The Problem of Tribal Genocide
I am currently reading Early Life in Upper Canada (1933), by Edwin C. Guillet, commissioned by the Department of Education of Ontario with a foreword by the Minister of Education, a book that explores the early social and economic history of Ontario. I may add this book to my review list, but I was struck early on by the problem of tribal warfare among humans.
Because the native populace had no written language, the first recorded account of life in Upper Canada comes from the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain. During his second expedition in 1613, he famously visited the capital of the Huron nation, Cahiaqué, near where I live in present-day Orillia on Lake Couchiching, part of the Trent-Severn waterway. As Guillet relates, “The Hurons lived in huts, of which Cahiaqué contained about two hundred. They grew a considerable quantity of corn, beans, pumpkins and sunflowers, the seeds of the last-named plant providing them with oil. Champlain took careful note of the manners and customs of the Huron nation, who are said to have numbered thirty thousand at that time. They built the white chief a bark lodge similar to those they used, and in it raised for him a simple altar, before which, on August 12th, was said the first mass among the Hurons. At Cahiaqué, Champlain met with Huron chiefs, and as a result of the meeting an expedition was planned against the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. Feasts and war dances enlivened the period of waiting, until finally the tardiest bands of Indians arrived to join the war party,” which set out on September 8th.
That’s right: the first religious and diplomatic contact with the native Hurons was a war alliance! Perhaps I am reading into the text here, but the Hurons seem to have expected that the new power of Christianity would give them success in war against their fur-trade rivals, (perhaps an early version of the “prosperity gospel” that modern pastors denigrate today.) The Iroquois confederacy was not just down the river and across the street, but far southeast in the New York area near present-day Syracuse. And the Hurons had to paddle and portage their canoes the entire way! It took weeks of hard journey just to get to the fortified stronghold of Oneida, where “the village was well protected by four concentric rows of palisades formed of trunks of trees thirty feet high.” The Hurons were repulsed after a mere three-hour attack. Champlain was wounded in the knee, and carried away in a basket on the back of a Huron warrior. The disheartened war party re-crossed Lake Ontario, made temporary camp awaiting freeze-up, and finally set out for Cahiaqué on December 4th, arriving three weeks later after travelling on foot across frozen lakes and rivers.
To make matters worse, the Iroquois now considered the Hurons to be mortal enemies! In 1649, using recently purchased Dutch guns, they attacked the Hurons, burned their villages, killed the Jesuit missionaries, and dispersed the Huron nation to the wilderness. About ten thousand refugees starved to death on Christian Island that winter, but a remnant survived in Quebec, where they became Huron-Wendat, now known as Wyandot First Nation. And still worse, the early Hurons had a loose alliance with the Neutral nation south of Lake Erie, so in 1650, in the continuing Beaver Wars, the Iroquois declared war on the Neutrals, and by 1653 had exterminated them.
These epic events echo the Old Testament period three thousand years ago! Samuel 2:11 introduces the story of David and Bathsheba with this quote: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.” That’s right: every spring the best men go off to kill and rampage! This has been going on worldwide for all of recorded history, as detailed in the comprehensive book, Fields of Blood, by Karen Armstrong, which I reviewed early last year. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There must be a better way to live.
Because the native populace had no written language, the first recorded account of life in Upper Canada comes from the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain. During his second expedition in 1613, he famously visited the capital of the Huron nation, Cahiaqué, near where I live in present-day Orillia on Lake Couchiching, part of the Trent-Severn waterway. As Guillet relates, “The Hurons lived in huts, of which Cahiaqué contained about two hundred. They grew a considerable quantity of corn, beans, pumpkins and sunflowers, the seeds of the last-named plant providing them with oil. Champlain took careful note of the manners and customs of the Huron nation, who are said to have numbered thirty thousand at that time. They built the white chief a bark lodge similar to those they used, and in it raised for him a simple altar, before which, on August 12th, was said the first mass among the Hurons. At Cahiaqué, Champlain met with Huron chiefs, and as a result of the meeting an expedition was planned against the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. Feasts and war dances enlivened the period of waiting, until finally the tardiest bands of Indians arrived to join the war party,” which set out on September 8th.
That’s right: the first religious and diplomatic contact with the native Hurons was a war alliance! Perhaps I am reading into the text here, but the Hurons seem to have expected that the new power of Christianity would give them success in war against their fur-trade rivals, (perhaps an early version of the “prosperity gospel” that modern pastors denigrate today.) The Iroquois confederacy was not just down the river and across the street, but far southeast in the New York area near present-day Syracuse. And the Hurons had to paddle and portage their canoes the entire way! It took weeks of hard journey just to get to the fortified stronghold of Oneida, where “the village was well protected by four concentric rows of palisades formed of trunks of trees thirty feet high.” The Hurons were repulsed after a mere three-hour attack. Champlain was wounded in the knee, and carried away in a basket on the back of a Huron warrior. The disheartened war party re-crossed Lake Ontario, made temporary camp awaiting freeze-up, and finally set out for Cahiaqué on December 4th, arriving three weeks later after travelling on foot across frozen lakes and rivers.
To make matters worse, the Iroquois now considered the Hurons to be mortal enemies! In 1649, using recently purchased Dutch guns, they attacked the Hurons, burned their villages, killed the Jesuit missionaries, and dispersed the Huron nation to the wilderness. About ten thousand refugees starved to death on Christian Island that winter, but a remnant survived in Quebec, where they became Huron-Wendat, now known as Wyandot First Nation. And still worse, the early Hurons had a loose alliance with the Neutral nation south of Lake Erie, so in 1650, in the continuing Beaver Wars, the Iroquois declared war on the Neutrals, and by 1653 had exterminated them.
These epic events echo the Old Testament period three thousand years ago! Samuel 2:11 introduces the story of David and Bathsheba with this quote: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.” That’s right: every spring the best men go off to kill and rampage! This has been going on worldwide for all of recorded history, as detailed in the comprehensive book, Fields of Blood, by Karen Armstrong, which I reviewed early last year. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There must be a better way to live.
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