Our Nation Before Colonization
BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT
Our people have lived on these lands since time immemorial. We lived, shared, and prospered in harmony with the lands and all other tribes around us. We had treaties with all other tribes and these treaties were based on respect for the past, present and the future. We lived in harmony because it sustained the strength of our people for generations to come.
Our Nation has a strong society and we governed ourselves with a system that valued family and community. Each member of the Nation contributed to its success and was valued for their unique gifts and talents.
Our system endured for thousand of years. It served our Nation well by uniting and protecting our people. We understood our relationship with nature and only took what we needed and respected our treaties with the land and all the creatures that shared this land with us.
Our Travels and Trading on turtle island
Our people travelled far beyond our traditional lands. Our relations occupied lands from the eastern parts of Saskatchewan, southern and central Manitoba, Ontario and south into Northern American states of Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
However, our people travelled far and wide and traded with many other nations on the lands we called Turtle Island. Our people had trading relationships with nations on the west coast, east coast and as far south as Mexico.
Our stories and legends of Nanabozho and Turtle Island are indicative of people who had navigated these lands and understood that the shape of North America did really match the shape of a turtle shell.
These stories and legends are more than that; they are part of our deep and rich oral history and knowledge keeping and how our people passed on wisdom across generations. It was a foundation of our endurance across millennia as strong hearted people who maintained a harmonious and sustainable relationship with the lands we call Turtle Island.
European Arrival on Turtle Island
It is know known that Europeans first landed on Turtle Island almost 500 years before Columbus arrived in 1492. Christopher Columbus set out to find a new passage to Asia and accidentally came across Turtle Island. Europeans like Columbus were sent with a mandate to "discover and claim" lands at the command of their sponsoring monarchs in Europe.
"America" was not discovered by Columbus or any earlier settlers. By the time Columbus arrived, both the North and South continents now called the Americas had been inhabited for more than ten thousand years.
Hundreds of distinct nations with their own languages, customs, religions, and economic systems already lived on the lands when Columbus became lost on his way to Asia and stumbled into the "new" lands. Columbus never actually stepped ashore on Turtle Island and until his death, he believed he had traveled to islands in Asia. The arrival of Columbus changed Turtle Island and its many nations forever by destroying their languages, spiritual beliefs and ways of living and coexisting in harmony with their environment.
Explore the lasting impacts of colonization on Turtle Island.