Contact with First Nations

Babiche BagFirst Nations Introduction

First Nation groups were more competitive since they had to share hunting grounds will many potential rivals.

Most tribes were known to go on raids into the territories of other tribes. Often these raids were used to intimidate, but also to secure goods, weapons, and slaves. First Nations would take young men, children and women as slaves as a sign of their power and to have a strategic advantage over their opponents.

There were also known to take Inuit as slaves in raids. It was important to show strength and to provide opportunities for young warriors to show their skills in action. However, during a time when the climate cooled quite a bit, the First Nations show an advantage of learning how to deal with the cold weather by learning from the Inuit and copying their technologies.

Vignettes

There is some evidence of exchanges in technology, but much we have to guess at. Explore the objects in the packs to learn more about the articles each group used to survive in the Arctic environment.

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