An Encounter in the Baroque Age: French and Amerindians in North America

Abstract

European colonization of North America had its origins in the expansion of European capitalism. But, on the ground, what occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries was the encountering of certain European nations by certain native peoples. Our present field of interest is the particular nature of the encounter between Amerindians and the French, expressed in cultural métissage (mixture or hybridity) and political alliances, since this interaction contains all the ingredients that would lend distinctive colors to the new colonial societies. Exploration of European-Amerindian contacts on the part of archaeologists has already resulted in numerous studies focused on the economy, particularly with respect to the fur trade, or on the newcomers’ adaptations to a different environment. For the past few years, however, the author has attempted to approach the issue from another angle, that of representations. It is hoped that this approach will lead to a better understanding of the encounter and shed light on the elusive perceptions of that encounter deep in the minds of the actors involved. The thesis presented here is that a true compatibility existed between representations of the world by the French and by the Amerindians, that this compatibility explains the special nature of the relation between the two groups, and, finally, that the archaeological remains left behind by the two groups lend support to the argument for compatibility, enabling the author to make an original contribution to the comprehension of this encounter. The problem of colonial origins in New France may be approached within a dynamic framework whose main stages are linked one to another in time and space, from Europe to North America: the departure, the passage, the encounter, the contact, the exchange, and the métissage.