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Three different approaches to pre-contact Native history are used to convey the richness of Native lifeways. Three separate maps will divide Canada into sections based upon region, culture, and language. Links on each map will connect to a specific discussion. A. Map One - Regional Approach The histories of the First Nations peoples are fundamentally connected to the physical identity of Canada. The vastness and variety of Canada's climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna, and landforms separate, join, and define ancient peoples, as implicitly as cultural or linguistic divisions. Canada is surrounded north, east, and west with coastline and since the last ice age Canada has consisted of several distinct forest regions. Adaptability is the essential component for survival within these demanding environments. Historic geographical models and population estimates are supplemented by oral histories, archaeological and anthropological evidence to derive knowledge of First Nations dwellings, food sources, and technology. Understanding how a people survived within their environment provides a greater insight into their history. 
Copyright © 2000 The Applied History Research Group - Western Cordillera B. Map Two - Cultural Approach Culture is a concept used by anthropologists to define the adaptive systems unique to humanity. Hence, how groups of humans survive and utilise their environment is that which defines them as a people. Definitions of culture are used by historians as a context for the behaviours, movements, and activities of First Nations people. Cultural identities also reflect how groups of people survive together and adapt to local environments. Anthropologists and archaeologists agree that local adaptation is a long-term process with long-term results. The long-term process includes the development of social systems, warfare and diplomacy patterns, as well as economic and trade practices. This complex set of variables creates the equilibrium necessary to survive within an environment and is the abstract of human experience. Culture is the method and measurement of these adaptations to an environment.  Copyright © 2000 The Applied History Research Group - Northwest Coast C. Map Three - Linguistic Approach Language is at the root of every First Nations culture. The identity of a people is in part created by language because language influences social lifeways and spiritual practices. Linguists have linked language diversity to length of human occupation. For example, Canada's Pacific Coast has the greatest number of languages. Because of this diversity, linguists have concluded that the Pacific Coast peoples have occupied their region longer than other First Nations groups have occupied their own regions. First Nations languages within what is now Canada are classified into twelve separate groups of approximately fifty languages. The language groupings are broken down into different languages and dialects. Historians understand how groups identify themselves and interpret their environment through language. However, the migrations of the past two hundred years - the result of European trade, disease, and resource depletion - have changed the linguistic landscape of Canada. Pre-European contact histories are developed in part by examining historic language relations and the associated cultures.  Copyright © 2000 The Applied History Research Group - Wakashan |
