Forces That Shaped the Mi’Kmaq Relations with the Europeans

What forces shaped the Mikmaq relations with the Europeans? When the early settlers of the Americas arrived on the East sliding board of what is now Canada, they disc overed a people that was remarkably antithetical from their own. premier(prenominal) impressions would deem these people as uncivilized (source) savages (source) who lived miserable lives (source). However, as snip went on the settlers began to realize just how deeply rooted this Aboriginal conclusion really was.The Mikmaq lived a simple nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, able to fill in the stars and changing of the seasons leading them to a variety of different sources of food for thought subject on the season. Culturally they were a spiritual group, one that believed to live with the earth, non off the earth and pr fermenticed ceremonies to show appreciation of what the get down gave them. unneurotic they shared this land. Individually they were free to pursue their own life path without restrictions, res ulting in several sexual partners, homosexuality, marriages and divorces.They were a mostly peaceful people, preferring the act of gift giving over war which they exactly resorted to when deemed necessary. To the Mikmaq warfare was never used as a way to gain dominion like their European counterparts but rather a way to seek revenge for wrongdoings. (paraphrase source) As the early European settlers and the Mikmaq people began to set close to familiar with each other, they found many common grounds in these values and learnt to peacefully coexist with each other creating a confirmative relationship built on trade, alliance and friendship.However, as time went on Mikmaqs values and very means of survival were challenged when settler people increased, warfare amongst the British and French ended with British formally claiming the ground through several treaties and were eventually backed up by the influx of Loyalist century. When the first French settlers began to arrive to the area the Mikmaq were optimistically curious of them. They viewed them as fellow man, as equals, who brought with them gifts of useful utensils, tools, alcohol, and weapons. source) The Mikmaq were quick to ceremoniously return the favor to their new friends, sharing with them their experience of the land and giving them furs. The Mikmaq who roamed over a large territory saw no harm in allowing the small French race of (HOW MANY? ) to settle in the Bay of Fundy region. (Wicken print off 95-96) The similarities and differences amidst the Mikmaq and French people both helped modify relations.Differentially, the Acadians were inactive and relied on agriculture and livestock for food, which worked well as the Mikmaq were able to slip away their nomadic hunting gathering lifestyle undisturbed. Similarly, they shared a commonplaceness in spirituality. Although they believed in different versions they were fascinated by each others beliefs and some Mikmaq were actually drawn in to Catholicism and baptized(HOW MANY? SOURCE). Trade furthered improved relations as time went on the Mikmaq would reach a point of dependency on European goods.Evidence of improved relations lavatory been seen in intermarriage between the devil groups (HOW MANY? SOUCRE) Initially the Mikmaq had a much larger creation and were never threatened by the settlers, mainly seeing them as a friend with many benefits economically, culturally, and at times militarily (EVIDENCE OF MIKMAQ FRENCH FIGHTING TOGETHER IN EARLY SETTLEMENT YEARS) They continued these relations for about a century, with only minor conflicts erupting every now and then, but nothing that would seriously jeopordize their relationship. source). everywhere that century the French population remained quite low and numbered only about half of that of the Mikmaq population. This advantage acted as almost a antecedent in which the Mikmaq able to preserve their ways and not pretend into French pressures to fully convert t o Christianity or to living a sedentary agricultural lifestyle. This would all change when the Acadian population began to increase. (NUMBER OF INCREASE AND SOURCE) As the Acadian population increased so did tensions between the Acadians and the Mikmaq.As the population in Acadian grew so did their need for more food. In order to get more food they needed more land that they could use to farm with. The Acadians would take land near the ocean which they could use to fish and also they cleared forests which unmake the habitats of animals which the Mikmaq used to hunt. The Mikmaq were therefore forced to look elsewhere for food. There were reports of some Mikmaqs who were forced in land spirit for food, actually taking livestock from the Acadians.Threats would go back and forth over this ontogenesis tension. The Acadians would report these incidents to their council, but the council wise in noting that the Mikmaq were lock in a majority choose not to punish them for their actions, preffering to overturn conflict and simply reimbursing the lost goods out of their own pockets. Evidence again can be demonstrated in intermarriage between the two groups as only one aborniginal women has been recorded as marrying an Acadian over (time period).The growing population in British settlements would be seen as alarming for the Mikmaqs who had a much more negative view of these settlers. Unlike the Acadian settlers a strong relationship had not been formed over the last centrury. The British were invasive and they shared very little in common with them. Ramsay stimulate argues that the first European settlers were intent to civilize the so called savages through agriculture, technology, piety and language without realizing that these people were already civilized, just in a different way. In the early 18th century, the Mikmaq were a semi-nomadic peoples, who moved or so the land freely according to the seasons. This lifestyle allowed them to live independently impe rtinent of the French and British querrals choosing for themselves when to go to war and when to agree to peace. -As conflict between England and France intensified in the 1740s tensions between the Acadian and Mikmaq populations grew.