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A
Aboriginals
The people who first lived in North America, including the Inuit
and First Nations peoples. Europeans called them "Indians"
at first because they had darker skin than the Europeans, and because
the Europeans thought had reached India.
Algonquin
A Native nation living in the thick forest areas on either side
of the upper Ottawa River in Canada. A small tribe; it was almost
completely wiped out by the Iroquois and by European diseases. They
lived in villages and practiced farming.
Ancestor
A distant relation in someone's family. For example, a great, great,
great, grandfather.
Archeology
Study of the remains of past peoples, such as pottery, buildings
and tools.
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B
Baymen
The nickname of the men who worked for Hudson's Bay Company.
Bribe
To give money or something else to someone so that they do something,
usually illegal.
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C
Canoe
A small boat usually made of birch bark used for traveling on lakes
and rivers.
Carroting
A process for making fur more suitable for making felt. It was invented
in England between 1720 and 1740, and was for a long time a very
valuable secret. It used a chemical mixture including mercuric oxide
(a very poisonous acid) to make the hairs rougher so they could
stick together better. It was called carroting because it turned
the tips of the fur orange.
Cartier,
Georges-Étienne
Born 1814, died on 1873. Cartier was a politician and one of the most
important Fathers of Confederation. A friend and ally of Sir John
A. Macdonald, he was very important in convincing French Canadians
to accept Confederation.
Cartier,
Jacques
Born about 1491, died 1557. An explorer who went to Canada three
times, in 1534, 1535 and 1541. He gave Canada its name, after he
mistook the Mohawk word for village (kana:ta') as the name of the
whole land.
Charles
II, King of England
Born 1630, died 1685. King from 1660 to 1685
Charter
A document, usually given by a king or queen, that gives a certain
group possessions or privileges. Hudson's Bay Company Charter
was granted on May 2 1670, by English King Charles II. It gave the
Hudson's Bay Company all trading rights in the territory that had
rivers flowing into Hudson Bay.
Chief
Factor
Commander of a trading post.
Chipewyan
A once-large Native nation that lived in what is now northern Saskatchewan
and Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Colony
A group of people who move to a new place or country to start farms
and towns, but still follow the laws of the old country.
Conservation
Protection of something valuable. It could be animals, electricity,
or even art.
Constantinople
The capital of the Byzantine Empire from AD 330 to 1453, when it
was captured by the Ottomans. For most of this period it was the
major center of learning and culture in Christian Europe. It is
now known as Istanbul, and is the capital of Turkey.
Country
wives
The
term used for women that men lived with while in Forts or in the
Fur Country. Some were almost slaves, but other men fell in love
and married their country wives.
Convent
A community of women who live a lifestyle of religious worship.
Coureurs
de bois
(French for "runner of the woods") a fur trader who went
into the woods to find fur and trade fur with First Nations.
Court
The king's ministers and advisors.
Cree
A major First Nations people that spread from Hudson Bay to Lake
Athabaska in Alberta. There are three kinds of Cree: Woodland Cree,
Swampy Cree, and Plains Cree.
Currency
A system of money.
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D
Davis,
John
Born about 1550, died 1605. John Davis (also spelled Davys) was
a true explorer, combining great skill in navigation with patience
and careful work. Three times, he tried to find the Northwest Passage.
Though he failed, he went farther north than any explorer had gone
before and mapped huge areas. This made it possible for later explorers
to go further. He also invented the Davis Quadrant, a tool used
for measuring the position of a ship on the Earth.
Deed
of Surrender
The agreement that Hudson's Bay Company signed to transfer nearly
all its land to the British Crown which, in turn, transferred it
to the newly formed Dominion of Canada in 1870.
Descendents
To come from somebody or something. For example, you are a descendent
of your grandmother.
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E
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F
Felt
A cloth made from animal hair by pressing, heating, or treating
the hair with chemicals.
First
Nations
The name for all the tribes of Aboriginal people who lived in North
America before the Europeans came, except the Inuit. Europeans called
them "Indians" at first because the Europeans thought
had reached India.
Frobisher,
Sir Martin
Explorer and pirate born 1535 or 1539, died 1594. Martin Frobisher
was the first European to sail into what later became known as Hudson
Strait. In his time, he was most famous as a pirate and privateer
(a pirate with a license from the king to attack ships from other
countries).
Frontenac,
Governor
Born 1622, died 1698. Governor of New France 1672 to 1682 and 1689
to 1698.
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G
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H
Hoe
A gardening or farming tool with a long handle and a flat blade
to turn the soil or pull up weeds.
Hudson,
Henry
Born about 1575, died 1611. Henry Hudson made four journeys that
are recorded in the history books, and is credited as the European
discoverer of Hudson Bay. He is also remembered for the sad end
of his last voyage. Most of his crew mutinied against him, leaving
Hudson, his son and several other crewmembers to die in the bay
that is now named after him.
Huron
A First Nations people that lived along the St. Lawrence River and
Great Lakes area. By the middle of the seventeenth century, they
had been defeated by the Iroquois, and scattered.
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I
Inuit
A people who live in the north of Canada and Greenland. Traditionally,
they lived from animals and fish. They arrived in North America
much later than the other First Nations. When there is only one
person, she or he is called an Inuk.
Iroquois
A powerful group of Native nations in the northeast of North America,
which came to include the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca
and Tuscarora. The Iroquois Confederacy was most powerful around
1680. After that, war and European diseases gradually weakened them.
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J
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K
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L
Land
Bridge
A small strip of land that joined North America and Asia in the
last ice age, 80 000 to 12 000 years ago. Huge sheets of ice built
up in the ice ages, and covered the earth. With so much of Earth's
water frozen on land, the sea levels fell by about 130 metres. In
the last, they went down by about 130 metres. This uncover land
- a land bridge. The ancestors of Canada's First Nations peoples
probably crossed this land to come to North America.
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M
"Made"
beaver pelt
A beaver pelt in prime condition. It was the unit of exchange -
all goods were compared in value to made beaver.
Marine
A type of soldier that fights on ships or from ships.
Merchant
Someone who buys and sells goods (for example: food, clothing, furs,
etc.).
Métis
A person of both French and First Nations heritage. There were many
French fur traders who married First Nations women and had families.
Their children, and those that came afterward, came to see themselves
as a separate people - the Métis. The term now also includes
people not of French ancestry.
Mission
A place people live who travel in order to persuade others to join
their religion. A missionary is someone who travels to persuade
others to join their religion.
Monopoly
Whenever one person or company is the only one buying or selling
a certain kind of product in a certain place.
Musket
A type of gun used hundreds of years ago.
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N
Nipissing
A First Nations people living in the Great Lakes region.
Northwest
Passage
The route through the islands north of Canada that ships can pass
through from east to west or back again. In the past, many explorers
tried to find this passage in the hopes that it would be a useful
shortcut to Asia. They failed because of the ice until Roald Amundsen
finally made it through in one try in 1906. By then, it was no longer
as important.
Nor'wester
A person working for the North West Company.
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O
Odawa
Part of the Ojibway Nation. The Odawa lived mainly on Manitoulin
Island in the northern Lake Huron, Georgian Bay area.
Organization
Group formed in order to do business or carry out some common purpose.
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P
Pelt
The skin of an animal with the fur still on it.
Pemmican
Dried and powdered meat, usually buffalo, that has been mixed with
an equal amount of animal fat. Sometimes berries or other items
were added. Pemmican was stored and carried in leather bags and
was the perfect food for fur traders to carry on long voyages because
it did not spoil. Developed by the Chipewyans, Peter Pond introduced
it to HBC in 1779.
Plains
Nations
Any First Nations people who lived on the Great Plains of north
America. The Plains area was the grasslands (prairies) from central
Canada - Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta - south to Mexico and
from the Midwest westward to the Rocky Mountains. Most Plains Nations
were buffalo hunters, though not all. Some Plains Nations include
the Blackfoot, the Mandan, the Hidatsa, the Sioux, the Cheyenne,
the Arapaho, the Shoshone and the Comanche.
Portage
To carry a canoe or other boat from one lake or river to another
or around rapids or water falls.
Prairie
Level or hilly grassland that is found in the centre of North America.
In Canada, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta contain large areas
of prairie that once had millions of buffalo.
Profit
To make money, or gain in some other way, from a business. A business
that makes a lot of money is profitable.
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Q
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R
Resource
Something that is useful to people. It could include, fur, metals
(like gold or iron), oil, and many other natural things and man-made
things, and even things like time.
Riel,
Louis
Born 1844, died 1885. Leader of the Métis and the Métis
rebellions of 1869 and 1884. He is regarded as the father of Manitoba.
Rupert's
Land
Rupert's Land was the name given to the land draining into Hudson
Bay, a huge area of northern and western Canada granted to Hudson's
Bay Company in 1670. It was named for Prince Rupert, the company's
first governor.
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S
Scurvy
A disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, which is most often found
in fruits and vegetables. It usually happened in winter or on long
sea voyages. It is very unusual now.
Seigneur
A person who owned a seigneury, which was a large area of land given
to someone by the King of France.
Seven
Years War
A war from 1756 to 1763. Although most of the fighting took place
in Europe (and involved many European countries) fighting between
France and Britain in North America decided who would control the
northern half of the continent. At first, the French were more successful.
In 1759, though, the British captured Quebec City by defeating the
French on the Plains of Abraham. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended
the war and gave Britain control of all French territories in North
America except the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland.
Sioux
A group of First Nations peoples living on the northern Great Plains
of North America. The Plains area was the grasslands (prairies)
from central Canada - Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta - south
to Mexico and from the Midwest westward to the Rocky Mountains.
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T
Taunt
To tease in a hurtful way.
Theories
Ideas to explain something.
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U
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V
Voyageur
A person, European or Aborigianal, who transported furs to and from
fur posts. The word is sometimes used for coureurs de bois.
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W
Wendat
A part of the Huron Nation, originally in the Georgian Bay area.
It was scattered by 1750, decimated by disease and war.
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Y
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Z
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