Spanish visitors remarked that natives were not subjects to the king of France but they did acknowledge him. Each year Natives received a quantity of apparel, gunpowder, muskets, brandy, and tools. However, they had were not paying for them.
The French and The English
How the French interacted with Mi’kmaq
· French considered Mi’kma’kik to be French territory
· They considered the Mi’kmaq to be citizens of France and allowed them to live there.
· They travelled and worked among the Mi’kmaq
· Some French settlers married Mi”kmaq women and the couples would spend time in both Mi’kmaq and Acadian Villages.
How the English interacted with Mi’kmaq
· English tried to buy land, if that failed they would take it by force
· Once the English owed the land, they believed that no one else could live there without permission.
· The Mi’kmaq believed that they gave all Europeans the right to use their land (not to own) and they wanted to continue to use it for themselves.
· French and Mi’kmaq were allies so the English did not trust them.
· English did not trade with Mi’kmaq and used the money to build forts and arm soldiers. At times they would burn the forests to keep Mi’kmaq out.


The Mi’kmaq vs. The English
· Mi’kmaq did not let English take control of their land. They sided with the French to organize raids on the English
· Mi’kmaq were skilled fighters, both on land and at sea. Rangers were brought in to scalp Mi’kmaq men, women, and children. So the Mi’kmaq were forced to the woods to protect themselves.
· Because they were forced to the woods, Mi’kmaq were unable to fish the coastlines as they once did.
· Trade with Europeans became almost impossible because of the strained relations
· The English badly treated the Mi’kmaq. For that reason they tended to side with the French. The English tended to be rude and to cheat them out of their stuff.
· The Mi’kmaq also tended to favor the French because they tried to fall into the Mi’kmaq way of life.
The Loyalist
· The Loyalists were those people who were “Loyal” to Britain after the American Revolution. Since the English Loyalists were not welcome in the USA, they were force to Canada.
· The influx of people to the Maritimes did not favor the Mi’kmaq, The loyalists wanted to settle along the rivers to take advantage of the farmland. That did not leave much land for the Mi’kmaq (remember that English people did not share their land)
· Loyalists also killed Moose and Caribou from the forest, that made it hard for Mi’kmaq to maintain their old ways of life, they were forced to wander over wider areas to find food.
· Nova Scotia officials encouraged the Mi’kmaq to settle in one area from season to season and also to adapt to the new way of life as farmers. Some became farmers, others made farming supplies and some made quilts.