1 Case Studies: Canada and India

2 Today’s Lesson!  Imperial Expansion of Canada  The Fur Trade  Treaties  Confederation  Imperialism in India  Tomorrow: 1996 Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples  Hand back Editorials

3 Imperial Expansion of Canada The Fur Trade o The demand for furs increased because everyone wanted a felt hat! o It became important for European economic development and settlement.

4 France vs. Britain o Both Britain and France sought to control the fur trade through land and resources. o Competition between these two countries sparked conflicts between First Nations groups as well.

5 The Hudson Bay Company  On May 6, 1670 a charter was created that gave HBC a monopoly over all the land whose rivers drained into the Hudson Bay.

6 The Hudson Bay Company  Hudson's Bay Company trade was not only a one way trade of furs to Europe  It also involved huge amounts of European goods going to North America.  These goods included many things: gunpowder, bullets, kettles and pots, beads, weapons, tobacco, fishing hooks, needles, scissors, and much more.  These were items that local people could not make themselves.

7 The Northwest Company: The Competition  Formed in Montreal in 1783, after the fall of New France to the British.  By the 1800s the two sides were at war with each other. It was a fur trade war.  In order to control the fur trade, it was important to find new trading partners.  This meant traveling in unknown wilderness both on dangerous rivers and difficult land routes.

8 The Merger  The two sides fought each other from the 1780s until 1821.  Both companies were spending all their money and energy competing with each other and it was ruining their companies.  In 1821, the two companies merged. Hudson's Bay Company was now able to run the fur trade with no competition.  The company controlled most of the land in modern day Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

9 Changing Policies, Changing Practices  At first Aboriginal peoples were a valuable source of information about the local geography and landscape for early European explorers and settlers.  Later, between 1701 and 1923 their was a shift in the interactions between the two sides.  The result was the creation of treaties between the colonial government and the First Nations peoples.

10 Aboriginal Perspective  “We were here before anyone else.....Indians always had a tradition of sharing, so they must have felt they were simply sharing their land with the newcomers....As more settlers came, the Natives were pushed farther away until they found they couldn’t even fish in their own streams.”  Chief Stephen Knockwood

11 Treaties  First Nations believed treaties were a scared agreement between two equal nations.  For Europeans, treaties were a tool of Imperialism that expected First Nations to give up land for colonial settlement and protect it from foreign attack.  There was more than 70 treaties between Europeans and various First Nations in some parts of Canada.

12 Equal Nations?!  Lets look at pg. 167 in your textbook under the Voices section.  On your own read the two excerpts.  Think about the two questions provided and share your answers with your neighbour.  We will then discuss this as a class.

13 Oh Canada!  The creation of Canada in 1867 came about as a result of negotiations between the French and English, however the First Nations peoples were not included.  A new constitution was created that reflected Imperialistic policies. Some examples are:  To take control of resources located on reserves  Replace traditional Aboriginal governments  Forcibly replace Aboriginal concepts of marriage and parenting with European ones.

14 And now a word from Canada’s First Prime Minister: John. A. Macdonald  His government would “do away with the tribal system, and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion.”

15 Comparison: British Rule in India

16 East India Company  Started as an association of traders and later became a political power.  In the 1700s English EIC successfully promoted a monopoly  Sold cotton, silk, sugar, and jute (cash crops)  To maintain profits EIC got involved in politics and military of India

17 EIC Con’t  Practice Commercial Colonialism – it controlled India’s foreign trade and used its army to keep friendly officials in power.  Created an army of SEPOYS – Indian soldiers who served in European armies

18 The Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi  Believed that the imposition of British culture on the people of India was unjust.

19 Gandhi’s Point of View:  “We hold the civilization that you [British colonists] support to be the reverse of civilization. We consider our civilization to be far superior to yours. If you realize this truth, it will be to your advantage and, if you do not, according to your own proverb [‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’], you should only live in our country in the same manner as we do....We consider your schools and courts to be useless. We want our own ancient schools and courts to be restored. The common language of India is not English but Hindi. You should, therefore, learn it. We can hold communication with you only in our national language.”

20 Written Response  Please respond to Gandhi’s quote answering the following questions with a partner:  How does Gandhi’s expectation of British colonists show his perspective on Eurocentrism?  In what ways are his words relevant in today’s globalizing world?