The influence of European settlers to Aboriginals along the US-Canadian Border
This is the first in a series of articles on Aboriginals living along the US-Canadian and US-Mexican borders.
The Aboriginals called it the Medicine Line. For some reason the invisible line of the US-Canadian border appeared to hold a strong power in the eyes of white men.
In light of another article on Native American/First Nations issues that values sensation over accuracy, this time in the
New York Times and dealing with drug trafficking across the US-Canadian border, I thought it might be helpful to provide some background history on Aboriginal nations on the US-Canadian border that the NYT did not include in their article. This first article will deal with pre-contact and post-contact Aboriginal History along the northern border.
Pre-Contact Aboriginal History
In the Americas, pre-contact, what many now imagine as a monolithic culture of Aboriginals, Indians, Native Americans or whatever term you wish to use, did not exist. Like Europe and Asia at the time, the continents comprised different nations--some allies, some enemies, and many who never even came into direct contact with each other. They practiced politics, warfare, and diplomacy, and certainly engaged in extensive trade evidenced by the fact that interior tribes used implements like combs, for example, made from seashells. However, these separate nations did not maintain strict borderlines. So long as resources remained abundant, overlapping hunting grounds did not necessarily pose difficulties.
Post-Contact Aboriginal History
Immediate post-contact Aboriginal History varied greatly depending what European sphere of influence they came under--mainly Spanish, English, French, or Dutch--and their purpose for voyaging to the New World. Early European visitors to the coast of what is now Canada were mainly seasonal fishermen, while those to the south of what is now the US-Canadian border generally came to settle and form colonies. (see Native American Names )
Contrary to the depiction in The New World , Aboriginals were not innocent primitives too ignorant to understand the danger posed by these strange, hairy people from across the sea. The Europeans brought valuable goods such as cooking pots and iron tools, and later guns and horses. While today we may see these as "mere trinkets," as currency amongst Aboriginal nations they were literally worth their weight in gold. Indeed, an American Indian who sold off land for even several bagsful of gold would be making a foolish mistake, since gold held no useful trade value.
However, while Europeans' trade goods may have been welcomed, Aboriginals expected their visitors to trade, stay a little while, and then return home. Since this is essentially what seasonal fishermen did in Canada, relations between Europeans and Aboriginals remained more or less cordial for far longer north of the US-Canadian border than they did to the south. Even after the fur trade became firmly established the French Voyageurs tended to be independent, operating alone or with just one partner, and often marrying Aboriginal women rather than bringing their families to form permanent settlements.
Consequently, even before the American Revolution solidified it, the US-Canadian border was already serving as a Medicine Line for the Aboriginals and white men living on either side.
Next week: How the US-Canadian border came into existence.
