welcome to grade 7 history unit number one New France and British North America 1713 to 1800 this is lesson number one who wanted the land and why welcome to grade 7 history before we begin today's first lesson let's take some time to think back on things that we learned about Canada's history in grade 6 so put the video on pause right now so you can jot down two or three things that you remember learning about Canada's history last year and then we'll discuss this at the start of our next class in 1713 there is no such thing as Canada early French explorers such as Jacques Cartier heard native peoples used the word kanata which means village or settlement the French thought that the name of the land was Canada but they decided to name the area that they claimed to be New France the map on page 22 in your textbook shows what New France looked like in 1713 you will notice that New France was made of what is now Quebec as well as a large chunk of what is now the United States some of the land shown on the map was disputed territory this was land that the French and the English were still competing for so just take a look at this map here of course we can see that the French had claimed a large portion of North America and the British had also acquired a nice strip of land along the east coast of North America but take a look at this map look at the legend and you'll see it there was one other country that was also making serious claims to land in North America and providing very strong competition for both the French and the English as you learned in grade six Europeans had been coming to North America since the 1500s they were competing to see who could claim the most land land in North America was to be used to collect natural resources which could be turned into goods that could be sold in Europe Europeans also wanted to create settlements in North America these settlements would provide homes for Europeans who wanted to have a fresh start in life the settlers would find work in the colonies lands in North America that belong to European countries and they would collect the resources that their home countries were in search of so what resources were Europeans searching for well there were several natural resources that were in short supply in Europe for centuries Europeans have been taking fish fur and timber from the land without thinking about the danger of using up these resources by the 1500 certain fish and fur bearing animals were nearly extinct when explorers came home with stories of huge quantities of fish fur and timber in North America European kings and queens were quick to order full-scale exploration and settlement in North America and lots of paintings from this time period here's just one painting showing many Europeans all taking whatever possessions they could with them loading onto boats which would take them to the new world ie North America first nations were very important to the explorers and the settlers the first nations taught the Europeans how to build canoes and sleds and how to travel through the arched terrain they began treating furs and fish with the Europeans in exchange for metal pots tools and cloth need.if women provided warm clothing and helped the Europeans prepare the transport of natural resources to Europe the fur trade became a major part of the relationship between the Europeans and the First Nations since new France was so cold the explorers and settlers needed for clothes and orders to stay warm but in Europe hats and other items made from beaver pelts became a major fashion trend for the wealthy the Europeans were eager to trade with the First Nations who did not understand what the newcomers are so interested in trading valuable medals for something as common as fur just take a look at this diagram these beaver hats were a sign of wealthy people's different roles in society in the 1600s and the 1700s all of these hats all made from beaver pelts looking back at grade six history you learned that the first nations have been living in North America for thousands of years we use the term First Nations because there are many different native cultures each having their own language system of government and traditions all First Nations beautiful land and all life on Earth is secret and they all believed that the land belonged to everyone I draw your attention to the diagram here laughs the first nations believed in the sacred circle the idea that all forms of life are equally important and must be protected for the survival of the earth sounds sort of like what we studied in geography class austere doesn't it a map on page 25 in your textbook shows where several First Nations were living in North America during the period 1652 1760 settlements were built close to bodies of water to allow for a source of drinking water and transportation the Iroquois Confederacy was made of six First Nations who spoke a common language the when dot or Huron as they were called by the French shared the land with the Iroquois the Iroquois and when that formed large farmed large enough crops that they could live in groups of over one thousand people for 20 years before needing to relocate to an area that provided fresh farmland the Algonquin which consists of several First Nations lived in smaller groups approximately 50 people per group they fished and hunted for their food in the 1600s the French and the English tried to strengthen their claims to land in North America by increasing the size of their settlements they built their settlements on land which the first nations lived on the French and the English felt that it was okay to do this because to them the first nations were on civilised savages this is an early and very sad example of racism in many ways the first nations were more advanced and more civilized than the Europeans unfortunately it has only been within the last 50 years that people in North America have started to appreciate the history and the contributions made by native peoples look at this recent picture on the Left Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already been making a commitment to improving relations between Canada and his First Nations and trying to make amends for past injustice is caused by the Canadian government the first English settlement was built to Newfoundland the English would focus their settlements along the east coast of North America to the south of the French settlements the English would set up trading posts around James Bay which made them closer to the First Nations and thereby making fur trading easier and this is a famous image which shows the first meeting between John guy and the bay attack people around 1612 the French focused thir settlements along the st. Lawrence River the st. Lawrence was a perfect shipping route for fur trading in the early 1600s France started the Senor eel system under this system the King of France gave piece of land in New France to wealthy men who are known as Saint yours the seniors rented their farmland to farmers for a small fee the farmland which was called scenery's were thin flat strips of land that were close to water today when traveling through or near Quebec you can still see the patterns that were formed by dividing the land into thin strips so I started out with this basic plan here take the best line that was close to the river and cut it up into thin strips of land and then rent out that farmland to peasant farmers who would of course build homes farms develop the land and this pattern was so firmly entrenched even today on the overhead map you can actually see that rectangular pattern going on you don't even have to have an overhead shot just depending on which part of Quebec you're traveling through you can actually see the lines still divided into these thin rectangular strips all right so let's conclude today's lesson by discussing and following when I'm finished reading these four questions you're going to put the video on pause how do you feel First Nations peoples felt when they saw European explorers and settlers for a first time over to describe the connection between the young one between a woman wearing fur clothes and France and the fur trade in New France three how do you think creating for middle Goods changed light for the First Nations and for what reasons do you think the Europeans had for feeling they were superior to the first nations before you put this on pause I do want you to write down your answers these four questions because we will discuss our ideas our responses to these at the start for next class now if you don't feel confident and answering these questions right now it means you need to go back and watch this video at least two more times and then when you're ready get a pen or pencil piece of paper ready to write down your responses to these questions so put the video on pause now and I look forward to hearing everybody's responses to these discussion questions in our next class but until then this concludes today's video