| INDEX → 1. First People → 2. Explorers → 3. New France → 4. BNA → 5. Conflict → → 6. Confederation → 7. The West → 8. Changing Nation → 9. World War I →→ TERMS OF USE © Northern Blue Publishing. A licence is required for institutional or commercial use of any material in these pages. Please read the Terms of Use. |
A. Turtle Island - Time Before History
From HCO Jr
| Part 1. First People of Canada → A. Turtle Island → B. The Wendat → C. The Siksika → D. The Haida → E. The Dene → F. The Inuit → G. The Cree → H. The Ojibwa → I. The Mi'kmaq |
| Turtle Island - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Vocab | Student Activities | Class Projects |
Contents |
Origins of the First People
When did the First People come to North America? This is a difficult question to answer.
Scientists are studying a lot of new evidence to try and solve this puzzle.
Scientists who study the distant past are called archaeologists. These people study cultures that lived so long ago that they did not have writing. They also study artifacts they dig up from the ground.
 An artifact is a very old object left by people who lived long ago. Artifacts can be pieces of pottery. Other times they can be pieces of stone that early people shaped into tools such as knives and axes. |
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When Did They Arrive in North America
Scientists think that First Nations came to Canada more than 20,000 years ago. Some scientists think it was 35,000 years ago. It is very hard to be sure.
Many of the things that people used that long ago are destroyed. Artifacts made from wood and bone rot in the ground. This leaves very few things for archaeologists to examine.
Sometimes archaeologists find something they think is a tool. For example, they might find a piece of stone that is shaped like a knife or arrow head. They examine it to find out how old it is. They study the stone closely. They try to determine if someone shaped the rock into a knife.
Other archaeologists might not agree. They might think it is just a stone. Perhaps the stone looks like a knife or arrow head by accident.
Studying artifacts is very hard. Archaeologists are not always sure if they are right.
How Did They Arrive in North America
Archaeologists are not sure how people arrived in North America. They study artifacts to try and find an answer. Their answers are called theories.
A theory is the best answer that a person can create. A theory has to have evidence, but no one can say for certain if it is correct.
Scientists believe that most first people came to North America over a land bridge. Others came by boat along the coast.
More than 20,000 years ago the world’s oceans were not as deep as they are now. A lot of the water that is in the ocean today was frozen in massive glaciers. This time is called an ice age.
A lot of the world was covered by glaciers. These were huge fields of ice that stretched for thousands of miles. Sometimes the ice was over 2 km thick!
| *Click HERE to see how ice covered Canada during the last Ice Age. (QuickTime Required) |
Between Alaska and Siberia today is a body of water called the Bering Strait. Many years ago this did not exist. The water was gone because of the ice. Instead there was dry land that people could walk over. This land is called Beringia.
During this time people hunted animals that migrated. Migration is when animals (or people) travel to certain places at different times of the year. They usually do this to find food or shelter.
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The first people followed these animals because they were a source of food. Over a long period of time they followed the animals from Siberia into North America. They did not know they were travelling to a new land. To these people it was all one land. |
Over many years the glaciers melted and the oceans became deeper. The water rose, and the land bridge disappeared.
These people were now trapped in North America. They did not know this. They had lived here for so long that they saw North America as their land.
Over thousands of years these people spread through North America. They spread south into Mexico and South America. They did not stay in the north because it was very cold.
As temperatures became warmer some people began to travel north. About 10,000 years ago they arrived in what is today Canada.
Arriving by Sea
When ocean levels were lower there may have been more islands in the Pacific Ocean.
People might have traveled from island to island over thousands of years.
Eventually they arrived in South America.
Other scientists think that Ice Age people also came to North America over the Atlantic Ocean.
During the ice age they may have traveled by boats to Iceland, then Greenland and then the East Coast of North America.
Water levels were lower so they had more islands to stop on.
Adapting to the Environment
As First Nations people migrated through North, Central and South America they had to adapt to the different environments.
In some areas it was very warm and there was a lot of rain. In other areas it was cooler. Some areas were deserts. Other areas were very cold.
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Even in Canada there are many different environments. As you read the next chapters you will learn how First Nations adapted to the environment. |
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Over time the different nations became distinct from each other. Different cultures appeared in Canada because of this adapting.
Culture is made up of many different things:
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Myths and Creation Stories
Some First Nations people believe that their Creator made them. The Creator then placed them in North America.
First Nations have creation stories. We call these myths.
A myth is an important story about a powerful person or god. In these stories people learn lesson about life.
A creation story tries to explain how the world was created. These stories were an important part of their religious beliefs.
Many people, not just First Nations, have myths to explain how people appeared on Earth.
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Each First Nation had its own creation story. Sometimes these stories are similar. Sometimes they are very different. Sometimes First Nations had stories that shared some parts with other stories. |
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First Nations also have stories to explain why some animals look like they do.
This helped them to explain how the world was created. These stories also show how important animals were to First Nations.
Click to read these Creation Stories:
| Part 1. First People of Canada → A. Turtle Island → B. The Wendat → C. The Siksika → D. The Haida → E. The Dene → F. The Inuit → G. The Cree → H. The Ojibwa → I. The Mi'kmaq |
| Turtle Island - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Vocab | Student Activities | Class Projects |
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