Introduction to Canadian History 30s

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Introduction to Canadian History 30s
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History of Canada

• Europeans settled along the Atlantic to the banks
  of the St. Lawrence.
• Many of these Europeans were fishers and traders.
• Earliest colonists came around 1600, mainly
  French and English.
• Colonists referred to this distant land as the
  new world.

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Beringia
During the last ice age, Beringia was a vast
expanse of unglaciated terrain stretching from
eastern Siberia to the Yukon. At its heart lay
the Bering Land Bridge. When sea levels dropped
during the last ice age the shallow sea bed west
of Alaska was exposed connecting North America
and Asia. Beringia is known as the gateway to
North America.
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Aboriginal Perspective

• Aboriginals were present long before the
  colonists came, and welcomed the newcomers.
• Because of disease, war, and other events the
  aboriginal population declined drastically until
  about the 1920s.
• Today the aboriginal population is growing at a
  rapid rate.

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North America Before Europeans
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Origin of Canada

• The name Canada originated from the aboriginal
  word Kanata,a Huron-Iroquois word meaning
  settlement.
• When Jacques-Cartier came to the St. Lawrence,
  specifically Stadacona (presently Quebec) the
  colonists began to use this word to describe the
  entire land.

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Cartiers travels
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• Until 1763, France and England laid claims to the
  land that is Canada.
• New France was located on the valley of the St.
  Lawrence and at times extended to the Bay of
  Fundy in Acadia, across the Great Lakes, into the
  Mississippi and all the way north to the Hudson
  Bay.

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• At the same time English-speaking settlers
  occupied Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
• Britain and France competed for control of these
  colonies until the Seven Years War (1756-1763).
• The British prevailed and took control of New
  France.

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• However, since the colony was mostly
  french-speaking the English needed to guarantee
  that the culture of the French would be
  preserved.
• By 1800 BNA (British North America) was divided
  into several colonies.
• The Atlantic included NFLD, Nova Scotia, New
  Brunswick, and PEI.

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• St. Lawrence/Great Lakes region
• Upper Canada (Ontario)
• Lower Canada (Quebec)
• The vast territory westward was known as Ruperts
  Land. It was occupied by different first nations
  groups and few fur traders.

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• The different colonies were different there were
  similarities in Government and economics.
• One of the most shared ideas was to remain
  separate from the USA.
• Americans had twice invaded Canada (1775) during
  the American War of Independence and again during
  the War of 1812.

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• In the end, the British were victorious of the
  American invasions.
• Confederation 1867
• During this time many of people of BNA wanted to
  unify because of Free Trade, their economies no
  longer enjoyed the protection of the Mother
  Country.

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Political Change

• The colonies thought it would be a better idea to
  remain separate.
• At the same time relations between the French and
  the English were breaking down.
• The push forward with transportation with the
  first steamboat and the railway in the 1850s,
  contributed to the feeling that unification was
  needed.
• It didnt help that the USA had become a growing
  military threat.
• The idea of Manifest Destiny (The USA would rule
  all of North America).

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• Because of the latter, the four colonies decided
  to join together in 1867 as the Dominion of
  Canada.
• In 1870, the Dominion purchased Ruperts Land
  from the HBC, and used in part to create
  Manitoba.
• A year later (1871) British Columbia joined with
  the promise of the Transcontinental railway.
• 1873 PEI joined.
• 1905 we have the emergence on Alberta and
  Saskatchewan.
• 1949 NFLD became the 10th province.

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Economic Change The great transformation

• Huge factories replaced small workshops.
• Steam powered machinery replaced muscle power.
• Consumer goods bought at the store replaced
  home-made items
• An industrial, commercial economy replaced one
  based primarily on farming and trade.

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• These changes attracted vast amounts of
  immigrants in 1896. They were given cheap land
  and became farmers.

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The Great War (1914-1918)

• Over 665, 000 Canadians served in the armed
  forces.
• By the time the fighting stopped 60, 661
  Canadians were dead and another 172, 000 were
  wounded.
• WW1 was followed by a recession, returning
  soldiers were unemployed, rising food prices were
  not matched with wages.

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• Labour unions began to expand and fight for
  better working conditions and wages.
• In 1918 and 1919 were known as labor revolt.
• The unrest culminated and led to the General
  Strike of 1919 in Winnipeg.
• In May-June 30, 000 workers went on strike and
  government troops were sent in to restore order.

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Roaring 20s and the great depression 1929

• By the mid-1920s the recession had lifted, but
  would be hit hard in 1929 with the collapse if
  the stock market, leading to the Great
  Depression.
• The depression hit Western Canada the hardest
  with drought and falling grain prices and did not
  end until the onset of WW2 (1939-1945).

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• The second world war marked a turn around in the
  economic fortunes of the country.
• Incomes rose and opportunities expanded.
• Governments had revenue to expand social
  assistance such as Health and unemployment
  insurance, family allowance, and workers
  compensation.
• The west was reborn with grain prices, the
  discovery of oil, uranium, potash, and nickel.

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The Quiet Revolution 1960s

• Quebec had its own Quiet Revolution, which was a
  period of rapid economic and social change.
• The French felt a new pride in being Quebeckers
  and were taking control over the main
  institutions of Quebec society, long controlled
  by the British.

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• Some Quebeckers began to think of themselves as a
  distinct nation and a separatist movement arose.
• Prosperity began to peter out in the 1980s and
  Canada entered a period of downturns and
  cutbacks.
• Governments at all levels were saddled with large
  debts.
• Unemployment increased, many industries closed or
  moved.

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• Grain prices began to fall and fisheries
  collapsed on the east coast.
• But today many Canadians live better than any
  previous generation.
• Canada is a nation built upon three founding
  peoples- the First Nations, the French, and the
  English.