It is week two at the Victorian House of Arts and Crafts.  This time our crafters are decorating a bedroom.  The crafters are still getting used to each other and personalities are starting to emerge.  The run time for this episode is 59:14.

The crafters have now been living in the house for a week and have worked on the parlor.  The judges’ favorite item from the parlor was the wallpaper.  However, there were personality clashes.  Now this week, they will be working on the bedroom.

In the Victorian Period, the bedroom was an oasis of calm.  Earlier in the era, the bedrooms were crowded with objects, but in the arts and crafts period the clutter was removed and the bedrooms were less cluttered.  The three objects three of the crafters will be creating are a bedspread, a set of panels, and a bedstead.  Rod and Abdollah will be jointly creating the bedstead.  Abdollah is pleased with working on the object because there is no wood splitting involved.

After the assignments, the group goes to research the artists and designs to work on the bedroom.  During this period embroidery went from a woman’s craft to high art.  Niamh the embroider will be working on the bedspread.  She goes out in nature to take inspiration for her design.  Rod and Abdollah work on constructing the bedframe.  They also have the challenge of working together on this project.  Abdollah finds himself wanting to soak up the knowledge Rod has.

Stephen is a potter and his skills are going to be challenged with his assignment, making panels using the Gesso Method.  The Gesso method requires the building up of layers on the canvas.  He works with an expert on Gesso.  Keith, one of the judges will help Stephen get a start on the project.  Stephen will definitely be gaining a new set of skills.

The Gesso Method was rediscovered by Mary Seaton Watts.  She came from a privileged background but wanted to gather artists together to share their skills.  She set up schools to help train others.  Even though the arts and crafts movements were liberally minded, women crafters still had to fight for recognition. 

The project manager this week is Isla and she starts outlining schedules for the other crafters.  She had Rod have butted heads in the first week.  She goes and whitewashes the walls in the bedroom in preparation for a mural.  Once she whitewashes the walls, she will work on painting the mural.  Bryony will work on a clock for the room as well.

Niamh gives the crafters a lesson in embroidery, she will need all the help she can get for the bedroom.  The boys, Rod and Abdollah learn their lessons however they are reluctant to give up time in the workshop to help her with the bedspread.  The artist commune is coming together and collaboration flows, except for Stephen.  None of the crafters have worked with Gesso before.  He is nervous that his first time working with gesso will show in the artwork.  Niamh continues to work on the bedspread.  Working with the other crafters is proving to be a challenge for Niamh, who feels like she will be discovered as a fraud as she continues to work on the bedspread.

However, despite them working together, there are still personality clashes.  Everyone was their own boss in the modern age and am used to spending time on their own.  Bryony notices that they were their own individuals in their worlds.  So, working with five other personalities is proving to be daunting.  The crafters will have to work on keeping an open mind and giving and talking with each other.  This is evident in the woodshed when Isla and the boys clash over the bedstead design.  Eventually, the crafters conclude that they will have to meet more often to catch each other up on their progress in hopes that meeting more often will release some of the tension.

This reflects in the arts and crafts communes in the past.  Some collaborations worked for decades other collapsed due to personalities and money.  So will our commune fall apart or will they find a way to work together?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out!

I am starting to conclude that this would not be a series to show to a history class but should be shown to an art class, especially a high school art class.

How does one decorate a Victorian house?  Six modern-day craftspeople will find how.  Two design experts will be assessing their work.  Over the next month, the crafters will make twelve original pieces for the house, decorating the house room by room.  These craftspeople will share their knowledge and work together.  It was all about the group during the arts and crafts period.  The run time for the episode is 58:48.

The Arts and crafts movement was at its height during the Victorian Period.  A group of men and women are rewriting the rule books for design and architecture.  They were starting a revolution.  They hated the drudgery of the Industrial Age.  They wanted to turn back the clock to the time when the craftsman was appreciated and bring art to the masses.  So what can the modern period learn about the Arts and Crafts movement?  Six modern crafters are going to spend a month together in a Victorian Artist Commune and will be remaking a house room by room.

In week one, the crafters will decorate the parlor.  During the Victorian period, it was the place where entertaining took place and where people could show off their status.  In the early Victorian period, it was often cluttered with a variety of objects and dark.  During the Arts and Crafts period, the clutter was gotten rid of and it became an open space.

The first object to be created is a Sussex Chair and it was a hugely popular design that was sold.  It was created by William Morris, a furniture maker, who hated industrialization.  He handcrafted chairs that could last.  The second object is a silver hand bowl.  The bowl was to represent everyday life.  The third object is wallpaper.  William Morris was also famous for his wallpaper.  It took twenty-five years for his wallpaper to catch on.  Queen Victoria commissioned him to create wallpaper for Balmoral.  Once he had a royal commission, his works took off.

After their assignments, they make their way through the house where they will live for the next month.  The crafters are Rod Hughes, Abdollah Nafisi, Isla Parry, Bryony Knox, Niamh Wimperis, and Stephen Winstanley.  Everyone will have to take turns in cooking.  Each week, one crafter will be in charge and they will make sure that the team will work together.  Each crafter has been given a separate workshop and tools appropriate to the period.  There will be a learning curve to learning those tools.

For week one, they hope that the wallpaper will dictate their design.  They will have to come together as a team to decorate the house.  Time management will be a problem.  Creative differences have not taken long to emerge. 
Abdollah is finding carving out the pieces he needs from a tree a challenge.  He is not used to the hand tools nor does he have the skills to split the wood properly.  Splitting the tree trunk in half takes time.  Bryony is a silversmith and is working with it to make the bowl.  Isla is working on the wallpaper in the parlor.  She is finding drawing out the wallpaper a challenge.  Day one concludes and will the crafters will be able to get their projects done on time?

Day two starts and the wallpaper is nowhere near done and the blocks to print it need to be carved soon.  Isla who is making the wallpaper is butting heads with Rod.  One crafter steps up and helps with the Sussex Chair.  Abdollah works on the pole lathe to start carving the legs for the chair.  He is growing in confidence when it comes to using hand tools. 

Will the artists be able to work together?  What conflicts will come up?  How will they reconcile their different work styles?  Will they be able to share a common vision for the house?  Will modern crafters be able to learn the tools they need to craft the Victorian House?  Tune into the rest of his documentary to find out.

This was a pleasant discovery as I paged through YouTube for documentaries.  This was an interesting concept and so I was not sure how it would work.  As the episode progressed, I found that the concept worked well.  This would be an appropriate series to show in an art class instead of a history class because of all the work done for the class.  The only downside to this series is that Alex Langlands was not a judge!

Today, we are finishing up Nations at War for August.  This episode is only twenty minutes long and was not combined with another episode to create a longer episode.  It was a sum-up episode on how migration changed the First Nations.  I will do this episode and then will write about the whole series as a wrap-up.

Even before Europeans came over, the First Nations migrated over North America.  Eventually, European settlers came over and the First Nations had to choose sides.  The French had secured alliances with the First Nations because they practiced gift giving.  First Nations kept pressure upon the British and kept settlement at bay.  However, the French did not like guerilla tactics.  During the French and Indian War, this attitude would lead to the collapse of the French Army.  After the French were defeated, the British were free to travel west. 

However, even though the French were defeated, their First Nation Allies fought back against British expansion.  Jeffry Amherst, a British General had ended the French practice of gift-giving and built forts on native lands.  He treated the First Nations as a conquered people; however, this was not reality.  The First Nations fought back and fought back hard.  William Johnson, an Irish diplomat reported Amherst and his warmongering to the authorities.  Amherst was removed and King George III declared the west of the Appalachian Mountains free from the settlement.

However, the Americans did not take these rules lightly and fought back against the British.  Again, the First Nations were caught in the middle.  Each nation had to choose aside.  The Americans would win the war and the British would concede American territory as well as the territory of the First Nations.  The First Nations continued their fight against the Americans and when the Americans discovered that the British were supplying weapons, they had additional ammunition to fight the British again in the War of 1812.

However, the British were weak because they were fighting in Europe against Napoleon.  The Americans believed that the war would be quick.  They were wrong and the First Nations allied with the British to fight the Americans.  The Americans sought to take Canada but would lose.  Instead, they focused on expanding west. 

It was in the west; the Americans would meet up with the Lakota Sioux and they would fight back against the United States to stop settlement.  The US Army would try to stamp their control on the Great Plains.  How else did migration affect the tribes?  Continue to watch this episode to find out.

Nations at War - Over All
Nations at War was long series to review but, in the end, I am glad that I did.  There were ups and downs with the flow of the First Nation story.  At times it felt like there was plenty of information repeated over and over again throughout the episodes.  Certain episodes should have been longer.  Particularly the episodes on the Lakota Sioux, the tribes of the Northwest Pacific, and the Iroquois could have gotten a longer episode.  The episode on Russia and Alaska was an education because you never really heard of Russia attempting to colonize anything.

Additionally, it would have been interesting to see episodes on the Cherokee, Cheyenne, and tribes of the Southwest.  I am sure that migration would have affected them too, why not address it in this series?  Maybe there will be a second series and those tribes will get addressed.  Overall, there was some good research material in the series and other episodes could be shown in the classroom.

As for David Lyle, it took him a while to warm up but, in the end, he was the perfect narrator for this series.  It would have been interesting to see him on the ground in the places that were discussed.  It also would have been great to see him handle longer episodes with his storytelling.  I hope that he will narrate more documentaries in the future.

Good morning, September is almost done and Nations at War continues.  The first half of the episodes focus on the Lakota Sioux, its history Pre-America and its battle with the United States Army.  The second half of the episode discusses migration and how migration shaped First Nations culture.
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The Great Plains is the center of a new battle.  It is a place that inspired art and myths and proved to be an inspiration to people around the world.  The Lakota Sioux conquered their way west.  They originated in the woods of Minnesota and were known as the Oceti Sakowin.  Eventually, the people split and one nation the Nakoda nation was born.  The two nations would be fierce rivals.  The Ojibwe migrated to Oceti Sakowin land would eventually nickname the people as the “little snakes.”  This is the origin of the Lakota Sioux names.

Fighting between the Ojibwe and the Sioux commenced and the Ojibwe were better armed due to their fur trade connections.  Even though the Sioux had greater numbers, the Ojibwe had guns.  The Sioux were forced out of the woodlands and into the Great Plains.  They had to adapt their ways to their new environment. 

This adoption changed the Sioux including their dialect.  Future generations would fight to claim the Great Plains as their own.  There would be no going back for the Sioux.  Eventually, they adopted the horse and they could travel deeper into the Great Plains.  Here they would find more rivals including Cheyanne.  The Cheyanne dominated the Black Hills and the Lakota launched raids into Cheyanne territory to devastating effects.  They were pushed out of the Black Hills and the Lakota claimed the Black Hills for themselves.  Only years ago, the Lakota were refugees, now they were conquerors.

A historical land deal would shape Lakota history forever: the Louisiana Purchase.  The Americans would challenge Lakota’s dominance.  Emperor Napoleon needed a cash infusion and sold the territory to Thomas Jefferson.  This expanded the country.  The settlement started happening and conflicts ensued between the Lakota and the settlers.  Troops were sent to intimidate the Lakota into leaving the wagon trains alone.  The Lakota were not impressed with this show of force.  Eventually, the United States called the Lakota to Fort Laramie to stop the fighting.  What was the result of the Fort Laramie treaty?  How would a discovery of gold impact the Lakota way of life?  Would the Lakota find allies to support them in their fight against the Americans?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

Mass migration has shaped the First Nation experience.  Migrations have shaped cultural identity and people have traveled all over North America in search of a better life.  Conflicts arose between settlers and migrants.  The First Nations were already on the move even before the Europeans came over.  The Iroquois were under threat from neighbors moving into their territory.  The St. Lawrence Iroquois vanished from history during this period.  Jacque Cartier observed these conflicts between the First Nations.

When guns were introduced to the First Nations, the First Nations could defend against the invaders.  Near constant warfare took a toll on the First Nations.  Europeans migrated to the new world and the world was divided between the British and the French.  The First Nations had to choose sides.  After the French were defeated, the First Nations had to deal with the British.  An arrogant British General put an end to peaceful relations.  He believed that the First Nations were inferior to the Anglo Saxons, so he kept the First Nations’ weak.  However, the First Nations fought back, after all, it was the French that gave up, so they rose against the British.  Chief Pontiac set the frontiers on fire.  So how else did migration continue to change the First Nations?  Continue to watch this episode to find out.

Both episodes would be good to show in a history classroom and would be good for research purposes.

Good Morning, September has flown by really fast but I can also say that about 2022 as well!  We will continue with Nations at War and then we will be switching over to 31 days of Time Team.

This time on Nations at war, David Lyle explores the colonial war between the Metis and the Scots in the first half of the episode.  In the second half David Lyle explores a city in British Columbia, this city had a bloody past and would shape Canadian history forever.

Life on the Red River is hard and the competition for resources is fierce.  The First Nations learned to work with the environment.  To prevent nature from being overextended, the First Nations were on the move.  Buffalo was the key natural resource on the land.  Buffalo meat and hides were the currency in which they traded.  The Metis were born in this harsh world.  This nation arose from relationships between the fur traders and the First Nations women.

The First Nations women were key to economic trade and lead to the rise of Canada.  Their ancestors were English, French, and Scottish men.  The Metis economy was depended on trade.  Most of the Metis’ life was away from the fort and the children learned both white and indigenous ways.  They grew up to be guides and interpreters.  They spoke English or French; however, they were rejected by mainstream society.  The indigenous people felt the Metis were too cosmopolitan to be trusted.  The people could pass for either white Europeans or dark Indigenous people.  They were a people who had no ancient claim to their homeland.  They were in a state of limbo.

Scottish Migrants made their way to Canada and were initially friendly with Metis.  Soon there was a conflict between the Scots and Metis.  The Pemmican War was started and came to ahead.  The war caused the Hudson Bay Company to abandon their colony.  Unfortunately, the decline of the buffalo would cause the Metis to meet up with some of the fiercest warriors in the west.

As the Metis moved further from their homeland, they came into conflict with other tribes.  Guns impact the buffalo hunt.  On top of conflicts with other tribes, the Metis were in conflict with British and American hunters.  The Metis were also farmers and the elderly and children took care of the farm while the buffalo hunt was on.

The Metis would find allies with the Ojibwe and the two allies would fight the Dakota tribes.  These early clashes would start off decades-long conflicts.  The Dakota tribes would soon learn how deadly the Metis could be.  To learn more about the conflicts continue to watch the first half of this episode.

The second half of the episode explores the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.  The fur trade was expanding and the Blackfoot Confederacy carefully guarded their land.  Eventually, the Columbia and Fraser rivers were discovered and the fur traders could use them to get through the Rocky Mountains.  However, the Salish family language was present.  The Secwepemc people were part of this Salish-speaking nation and they were fishermen, hunters, foragers, and took care of the land.  They migrated in the summer and returned to permanent houses in the winter.  Eventually, their lifestyle would be transformed.  Kamloops was the center point of the Secwepemc people.  It was an outpost for trading.

The Syilx were a Salish-speaking people related to the Secwepemc people and they came into conflict with the Secwepemc people and they were fighting over a river.  The war was eventually ended with the Fish Lake Accord.  It only came about because newcomers were in the territory and they needed to be stronger together.  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out about the Secwepemc people.

The first episode half would be one to show “just for information,” in a history classroom.  This could also be a good series for research purposes as well.

​Good morning, we are wrapping up September pretty soon and we will be continuing with the Nations at War series.  Then I will do a fall edition of 31 Days of Time Team for October.  In the first half, it is the 18th Century and the seas are going to be a battlefield for commerce and trade.  The second half of the episode turns to Russia’s efforts to colonize North America.  The Tlingit people stood in their way.
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A tiny corner of the Pacific Northwest became a focal point for a crisis that threatened to plunge the world into war.  The Spanish and the British are circling each other and the waters they are fighting over are off present-day Vancouver Island.  The Island is inhabited by the Checklesaht people who were part of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation.  The people were ruled by a hereditary monarchy and were divided into three classes: the rulers, the commoners, and the slaves.  They hunted whales and braved the surges of the Pacific.  The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation were people who knew the waters well.

Hunting whales were both practical and spiritual.  The chiefs had to learn the spiritual side of whaling hunting.  Nuu-Chah-Nulth Warriors would kill the whales with a bone-tipped spear.  The Pacific Northwest warriors were a strong and brave lot.  One whale could feed their community for days.  The Nuu-Chah-Nulth people used every part of the whale and the bones could be made into strong clubs.

The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation also fought with other nations.  The raiding cultures to the north were a great threat to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation.  Every year raiding tribes from the north would send their warriors south.  Eventually, vessels from Russia, Britain, Spain, and America would explore the Pacific Coast.  These nations looked to put their stamp on the Pacific Northwest.  The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation would become players on the international stage when the Spanish laid anchor off the coast.  Earlier they had welcomed Captain Cook of the British. 

The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation eventually became trade partners.  Otter fur trade started.  However, when one man claimed her purchased land from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation, the Spanish would not take these claims lying down.  The Spanish built a fort and started attacking British ships.  The British would not take these threats lying down either.  The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation played the middleman during these times and carefully negotiated with both parties in hopes of encouraging peace.  Eventually, the British and Spanish would agree to share the waters off of Vancouver Island and would not establish permanent colonies.  However, despite the best efforts of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation, changes would come to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation.  What sort of changes was coming?  Who would rise to challenge the British and Spanish hold on the region? Tune into this episode to find out more.

Tlingit lived on the Alaska coast.  Their territory stretched along the mountains of the Pacific.  They also had networks of rivers which they would use as highways for trade.  They had dugout canoes and could handle large loads.  They traded from the Gulf of Alaska down the Puget Sound.  The Tlingit people became powerful and wealthy and with this power came enemies.  The Haida people raiders went after the Tlingit people.  The Haida were a nation on a rise and would fight the Tlingit people for their land.  Who would emerge victorious from this war? 

After the war, a new threat emerged for the Tlingit people: Russia.  The fur trade caused Russians to start exploring.  The Russian traders fought their way east and by the middle of the 18th Century, they arrived in Alaska.  They discovered fur and brought them back.  So how would the Tlingit people handle these new arrivals?  Tune into this episode to find out.

The build-up in the second episode was slow but it was well worth learning about the Russian colonies in North America.  The second episode should be shown in an American history class and a World History class.  You can skip the first episode.

Nations at War kicks off the first half of the episode with the story of the Maliseet.  They were a tribe that had to fight for survival.  From 1500 to 1700, the place known as the Dawn Land had strategic value.  The conflict would start over this route.  Running through the heart of this land was the St. John River and this river shaped the lives of the people who lived on the banks.  How would they handle the newcomers to their land?  In the second half of the episode, the Mohawk nation is fighting for survival.  They would fight to shape the future of Canada and America.
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The Maliseet took their name from a neighboring tribe.  They were originally known as Wolastoqyik, after their river.  The Mi’kmaq were their neighbors.  The two tribes spoke a similar language but could not understand each other.  When the Europeans came over the Mi’Kmaq called them the people of the broken language and the name stuck: Maliseet.  The was another tribe nearby the St. Lawrence Iroquois.  The Iroquois started to expand and the Mi’Kmaq started fighting back.  The Maliseet were caught in the middle.

The Maliseet fought against the Iroquois.  Their tactics and fighting with the Mi’Kmaq successfully fought off the Iroquois.  Eventually, the French would trade with these two nations so their weapons could be updated with steel.  However, a new threat emerged: new diseases.  These new diseases would reduce the Masileet population.  Eventually, the Puritans came to North America and they would do what they need to claim North America as their home.

The English Colonies grew in population and size.  The Masileet way of life would soon be under threat.  French pushed the Masileet to fight the English.  As a result, new alliances were created.  They fought against the New Englanders.  However, peace would be a better option.  There was no need for prolonging the violence.  King William’s War would start and the Masileet would find themselves caught between the French and the British. 

King William had taken the English throne and he wanted to keep the French in check.  North America would take part in the war.  The Masileet would come to the defense of France.  The French and Maliseet took many forts during King William’s War.  The New Englanders were stunned and tried to fight back.  King William’s War was the first of six conflicts between the New Englanders and the Masileet.  Who would emerge victorious from the North American conflicts?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

It is the 1800’s and the Mohawk Nation was fighting to protect their independence.  The Mohawks were one of the most powerful tribes in North America.  The Mohawks allied themselves with the British Empire.  Together, they defeated the French in the Seven Years War.  However, with the French defeat, the Mohawk power went away.  Behind the scenes, the Americans finally declared their independence from Britain.  The Mohawk faced a choice: stay loyal to the British or side with the Americans in hope that the Americans would recognize their independence. 

The Mohawk sided with the British but the British lost the war.  In 1783, peace finally came.  The Mohawk lands were fair game to the new America.  Eventually, the Mohawk petitioned the British for land in Canada for them to settle because of their support in the American Revolution.  How would the Mohawk nation survive?  Tune into this episode to find out.

I will have to admit that David Lyle gets better as a narrator as the episodes go forward.  It would be interesting to see him go to the sites and narrate the First Nations Story from the actual place and not a green screen.  This would be a good episode to show in an American history class.  The first episode would be good to show in a World History class.

Good morning, we are continuing with the series Nations at War and this time we are in 1763.  In the first half of the episode, Britain had defeated France in the battle for North America.  However, France’s native allies would not take the British victory lying down.  They would meet the threat to their homeland with force.  In the second half of the episode the Abenaki nation they are fighting for their survival.  What they did not know is that they would become part of a global war that had carried on for decades.

The Odawa people control the territory around the Great Lakes region and these lands provided bountiful game for the native people.  It was the gateway to the west.  The people were willing to defend their homelands from the invaders.  However, decades of hostilities took their toll and the native nations were suffering.

The French built a fort and established fur trade in the Great Lakes region and Odawa aligned with them.  The price of that alliance was to provide support to the French when they fought the British.  In the Fall of 1760, the Odawa found out that the French were defeated.  Chief Pontiac met up with a North American English party as they took a French Fort.  The native nations had to learn how to live with the British.  While the French were defeated, their native allies continued to fight.

Chief Pontiac did not trust the British.  Jeffery Amhurst was sent to North America to turn the tide in the battle for North America.  He would stay on and would be in charge of the post-war occupation.  He was a man who hated the First Nations.  He banned the sale of weapons to both French Canadians and the first nations.  Instead of waiting before his people grew weak, Chief Pontiac organized an arm resistance against the British.  He organized a variety of nations to fight back.  This alliance was strong enough to take on the British Empire.

The first nations were not intimidated by Amhurst and Chief Pontiac would make him pay for his arrogance.  Amhurst is quickly losing control of the newly conquered lands.  Amhurst had been warned against his heavy-handed attempts at diplomacy.  Sir William Johnson was the superintendent of Indian Affairs and had grown rich working with the Mohawks.  He used gifts to build allies.  However, Amhurst stopped gift giving.  British traders were warned that stopping gift-giving would be considered an act of war.

War came and the British were not ready to fight a war.  Amhurst would resort to any means necessary to stop the rebellion.  Their forts were burned.  So what happened when the tide was turned?  Would the British change their strategy in dealing with First Nations?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

In the second half of the episode, the Abenaki nation is caught between two fighting groups.  They were caught between the French and the British.  They aligned with the French who lived among them and gave them steel.  They worked together and traded often.  The Abenaki fought against British expansion and would come to the aid of the French.  It is 1754 and there are battles all over North America.  The Abenaki are caught in the middle.  Even the smallest skirmishes could lead to war.  The battle for North America would be a bloody struggle for control.  Who would emerge victoriously?  Tune into this episode to find out.

This was one of the better episodes and would be an episode I would show in an American History classroom.  In the second half, I would show clips to a World History Classroom.

Nations at War continues.  Mass migration has shaped nations.  These migrants were in search of a better life.  The First Nations migrated to chase their prey.  Their descendants followed the traditions of their ancestors.  The Ojibwe were such a people.  There were legends of the Ojibwe living on a great ocean.  They were going to make a trek across North America and that light-skinned people would change things for the people. 

Eventually, the Ojibwe moved inland and settled on Mackinaw Island.  As they migrated, they left behind little bands to build new communities.  Eventually, the people controlled a large numb of territories.  The Ojibwe would form a confederacy of three different tribes, and this confederacy would be known as the Three Fires Confederacy.  The Great Lakes forged the Ojibwe nation and the land could support a large number of people
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The Ojibwe were explorers and used the waterways of the Great Lakes to travel.  Eventually, the Great Lakes region would become a violent territory.  Samuel de Champlain founded the outpost of Quebec.  He would travel around the Canadian interior and would build a trade network.  He would partner with the First Nations.  Eventually, he made his way into Ojibwe territory.   The Ojibwe would ally with the French and would become part of international trade.  The Birchbark canoe would make trade possible.

Trading with the French brought the Ojibwe many benefits.  The French gained protection from the growing Iroquois nation.  The Iroquois was looking to control the trade.  They then attacked the Wendat nation were wiped out.  The survivors were adopted by the Iroquois or other First Nations tribes.  The Wendat territory was abandoned, and the Ojibwe moved in.  The Iroquois went after the Ojibwe and war was declared between the two nations.

The war raged on for nearly fifty years.  Finally, the Ojibwe won a bloody battle.  An estimated 700 canoes were assembled and went after the Iroquois people.  It was a vicious fight.  This loss was a devastating blow to the Iroquois, and they had to make a treaty with the Ojibwe.  The Great Peace was signed by the representatives of two dozen nations.  The Iroquois wars were over.  Would the peace last?

In the second half of the episode, a global war was started in North America.  The first shot was fired by none other than George Washington and he was the pawn of a local chief desperate to save his people.  The Mingo people were a diverse community that lived in the Ohio River Valley.  It was a vast wilderness and had rivers that could be used for trade.  This land was fought over by three nations.  The British Colony in North America had a population explosion.  The French wanted to control the Ohio Valley because with that control they could unite with their New France territory.

The Iroquois wanted to control the Ohio territory as well.  They had defeated their neighbors in search of wealth and the Erie Nation vanished from the territory.  It was the women that decided to go to war to replace a lost loved one.  Any survivors moved into the Ohio territory and became the Mingo people.  A Mingo chief arose and took on the leadership of his people.  He looked to play the British and the French against each other.  Would the chief be successful in keeping his people safe?  Tune into this episode to find out more about the Mingo people and the fight over the Ohio River Valley.
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The first episode was good and would be an excellent foundation for a longer episode on the Ojibwe.  The second episode was also a fascinating watch, especially the part about the Mingo people.  Overall, this would be one episode I would show in a history class.

Good morning, we will continue tour exploration of the Nations at War series.  I have not given up on this series yet even though I have been discouraged by a lot of the episodes.
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The First Nations are caught between two powerful empires: the French and the British.  These empires had been fighting on and off since the Middle Ages.  These two nations were dividing up the world between them.  Neither nation could defeat each other.  The First Nations were caught between shifting alliances and took an interest in local importance.  The Hudson River Waterways became a strategic point in the battle between the nations.

The most valuable alliance was with the Mohawk people.  The French attacked the Mohawk and even convinced them to live in settlements.  The Dutch were eventually driven out of the New World and the English took over New York.  The British took over the Dutch alliance with the Mohawk.  There was a problem with the Wampanoag war against the English.  Instead of siding with the Wampanoag, the Mohawk attacked.  They proved their loyalty to the British.

The Mohawk adopted British customs.  The Tuscarora eventually joined up with the Iroquois Confederacy as well.  Even though the Iroquois Confederacy was powerful, they had suffered heavy losses.  So, they reached out to the British to obtain a powerful ally while they regained their strength.   Sir William Johnson stepped into that void and worked well with the Iroquois confederacy.  He became one of the most powerful men on the Continent.  By 1746, William Johnson became the representative of the Iroquois Confederacy.  He would recruit Mohawk soldiers to fight against the French.

Tensions were high, especially after the War of the Austrian Succession was started.  Then there were skirmishes in the Ohio River Valley against the French.  This triggered more fighting between the French and the British.  The Mohawk and Militia came together to fight against the French at the Battle of Lake George.  The Mohawk on the French side refused to fight against their brothers.  The French were frustrated with their allies and fought the battle anyway.  More battles followed and the French were defeated.  Canada was surrendered to the British, the destiny of North America would be English speaking.  Then the American Revolution started and the Mohawk had to choose sides again. This war would also divide the Iroquois Confederacy.  What sides would the Mohawk choose?

In the second half, the episode features British Columbia.  The iron spike is driven into the ground, completing a railroad.  This changed the history of Canada forever.  David Lyle discusses the history of the ship and the Vikings.  The longboat had an impact on exploration and then pushed west.  In Greenland, they could explore the North American continent.  When they arrived, the Vikings killed the members of the First Nations.  This ended colonial ambitions for another five centuries. 

The First Nations were transformed over the years.  A prophet known as Peacemaker united the Iroquois people.  Eventually, Europeans emerged from the Middle Ages and started exploring.  They wanted spices from Asia and they were blocked by the Ottomans.  So as a result, they looked west to find alternative routes.  The only problem was that North America was in the way.  It was here they met up with the First Nations and set to work out with them.  The Europeans found furs instead of spices and the First Nations became the middlemen in the fur trade.

With the way the second episode started, I thought there would have been a discussion in the Viking and their encounters with the First Nations.  Instead, they got a quick mention and the episode moved on.  This was more of a summary episode of the events between the First Nations, French and British.