Cultural Areas
There are "6" Cultural Areas.
-Arctic
-Subarctic
-Western and Eastern
-Northwest Coast
-Plateau
-Great Plains/Prairie
-Woodlands
Cultural groups were separated this way because of (1) “groups that are or were similar in culture and history,” For example they had the same style of clothes, houses and food sources.
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| Aboriginal Cultures Groups Map. (2011). Uploaded by O, Canada!. Available online at: https://1eonsauce.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aboriginal-culture-groups-map-best.png |
(1) http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-people/
Language Families
Prior to the first European contact (2) (France in 1534) there were approximately 50 major languages. They were 12 distinct language families but countless dialects.
Language is arguably the most important part of the First People's culture and history.
Roughly 94% of Indigenous languages are at risk of extinction.
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_France
Manitoba
Manitoba is a part of 3 Cultural Areas.
-Subarctic (East & West)
-Great Plains
-Woodlands
Manitoba is also a part of 5 language families.
-Cree
-Dakota
-Ojibway
-Oji-Cree
-Dene
In your cultural area part of your blog post would you consider there to be six cultural areas or seven? I ask this because for subarctic there is a Western, and an Eastern. If you asked me I would personally say that there are seven cultural areas. I didn't really understand what you meant by they divided up in cultural areas based on the style of clothes, houses, or their food sources. For the style of clothing is it because the climate climate/weather is different so they have to dress according to the weather so they didn't over heat or freeze? Would there be different cultural areas for food sources because in some parts of Canada there is a lot of fish, compared to another location where you could find more bison? I am not really sure how their homes could make a cultural area. For the language families the reason why there is a risk of 94% becoming extinct is because they were forced to go to a residential school. The reason why they had to go to a residential school was so they could be stripped of their culture. If you click on this link you will see a little boy on the left hand side, and the same little bot that looks totally different. The little n=boy's name is Thomas Moore, and this picture was taken during 1897 in Saskatchewan before and after attending the Regina Indian Industrial school.
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Do you ever see some of the languages being picked up again? If not when do you predict that they will be totally extinct? Out of the five major languages which one is the most spoken? You also say that language is arguable the most important part in the First Peoples history. I do agree with this statement because language is communication. if there wasn't any communication then they wouldn't know about this country.
I really enjoyed your blog I liked the clear photo of the cultural areas you included. It is very interesting to see all the different types of areas that the First Peoples lived in. I would agree that there is seven cultural areas, but it is easier such to say Subarctic sense it takes over such a large part of Canada. What do you think seven or six? It is disappointing to hear that about 94% of indigenous language are at risk of extinction, its awful to know that something that was important to someone's history can be lost. Its also cool to know that Cree, Dakota, Oji-Cree, Ojibwe, and Dene are part of the language family in Manitoba. Take a look at this video of chief Helen speaking Cree, it sounds like an old historically beautiful language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNAVj-J6PIs
ReplyDeleteI think that any cultural deserves to own there own language, what do think about language being lost, and how long do think it will be until all there languages are lost. I think it would be cool to be able to speak a First Nations language, to bad not everyone has time to learn a new language.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed dreading your blog,I thought you had a excellent overview of all the cultural areas and the indigenous language groups. I really liked how you added a the map of all the cultural areas it is interesting to see how the first peoples viewed the landscape back then as compared to now and that how much it has changed. as for the language groups it is sad that 94 percent of the language groups are on the brink of extinction I would have thought that more effort would have been put into the preservation of the languages as it is such a big part of their culture and history. before reading your blog I didn't realize that there where 5 language groups and 3 cultural areas in Manitoba alone.
ReplyDeletetake a look at this web site (http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_groups_languages.html)it has lots of information about the language group and also has a map showing where they were spoken, it sucks to know that almost all of them are forgotten.
In this blog, you gave nothing but raw information and I really appreciate that... part of being a historian will always be what your opinion on it is, no matter how hard you try to be unbiased. In this post however, you gave no such bias and I'll commend you for it. The information you gave however is slightly lacking in details... it would have been nice to know a little bit of information about each language family or cultural area. For example, did you know that the Plains culture encompassed the nomadic Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Sarcee, and Plains Cree? I enjoy hearing details like that, but I know it isn’t for everybody… how do you prefer to hear information?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that 94% of indigenous languages are going extinct is certainly an eye opener and I’m very glad you included it. Can you believe that something once so important to these people is nearly lost completely? I’m also glad that you mentioned how important language was because it makes people so much more aware of its severity when it becomes lost and it definitely made me want to become more informed on the topic. The fact that nearly all of these languages (and with that, culture) are becoming lost should not be overlooked and if the problem can’t be helped, it should definitely never become forgotten.
Here’s a link focusing on details about each language family in case you ever wanted to make another post… Keep up the good work, it was a pleasure to read. (Copy and paste link to check it out!)
http://www.canadiangeographic.com/atlas/themes.aspx?id=first&sub=first_cultures_plains&lang=En