Canada the Story of Us ep. 1 - Worlds Collide pre 1608 to 1759

Over 10 hours, the drama-documentary tells the extraordinary tale of some of the people, places and events that shaped Canada — stories of change makers and rule breakers, dreamers and visionaries, scientists and entrepreneurs who forged a nation in a vast and harsh land.



 

Canada the story of Us ep. 1 - Worlds Collide pre 1608 to 1759


Hundreds of Indigenous nations with advanced cultures already live in Canada when French and English colonizers arrive and fight for land claims. Indigenous people suffer as a result of first contact.

Over the course of 12,000 years, the North American continent evolves into a place populated by millions of Indigenous people living in hundreds of different nations. These diverse cultures range from the Wendat, a nation of farmers who lived in what is now Southern Ontario, to the Inuit hunters of the far north. These nations have advanced cultures, economies and spiritual traditions. Through diplomacy and trade, these nations grow and thrive on Turtle Island, the continent we now know as North America.
First European settlement

Samuel de Champlain attempts to establish a settlement in Innu territory in 1608. He's racing against time: if he and his men don't finish building the settlement before the start of the brutal winter, they will all die. While the settlement is being built, he discovers a conspiracy to assassinate him, orchestrated by Jean Duval.

[caption id="attachment_5305" align="alignnone" width="600"]Canada the Story of Us ep. 1 - Worlds Collide pre 1608 to 1759 Canada the Story of Us ep. 1 - Worlds Collide pre 1608 to 1759[/caption]

Desperate to retain control and dissuade any other would-be challengers to his command, Champlain deals out brutal justice, executing Duval. Only seven of Champlain's original 27-man crew are still alive at the end of the winter. Champlain is successful in completing Habitation, his fortified settlement, which will eventually become Quebec City.
The war between the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee

Two of Eastern North America's most powerful Indigenous confederacies, the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee, are locked in a brutal war for control of the fur trading routes. Chief Oschasteguin, leader of the Wendat Confederacy's Arendaenronnon nation, decides to enter into an alliance with Champlain and the French settlers.

The French will get the exclusive rights to sell the Wendat's furs in Europe. In return, the French will supply the Wendat with manpower and weapons in their fight against the Haudenosaunee. One of those weapons is the arquebus, the forerunner to the modern rifle. Champlain uses the arquebus to kill three Haudenosaunee chiefs at a battle in what is now upstate New York, killing two of them with one shot and causing the rest of the Haudenosaunee to retreat. This alliance between settlers of New France and the Wendat will be profitable for both parties — and deadly to their enemies — for years to come.

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