- First, make some observations about Wôbanaki houses Wôbanaki
land use. You will find information in Meet the Five Cultures,
Explanations, and Artifacts
on the 1704 website. As you read about Wôbanaki homes and
land use, ask yourself the following questions and take notes
for your answers. Be prepared to discuss your answers to these
questions in class.
Here's what you should look at to find your information:
• Meet
the Five Cultures - Wôbanaki - Click Learn
More About the Wôbanaki and read the whole essay.
Examine the first picture closely.
• Artifacts
- click Structures/Architectural Elements,
then click Wigwam.
• Explanations
- click Native Land Use and Settlements in the Northeastern
Woodlands and read the following sections: Algonkian
Homelands, English Deeds and Native Lands.
Think about these questions:
Housing:
a. What is this structure made of?
b. How did these people get their building materials?
c. What impact was made in the immediate surroundings in
order to build this house?
d. In the future when the house is gone, what will remain
on its site? Will there be any way to know that a structure
was there?
Land Use:
a. In what ways did the Wôbanakiak use the land?
b. How did they alter the landscape?
c. Did they move their homes and villages around or stay
in one spot? Why?
d. How did the Wôbanaki connection to the land affect
what they did to it.
- Now, go to the Maps Menu
on the 1704 website and click the last link, The Deerfield/Pocumtuck
Area. Examine the first illustration of Pocumtuck, circa
1550 and read the text. Answer the following questions:
a. Why is this a good site for a home?
b. Are all of the homes located in one area?
- Next, you will be making observations about the land use and
houses of the English settlers in Deerfield. Go to the American
Centuries website (www.americancenturies.mass.edu) to access the
curriculum titled: Everyday
Life in a New England Town - Lesson #4, The Homes, Possessions,
and Way of Life of the Puritans at the First Turn (1680-1720).
Click Part 6: The Wells-Thorn House, then click
the first photo of the Wells-Thorn House, Outside,
down on the right side under the Materials in Context section.
Examine the photo carefully and answer the following questions:
a. What is this structure made of?
b. How did these people get their building materials?
c. What kind of impact was made in the immediate surroundings
in order to build this house?
d. After the house is gone, what will remain on its site? Will
there be any way to know that a structure was there?
- Go to the Explanations
Menu then clicking European Land Use and
the Transformation of the Northeast. Read from the beginning
up to the section titled French Acquisition of Lands. Also read
the following sections: English Acquisition of Lands, Native Deeds,
Establishing Towns, and English Use of Lands. Ask yourself the
following questions:
a. In what ways did the English use the land?
b. How did they alter the landscape?
c. Did they move their homes and villages around, or stay in
one spot? Why?
d. Note how their connection to the land affected what they
did to it.
- Go to the Maps Menu
on the 1704 website and click the last link, The Deerfield/Pocumtuck
Area. Examine the second illustration, Deerfield, circa
1700, and read the text. Answer the following questions:
a. Why is this a good site for a home?
b. Are all of the homes located in one area?
- Compare your answers in numbers 1 through 3 above. Do you think
the Pocumtuck and English settlers would have gotten along well
living in the same area? Why or why not?
- Go to the Artifacts
Menu on the 1704 website and choose Historic
Documents, then Chauk Deed. Do not read
the text accompanying the deed yet. You can read a typed version
of the deed by clicking Text Transcription. Read
the transcription and answer the following questions:
a. Who sold the land to whom?
b. Were any rights reserved? If so, what were they?
c. Were any protections put in place? If so, what were they?
- Now read the text accompanying the deed. Although the Pocumtuck
had strong relationships with the land, they believed—unlike
Europeans—that the land could not be owned. With that in
mind, what might they have understood about the following phrases
from the deed?
a. "hath Given Granted Bargained & sold…"
b. "Have Hold & Injoy & that foreve…r"
d. "And the sd Chaque...will saue ye sd Major Lusher &
Danl ffisher, therire Associates & theire heires & assignes,
Harmless or & from all manner of Claimes of any person or
persons Lawfully claiming any right Title or Interest in any
of ye sd lands hereby Sold..."
- The deed states that Chauk could continue fishing, hunting and
gathering nuts in the area to be sold, but he was also expected
to "Defend the same from any molestations or Incumbrances
by Indians otherwise than as before reserved." What do you
think the English understood or wanted when they wrote these statements
into the deed?
- What were the problems with this land transaction?
- Think back over all that you have learned in this lesson. In
what ways do you think there were incompatible ideas of land use
by the Wôbanakiak and English?
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