HIST 431-BLOG POST 3

HIST BLOG POST 3

The main question that the authors were trying to answer in each of the articles this week was in what ways did early colonists and explorers discover and experience early Northern America and it’s wildlife and in what ways did fur trade and exchanges evolve and spread throughout Northern America?

The central arguments of the article Wildness Without Wilderness: Biogeography and Empire in Seventeenth- Century French North America, by Christopher M. Parsons were focused around the idea that the idea of French colonialism during this time period was more-so wrapped around the idea that the places in which the French colonies would stay were considered as being out in the true wilderness. This article touches on the different ways in which we are able to distinguish the several differences amongst the different types of flora and how they were identified as between America and Europe. This article focused on the ways in which people during this time period were able to integrate and re-establish different types of fruits and the types of landscapes between the indigenous and American environments. The analysis of this article being done is that there were many different types of fruits and plants grown in several areas throughout Northern America during this time and Europe was interested in integrating and rehabilitating those types of fruits and plants grown throughout Northern America into Europe and this article discusses the ways in which plants grown across northern America were integrated into the European life.

The central argument of the article French Fishers, Fur Traders, and Amerindians during the Sixteenth-Century: History and Archaeology, by Laurier Turgeon were focused on what types of goods were considered as being valuable in fur trading during this time period and why as well as what the relationships were like between the French and the Amerindians in Northern America during the time of trade. The analysis performed in this article discovers that the only real evidence that gives information on the relations between the Amerindians and the French during this time are solely provided only within written records which provided evidence that the trade between the French and Amerindians became well established. It is explained in this article that it was crucial for communicational purposes between these two groups during this time period that their communication was primarily through the exchange of physical objects used for trading purposes.

The central argument of the article Geographies of Encounter: Religion and Contested Spaces in Colonial North America, by Tracy Neal was that due to the severe controversy over landownership and the manipulation of space, both cultural and human geographies of the regions of the Great Lakes were then considered and were transformed. This article argues that the overall mutual adaptation between the Indians and the French during this time were in hopes of establishing boundaries. The analysis of this article focuses on the ways in which the interaction between the Indians and the French created competing geographies of land division and ownership.

The central argument of the article Le Jeune Dreams of Moose: Altered States Among the Montagnais in the Jesuit Relations of 1634, by Drew Lopenzina is that the initial overall creation of the French and Native American colonies was primarily in relation to the basic dreams and interpretations of the Native people and the ways in which they envisioned their trade and their geographical boundaries of the landscapes in which they had ownership of. The main analysis performed in this article is that it was thought that the early American explorers had ideas of how their continents would be divided for decades meanwhile the Natives had ideas and plans of their own in determining the rituals of the grounds and the division of land ownership and they sought out to make those dreams a reality.

The central argument of the article Colonial Saints: Gender, Race, and Hagiography in New France, by Allan Greer is that the French made the effort of transferring Christianity into the lives of the natives in early Northern America in the seventeenth-century. The French believed that everyone living under the French Northern American colony should all be under the same religion which would rightfully be Christianity. It was argued in this article that the French truly believed that colonies should be determined by categorization of cultural beliefs. The main analysis of this article is that the idea of Colonial hagiography was incorporated in distinguishing which cultural groups would receive possession of which parts of land depending on the cultural beliefs that each colonial group followed. The French believed that everyone in each colony should be as similar to one another as they could in terms of race, gender, and cultural beliefs.

Each of the articles this week provided us with many strong points and information on the ways in which early colonization in early Northern America were determined and the different ways in which particular landscapes were divided according to the types of colonies that the land belonged to. The articles all touched on some good points of how early trade in Northern America affected and impacted the lifestyle of different countries as well as how the goods that were used in trade were distinguished and decided depending on the particular needs of each group as well as depending on what types of resources were available in different regions across early Northern America during this time.

Citations:

Allan Greer, “Colonial Saints: Gender, Race, and Hagiography in New France” [The William and Mary Quarterly] Vol.57(2000):pg323–348

Drew Lopenzina, “Le Jeune Dreams of Moose:Altered States Among the Montagnais in the Jesuit Relations of 1634” [University of Pennsylvania Press] Vol.13 (2015):pg3–37

Tracy Neal Leavelle, “Geographies of Encounter: Religion and Contested Spaces in Colonial North America” [The John Hopkins University Press] Vol.56(2004):pg913–943

Laurier Turgeon, “French Fishers, Fur Traders, and Amerindians during the Sixteenth-Century: History and Archaeology” [The William and Mary Quarterly] Vol.55(1998):pg 585–610

Christopher M. Parsons, “Wildness Without Wilderness: Biogeography and Empire in Seventeenth-Century French North America” [Oxford University Press]Vol.22 (2017): pg 643–667