Good morning! We will continue with the Series Nations at War. This series has been an up and down series to review. Some episodes have been really good and easy to review, while others have been difficult to review because, at the end of the episode, I had more questions than answers. There were also times when I would have appreciated longer episodes to either clarify the information that was presented, or I would have appreciated more stories.
The first episode retells the story of the Mi-Kmaq people and is a repeat of the previous episode. Most likely the editors accidentally did a repeat. So, I will skip this first half and you can watch episode five to learn more about the Mi-Kmaq, their French Allies, and the war against Britain. The second half of the episode moves west. The nations at war center on the great plains. The landscape is different from the East Coast and so the First Nations had to adapt to different conditions. The Great Plains are a vast grassland and were shaped by the Buffalo. The Buffalo refreshed the grounds of the prairies and spread plant life according to their migrations. Even First Nation mythology talked about the buffalo. The buffalo provided everything the first nations needed. The First Nations of the Great Plains had to move with the herds. Unlike their counterparts in the east, the First Nations of the Great Plains had to be able to move and move quickly with the buffalo herds. They did not put down roots in one place, so what materials they had, had to be lightweight and easily carried. The most powerful nomads of the Great Plains were the Itzakaki. Their descendants were divided into three nations: Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani. These three nations would eventually form the Blackfoot Confederacy. They were united by culture, faith, and intermarriage. They learned to hunt buffalo. A cornered and scared buffalo could be a dangerous buffalo. How could they hunt such a big animal? They drove buffalo off cliffs or drove them into pens and killed them that way. The Blackfoot Confederacy had many rivals. The Crow, the Cree, the Iron Confederacy, the Shoshone came into conflict with the Blackfoot Confederacy. Due to the Blackfoot Confederacy’s power, other First Nations sought to join with them. However, in the 1730s things changed. The Shoshones attacked a neighboring tribe and his time they had an advantage: they fought on horseback. Horses were introduced in 1492 by the Spanish. Eventually, the horse made its way north and the First Nations started using them. The First Nations started realizing how important it was to have horses. The Blackfoot Confederacy sought and used horses. The horse provided an elevated platform. The horse became an important source of wealth. This helped the First Nations move, hunt, and fight. However, the Cree sought another advantage: they acquired guns from the British Traders. The Cree encouraged the British of the Hudson Bay Company to build forts south. More settlers flooded in and there were more conflicts at hand. So, the Blackfoot Confederacy had to negotiate for these guns. With guns, they were able to fight their traditional enemy the Shoshone with guns and horses. They fought to establish a new balance of power on the Great Plains. Diseases weakened other tribes and the Blackfoot took advantage. Who could stand up against the Blackfoot? Tune into the rest of this episode to find out! At first, I thought this episode addressed more of the American Great Plains but soon discovered that it was more about Canada. While I appreciate Canadian history, I would have preferred learning about the American Great Plains.
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