Aboriginal and European Relationship

The relationship between Aboriginals and Europeans

For millenias before the first Vikings landed on North America, the Aboriginals of North America were already a civilized and relatively peaceful group of people. They believed that everything, from the trees to the lakes, was bestowed onto them by the great spirit, who wanted them to preserve the natural environment for years to come. From the time after the second contact of Europeans until the late 19th century, the land owned by the Aboriginals slowly and eventually began to decline. It is my opinion that the huge log from the Cree Legend represents the whole of North America, while the Aboriginal ancestor sitting on it represents the North American Natives. At first, when the European wanted to sit on the log, the Aboriginal graciously agreed. But when the European man took over the entire log, he forced the Native to sit on a stump of a nearby tree. I personally think that the stump represented the reserves that the Canadian government gave to the Aboriginals, which is insubstantial compared to the land that the Natives once controlled.

One of the three main motives behind Native-European contact in Canada was the enormous amounts of fish and other game throughout the whole of North America. The rich quantity and variety of fish at the coastal regions of Canada attracted seasonal visits from European fleets. Another reason for contact was the sudden demand for beaver pelts and other furs due to the emergence of the fashionable men's hats created from compressed beaver pelts. Due to the rarity of beaver pelts in Europe, the fur traders could purchase them at extremely low prices in Canada and sell them for large amounts of money in Europe. The third and most insignificant reason for Aboriginal-European contact was because of the fact that both Catholics from France and Protestants in England sent missionaries to North America in hopes of converting them into Christians.

Believe it or not, for a...