Before Canada

Northern North America in a Connected World

Author: Allan Greer Series: McGill-Queen's Studies in Early Canada / Avant le Canada

Showcasing the exciting work of historians, archaeologists, and literary scholars who are rewriting North America’s ancient past.

The story of Canada stretches back over centuries and millennia, well before the emergence of the modern nation-state. It features the complex evolution of Indigenous societies as well as the incursions of Europeans fishers, explorers and colonizers. In Before Canada, archaeologists, historians and literary scholars combine to reveal the latest research findings on this fascinating early period.

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Summary

Showcasing the exciting work of historians, archaeologists, and literary scholars who are rewriting North America’s ancient past.

Description

Long before Confederation created a nation-state in northern North America, Indigenous people were establishing vast networks and trade routes. Volcanic eruptions pushed the ancestors of the Dene to undertake a trek from the present-day Northwest Territories to Arizona. Inuit migrated across the Arctic from Siberia, reaching Southern Labrador, where they met Basque fishers from northern Spain.

As early as the fifteenth century, fishing ships from western Europe were coming to Newfoundland for cod, creating the greatest transatlantic maritime link in the early modern world. Later, fur traders would take capitalism across the continent, using cheap rum to lubricate their transactions. The contributors to Before Canada reveal the latest findings of archaeological and historical research on this fascinating period. Along the way, they reframe the story of the Canadian past, extending its limits across time and space and challenging us to reconsider our assumptions about this supposedly young country.

Innovative and multidisciplinary, Before Canada inspires interest in the deep history of northern North America.

Critic Reviews

“This collection builds upon earlier scholarship on Canada’s distant past and pushes resolutely at its boundaries. The variety of topics is dazzling, offering a valuable sample of current research on this elusive period of global history.” Margaret Conrad, University of New Brunswick and author of A Concise History of Canada

“Before Canada features eleven of the smartest minds in early Canadian history, archeology, geography, and literary studies. Throughout the book, … Greer’s contemporaries define, demystify, and dismantle the imagined histories of the centuries preceding Canadian federation.” Montreal Review of Books

"Before Canada is a must-read volume for everyone teaching Canadian history before Confederation (1871). This is altogether a fascinating read; its breadth and lively details are enthralling. Essential." Choice