Origins a history of Canada Part1 a new world

Summary

This documentary explores the origins and early history of Canada, beginning thousands of years before European settlers arrived. It highlights the first peoples, particularly the Indigenous populations, tracing their presence back as far as 25,000 years. The series delves into the migration of ancient Asian hunters across the Bering Strait land bridge and examines how they adapted to the icy landscapes of prehistoric Canada. Using archaeological evidence, the program provides insights into Canada's formation, the tools and animals of early inhabitants, and the broader historical context involving geography, sociology, and anthropology.

Takeaways

• 📜 The history of Canada begins for new Canadians today, but for others, it goes back to Confederation or even earlier times.
• ⏳ Indigenous peoples, including the Inuit and First Nations, have been in Canada for thousands of years, long before European settlers arrived.
• 🌍 The 'new history' of Canada traces global influences and expands beyond traditional time and space borders, covering Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
• 🏞 Archaeological evidence suggests the first humans arrived in Canada around 25,000 years ago, possibly earlier, as demonstrated by modified animal bones in the Yukon.
• 🦣 Prehistoric humans in Canada hunted large animals like caribou, giant bison, and woolly mammoths, using tools made from their bones.
• ❄️ The Ice Age created a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, allowing the first humans to walk into North America, but glaciers delayed their movement south for thousands of years.
• 🗺 The first people spread across the Americas through an ice-free corridor, reaching as far south as Tierra del Fuego by 11,000 years ago.
• 🔨 Spear points found across the Americas are key archaeological markers that help track the movements and timeframes of early human exploration in North America.
• 🐒 The theory of evolution explains why there were no native humans in the Americas before these early arrivals, as monkeys in the New World didn't evolve into apes and ultimately humans.
• 🌍 The first Canadians were of Asiatic origin, having crossed from Siberia to Alaska during the last Ice Age.

Q & A

Who are considered the 'true first citizens' of Canada according to the script?

The Indians (Indigenous peoples) are considered the true first citizens of Canada, having been here for thousands of years according to their traditions.

What is meant by the term 'new history' in the context of the script?

The 'new history' approach expands traditional Canadian history both in time and space, tracing historical events across continents and stretching back thousands of years before Canadian Confederation.

How does the script describe the earliest European settlement in Canada?

The script notes that the very first permanent European settlement in Canada was established in 1605.

What evidence supports the idea that humans were present in Canada 25,000 years ago?

Archaeological findings along the Old Crow River in the Yukon, including bones from caribou and mammoths, show evidence of modification by humans, suggesting that humans were in the area at least 25,000 years ago.

How did the Bering Strait land bridge contribute to the migration of early humans to Canada?

During the Ice Age, lower sea levels created a land bridge across the Bering Strait, allowing big-game hunters from Asia to migrate into what is now Alaska and Canada.

Why were early humans in the Alaska-Yukon region unable to explore further south initially?

They were blocked by massive glaciers that covered the rest of Canada, stretching as far south as present-day Kentucky.

How did archaeologists track the movement of early humans across the Americas?

Archaeologists used different types of spear points found across the Americas as markers to date and track the migration and settlement patterns of early humans.

What role did the warming climate around 17,000 years ago play in human migration?

As the climate warmed, glaciers began to melt, creating an ice-free corridor through the Mackenzie River Valley, allowing early humans to move southward into other parts of Canada and beyond.

What is the significance of spear points in understanding the history of early human migration?

Spear points help archaeologists date the arrival of early humans in various regions of the Americas and trace their migration patterns as they moved southward and later returned to Canada.

Why were early humans in the Americas not of local origin, according to the script?

The script explains that, according to the theory of evolution, human ancestors evolved in the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe), while the Americas did not have apes or early humans, as their monkeys remained tree-dwellers.

Outlines

00:00

🇨🇦 The Origins of Canada's Diverse Population

This paragraph discusses how different groups of people, from new Canadian immigrants to those tracing their roots to Confederation, contribute to Canada's history. It highlights the Indigenous peoples, particularly the Inuit and Indians, who have been in Canada for thousands of years. According to Indigenous traditions, they have always been here, while Western science suggests migration from elsewhere.

05:01

🦴 Ancient Bones Reveal Early Human Activity in Canada

Archaeologists discovered animal bones in the Yukon, dating back 25,000 to 40,000 years. Some bones appear to have been modified by humans, hinting at early human activities like hunting mammoths and making tools. A simulation experiment using an African elephant provided evidence that the first humans in Canada might have arrived by 25,000 years ago.

10:04

🌏 The Bering Strait Land Bridge: Pathway to North America

This section explains how early humans likely migrated from Siberia to Alaska across a land bridge that existed during the Ice Age. As glaciers formed and sea levels dropped, the Bering Strait became a vast plain that connected Asia to North America. Early humans, who were big-game hunters, took advantage of this bridge, although their further movement southward was blocked by massive ice sheets.

15:04

🏹 Spear Points and the Movement of Early Hunters

Archaeologists use spear points to trace the migration patterns of early humans in North and South America. These tools, left behind by early hunters, provide clues to their movements through the ice-free corridor in Canada during the Ice Age. Around 12,000 years ago, humans spread from Alaska to South America, marking the beginning of Canada's history as ice retreated and uncovered new territories.

20:05

🧊 The Role of Ice in Shaping Canada’s Early History

This paragraph explores how ice played a crucial role in shaping Canada's early history. As the Ice Age ended, glaciers retreated, revealing more of Canada's land. Early humans, who had adapted to the cold, followed the receding ice and began to settle in the newly uncovered regions of what are now the Prairie provinces and southern parts of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.

25:14

🐒 The Evolution of Early Humans and the Journey to the Americas

This section explains how early humans evolved from monkeys in the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe) and why this evolution did not occur in the Americas. Due to different environmental conditions, apes and eventually humans evolved only in the Old World. When Homo sapiens migrated from Asia to North America via the Bering Strait, they were the first humans to ever set foot in the Americas.

🏞️ How Early Humans Adapted to New Environments

This paragraph details how the first humans to arrive in the Americas were part of a larger migration of Homo sapiens from Africa and Asia. These early humans, originally adapted to tropical environments, gradually moved north and learned to survive in colder climates by making clothes, fire, and shelters. By 30,000 years ago, they were spread across multiple continents, including Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australasia.

🧬 The Asiatic Roots of Canada's First Peoples

This paragraph explains how the first people to cross into the Americas from Asia belonged to the Asiatic branch of humanity. The term 'Indian,' which Christopher Columbus mistakenly used for the people he encountered, has persisted. While they were not from India, their ancestors did originate from the larger Asiatic continent, making the label half-accurate.

Keywords

💡First Canadians

The 'First Canadians' refers to the Indigenous peoples who inhabited Canada long before European settlers arrived. These include groups like the Inuit and various First Nations peoples. The video emphasizes that these Indigenous groups were present for thousands of years before European colonization, making them the 'true first citizens' of the country.

💡Bering Strait Land Bridge

The Bering Strait Land Bridge was a land connection between Siberia and Alaska during the Ice Age when sea levels were lower. This bridge allowed the first peoples, believed to be of Asiatic origin, to migrate into North America around 25,000 years ago. The video uses this to explain how the first humans arrived in what is now Canada.

💡Ice Age

The Ice Age refers to a period of long-term reduction in Earth's temperature, leading to massive ice sheets covering large parts of the northern hemisphere. It played a critical role in shaping the early history of Canada by creating the conditions for the Bering Strait Land Bridge and limiting the first people's exploration due to large ice sheets covering the rest of Canada.

💡Spear points

Spear points are sharp tools made from materials like flint, used by early humans for hunting. In the video, spear points are presented as key archaeological evidence used to trace the migration patterns of the first peoples in Canada and other parts of North and South America. Different styles of spear points help archaeologists date the movements of these early settlers.

💡Confederation

Confederation refers to the formation of Canada as a unified nation in 1867. The video contrasts the official history of Canada starting with Confederation against the much older history of Indigenous peoples in the region, thus expanding the traditional understanding of Canadian history to include thousands of years before European settlers arrived.

💡Glaciers

Glaciers are large masses of ice that moved across parts of Canada during the Ice Age. The video explains how glaciers not only helped create the Bering Strait Land Bridge, allowing humans to migrate into Canada, but also blocked further movement for thousands of years. The retreat of glaciers around 17,000 years ago opened up new regions for settlement.

💡Inuit

The Inuit, formerly referred to as 'Eskimos,' are an Indigenous people who have lived in the Arctic regions of Canada for thousands of years. The video highlights that the Inuit, alongside First Nations peoples, were some of the earliest inhabitants of Canada, predating European settlers by millennia.

💡Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of human history through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts. In the video, archaeologists play a crucial role in piecing together the history of the first peoples in Canada, using evidence such as bones and tools found in the Yukon to estimate the arrival of humans as far back as 25,000 years ago.

💡Mammoth

The mammoth, a now-extinct relative of the modern elephant, was one of the key animals hunted by early peoples in North America. In the video, mammoth bones are used as archaeological evidence to demonstrate early human activity in the Yukon region, providing clues about the lives of these first settlers.

💡Ginsburg Experiment

The Ginsburg Experiment was an archaeological experiment conducted to simulate how early humans used tools to break bones and create cutting instruments. In the video, scientists used an African elephant named Ginsburg to mimic ancient hunting and tool-making practices. This experiment provided evidence that early humans in Canada may have used similar methods 25,000 years ago.

Highlights

The history of Canada officially begins today for new Canadians, while other Canadians trace their history back to Confederation or even earlier.

Canada's first permanent European settlement was established in 1605, but Indigenous peoples, like the Inuit and First Nations, have been here for thousands of years.

The Indigenous peoples, especially the First Nations, are considered the oldest Canadians, having lived on the land since the beginning of time according to their traditions.

A new approach to Canadian history, called the 'New History,' expands traditional history both in time and space, examining not just Canada but global influences.

The first three programs in the series cover the history of the native peoples of Canada before European contact.

Archaeological evidence suggests humans were in Canada as early as 25,000 years ago, based on modified animal bones found in the Yukon.

The Ginsburg experiment simulated prehistoric bone tool-making, providing some of the strongest evidence that humans inhabited Canada around 25,000 years ago.

The first Canadians are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia into Alaska during the last Ice Age.

During the Ice Age, glaciers lowered sea levels, exposing the Bering Strait land bridge that allowed human migration into Canada.

Archaeological evidence, including spear points, helps trace the movement of early humans from the Yukon through an ice-free corridor into central Alberta around 12,000 years ago.

By approximately 11,000 years ago, humans had spread across the Americas, reaching as far as Tierra del Fuego in South America.

The theory of evolution explains why the Americas did not have native human populations until migrants arrived from Asia, as early monkeys did not evolve into apes in the New World.

The first people to arrive in the Americas were of Asiatic origin, descending from groups that migrated from Siberia into Alaska.

Christopher Columbus mistakenly called the Indigenous peoples of the Americas 'Indians' because he believed he had reached India.

Although Columbus was incorrect about the geography, he was right about the origins of Indigenous peoples, who originally came from Asia.

Transcripts

[Music]

for these new Canadians the history of

this country officially begins today

for the several million Canadians whose

parents emigrated here the history of

Canada goes back perhaps a generation or

maybe to the turn of the century

[Music]

some people can trace their roots to

Confederation times

a smaller number as far back as the

1700s

and very few to the 60s but that's it

after all the very first permanent

European settlement in Canada was only

established in 1605

but of course there's another group of

Canadians who've been here for thousands

of years the innovate whom we used to

call the Eskimos and the Indians

and of the two it is the Indians who

have been here the longer time making

them the oldest Canadians of all the

true first citizens of this country

in fact according to their traditions

the Indians have always been here ever

since the beginning of time

[Music]

origins a history of Canada a new

approach that's been called the new

history what is the new history

basically it expands the frontiers of

traditional history both in time and

space as far as the space frontier is

concerned we won't be stopping at the

Canadian border

instead we'll be tracing the root causes

of the events that have shaped this

continent this will take us all over the

world all across the Americas throughout

Europe as well as to Africa and the Far

East as for the time frontier just as

our history doesn't stop at the border

neither does it start with the Canadian

Confederation in 1867 instead this

series will end with Confederation and

we'll begin many thousands of years in

the past

there are 16 programs altogether the

first three are devoted to the history

of the native peoples in pre European

Canada

[Music]

the next four are on the early European

explorers

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then five programs on Leno headphones

new friends

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and the last four programs are the

beginnings of the English regime in

Canada from 1760 to 1867

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we've had more than 30 top North

American scholars working with us on

origins and because of our very broad

new history approach these include not

only historians but also geographers and

sociologists and economists as well as

experts on prehistory archaeologists and

anthropologists when does the history of

Canada begin well let's see what the

archaeologists can tell us about just

how long ago the very first Canadians of

all got here the people we call Indians

according to Western scientists even

they originally came from somewhere else

estimates for when they first came to

this continent vary widely they range

all the way from 12,000 to over 70,000

years ago

[Music]

Oh

[Music]

some of the most intriguing evidence for

the date of their first arrival comes

from way up in the north of Canada this

is the old crow River in the Yukon it is

here that archeologists have found bones

that are between 25,000 and 40,000 years

old among these pieces of bone are

perhaps 3% or so that appear to have

been modified by man when the bones were

fresh and prior to their deposition of

in this final resting place but these

aren't the bones of people they are the

bones of the animals that people used to

hunt in ancient times caribou

giant bison the ancestors of these

smaller present-day bison that we also

call Buffalo

another of the staple foods of

prehistoric man was the woolly melon

a distant relative of the modern

elephant

evidence from many parts of the world

shows that people not only relied on

animals like these as a source of food

but that they also made tools out of

their bones these pieces of mammoth bone

for example have been radiocarbon dated

as at least 25,000 years old and look as

if they've been shaped by man into

cutting instruments

if we can prove this then we'll know

that the first Canadians must also have

been here in the Yukon by 25,000 years

ago

unfortunately there are no longer any

mammoths around so archeologists sutta

the next best thing an African elephant

which had recently died at a Boston Zoo

Ginsburg by name they then made

simulations of prehistoric tools out of

pieces of stone and caribou antlers they

use these to slice up the remains of the

unfortunate Ginsburg then they broke its

bones into smaller pieces and try to

make some of the bones into cutting

tools bones which are fresh when broken

we can recognize a lot of different

characteristics of these fractures that

are visible on the archaeological

specimens and well there we go it wasn't

exactly what was candid intended but

here we have it'd be a good night a nice

knife with the thumb hole never

in this we see one of the old crow wars

with which also removed a lot of since

there was such a close match between the

shape of the bone and tools made by

these archaeologists and the original

pieces of mammoth bone many experts

maintain that this Ginsberg experiment

provides some of the best evidence so

far that men may have been in Canada as

early as 25,000 years ago on the femur

that robbed is fractured we got exactly

the same result with battering moving

around adjacent to a well prepared

platform and then the detachment of a

large piece of almost exactly the same

size also removing part of the marrow

cavity how appropriate that an animal

with such a long memory should help us

to probe so far into the past

[Music]

in addition to the Ginsburg experiment

lots of other research has been done

relating to man's first arrival in North

America some experts date is coming much

earlier some much later but regardless

of what the exact date was the question

remains of just how these first

immigrants got here and where they came

from

if you go as far north and as far west

as you can you will eventually reach

here the northwest coast of Alaska now

the only thing between you and the coast

of Siberia in Asia is a narrow strip of

water about 80 kilometres wide called

the Bering Strait Alaska is right next

door to the Yukon where some of the most

interesting evidence for man's first

arrival in Canada has been found but in

fact there is evidence of early man all

across this region which includes parts

of Alaska as well as the Yukon and since

Alaska is so very close to Siberia it

seems likely that that's where the first

immigrants to Canada originally came

from even 25,000 years ago they were

probably quite capable of crossing a

stretch of water like the Bering Strait

but they didn't need to because at that

time the Bering Strait wasn't there and

Alaska was joined to Siberia by a vast

plane of dry land about 1,000 kilometers

wide this is because the period were

talking about

Falls right into the middle of the last

great Ice Age when the weather was much

colder than it is now and much of the

northern hemisphere was covered in ice

[Music]

it was the formation of all these huge

glaciers that also led to the formation

of the Bering Strait land bridge usually

most of the water which evaporates from

the ocean gets redeposited on the earth

in the form of rain and eventually flows

back into the ocean

so that sea levels stay more or less

constant but during the Ice Age the

evaporated water turned into snow and

built up as ice on the land it never

found its way back into the sea

so as the glaciers climbed higher and

higher the sea level sank lower and

lower

turning the Bering Strait into a dry

plain and that's how we believe the

first Canadians arrived they walked here

from Asia

big-game hunters pursuing their prey but

these Asian hunters were destined to be

stranded in the Alaska Yukon region for

several thousand years they couldn't

explore Canada any further because the

rest of this land was buried under

enormous glaciers some three kilometers

thick stretching all the way down to

where Kentucky is today so as was to

happen time and again in the history of

this country ice played a major role

from the very beginning

it was ice that had enabled the first

Canadians to get here by creating the

Bering Strait land bridge but it was

also ice which would prevent them from

going any further for a long time to

come because the only part of Canada

that existed 25,000 years ago was the

northern Yukon the remainder of the

country was nothing but a giant ice cube

[Music]

the next obvious question is when did

the first people on this continent move

beyond the Alaska Yukon region and where

did they go next

again archaeology provides some of the

answers the key to retracing the

movements of the first immigrants to

this continent after their initial

settlement in the Alaska Yukon region

can be summed up in one word spear

points

this archaeologist is one of the very

few people in the world today who knows

how to chip a piece of Flint into a

razor-sharp spear point

you

it is an extremely delicate operation

especially when he gets to the final

touch making the little groove or flute

that will fit into the shaft of the

spear one false move and the whole thing

will shatter to smithereens

when Asian hunters first moved into

northern Canada they produced enormous

numbers of spear points like this which

they use to kill their prey

[Music]

archeologists have discovered that

different types of points were made at

different times so that each style of

spear point is a neat way of dating the

arrival of men in various parts of

Canada and the rest of the Americas

[Music]

specimens of these spear points have

been found in many parts of both North

and South America they are like a string

of markers that enable us to retrace the

steps taken by early man in exploring

this continent when men first arrived in

the Alaska Yukon region about 25,000

years ago he was blocked from going any

further south by the ice sheet which

covered all the rest of Canada but

around 17,000 years ago the weather was

slowly beginning to warm up and some of

the ice started to melt this caused an

ice-free corridor to open up through

what we now call the Mackenzie River

Valley the Asian hunters gradually work

their way down through the ice-free

corridor eventually emerging into what

is now central Alberta around 12,000

years ago they then traveled further and

further south until by roughly 11,000

years ago they had finally reached the

furthermost tip of South America within

the space of about a thousand years they

had gone all the way from Alaska to

Tierra del Fuego this may not seem very

fast going but when you consider that

we're talking about the advance of the

human species itself it is an

extraordinary achievement it involved

some 16,000 kilometers of every

conceivable type of terrain Arctic

tundra

prairies

forests deserts

tropical jungles

it was also the real beginning of the

history of Canada because as the weather

continued to warm up more and more ice

melted and the glaciers began to retreat

further and further north so that more

and more of this country could emerge

from beneath the ice sheets by about ten

thousand years ago or roughly 8,000 BC

Canada was gradually beginning to take

shape initially it had just consisted of

the northern Yukon

but then the areas of what were to be

the prairie provinces were added

followed by the southern regions of

Ontario Quebec and the Maritimes and

just as this happened some of the Asian

hunters who had moved down into what is

now the United States began to make

their way north again and settle into

the newly exposed southern fringes of

Canada once more our history was being

defined by ice so that as the glaciers

slowly rolled back Canada was not so

much discovered as uncover

just as the experts disagree about when

people first arrived up in the Alaska

Yukon region there's a lot of

controversy about when they spread to

other parts of the Americas but whatever

the precise dates the fact remains that

these people were breaking new ground

they were entering a world that

scientists believe had never known man

before why not why wasn't there anyone

here before them there are numerous

theories about the origins of men but

it's the scientific theory of evolution

itself which provides one of the most

intriguing explanations to find out why

there was no one in the Americas before

the first peoples arrived from Asia we

have to go way back to man's earliest

beginnings according to the theory of

evolution we are ultimately descended

from the same stalk as monkeys monkey

like creatures began to evolve about 35

million years ago

by about 30 million years ago one branch

of these animals had evolved into eggs

around 4 million years ago one branch of

the ape family began to evolve into a

man-like creature who gradually became

more and more human until by about fifty

thousand years ago he had finally

reached the stage where we call him wise

man or Homo sapiens he'd now become a

fully human being physically and

mentally indistinguishable from any of

us today but all of this progression

from monkey to ape to man like creature

to man himself was confined to the old

world to Africa Asia and Europe

none of it took place in the new world

in the Americas it wasn't because of a

shortage of monkeys in the new world

there were lots of them in South America

where they had started to evolve at

about the same time as the old world

monkeys the monkeys of the two worlds

don't look all that different but it was

only the old-world monkeys that would

eventually lead to man whereas the new

world monkey just led to other monkey's

as with many aspects of very early

history there isn't complete agreement

among the experts as to why the new

world monkey came to an evolutionary

dead end but many anthropologists

believe that the most likely explanation

is as follows all monkeys were initially

adapted to live in trees whether in

Africa or Asia or the Americas

but because of climatic changes

particularly in Africa the trees began

to thin out in some parts of the old

world this forced some of the monkeys to

spend more and more time looking for

food on the ground eventually this would

lead to certain types of monkeys turning

into Apes who tended to be better

adapted to living on the ground and to

walking about on their hind legs it's

this ability to function in an upright

position which triggered the eventual

transformation of ape into man now look

at the situation in the new world in

South America

here the forests remained as dense as

ever

so that monkeys didn't need to learn how

to function on the ground and therefore

there was no opportunity for the

transition to apes to take place

so the ape never did evolve in the

Americas and therefore man didn't either

because without apes you can't have men

this is why when Homo sapiens spread all

across the old world right up as far

north as Siberia and then crossed the

Bering Strait land bridge into the

Americas some time before twenty-five

thousand years ago he was going where no

man had gone before he was in fact

taking the original giant step for

mankind

[Music]

we're dealing with such immense

stretches of time here that it's very

hard to imagine what the first peoples

who came to the new world were like it

all happened so long ago that we don't

know very much about them at all but we

can make some shrewd guesses the first

people to set foot in the Americas were

part of a global migration that had been

going on ever since the emergence of

Homo sapiens some fifty thousand years

ago human beings were originally adapted

for living in the tropics in the warmest

parts of the old world

we can get an idea of the sort of life

they led from these modern Bushmen in

southern Africa who are some of the very

few people on earth today who still

carry on a way of life that has hardly

changed at all since man first evolved

the first men were hunters and gatherers

they foraged for wild fruits and plants

they stocked wild animals

gradually over thousands of years their

pursuit of game led them further and

further north then they learned to adapt

to colder and colder conditions they

learned to make clothes for themselves

out of animal skins to make fire to

build shelters as time went on people

learned how to survive even in the

coldest regions of the old world so that

by about 30,000 years ago they were

spread out over most of Africa Europe

Asia and Australasia by now

because of the different climates and

environments on these four continents

people were already beginning to evolve

into four distinct geographical types

those in Africa south of the Sahara

known as negroid those in Europe North

Africa the Middle East and most of India

known as Caucasoid those in Central Asia

and the Far East known as [ __ ] and

those in Australasia and parts of

southern India known as australoid of

these four groups it was some of the

Asiatic [ __ ] peoples who were to

make the crossing from Siberia to Alaska

some 25,000 years ago so the first

people to discover the Americas were of

Asiatic stock

[Music]

when the man who is usually credited

with this discovery Christopher Columbus

arrived here many thousands of years

later he thought he'd reached India so

he called the people he met Indians the

name has stuck as has the name of the

part of the Americas that Columbus first

stumbled upon the Caribbean which to

this day is still known as the West

Indies

[Music]

[Music]

but although Columbus was wrong about

the land he was by sheer accident half

right above the people they were not

from India itself but they did stem from

the larger continent to which India

belongs they did originally come from

Asia

[Music]