When Worlds Met

Try When Worlds Met in 10 seconds

Tap a route to trace it. Rivers were the roads. Furs went one way; kettles came back. Just to touch — nothing is recorded.

Learn — lessons that teach first, best in this order

1. 1Lesson 1Start hereThe fur tradeWho trapped, who paddled, who profited. Follow a hat to an empty pond, and see how the Métis Nation was bornTeaches: The fur trade and the birth of the MétisYou will use: a map · a sort · a cause chain · an inquiry · questionsOntario A3.5, A3.6Test yourself on lesson 1 →
2. 2Lesson 2ReadyWho gained, who lostKettles and alliances. Smallpox and lost land. Weigh what contact caused, and hear the same day from four sidesTeaches: Who gained, who lost, and what it costYou will use: four voices · a sort · questions · an inquiry · a choiceOntario A1.1, A1.2Test yourself on lesson 2 →
3. 3Lesson 3ReadyStill here todayLand claims, treaty rights, caring for the land. Place three centuries of agreements on a line and see why a 1700s treaty won a case in 1999Teaches: Then and now: treaties, land, stewardshipYou will use: a timeline · a sort · questions · cases · a worked exampleOntario A1.3Test yourself on lesson 3 →

Play with it — any time, nothing recorded

• LabJust playTrade LabSet how many pelts a family trades each year. Watch the beaver on its stream over decades
• GameJust playThen and NowA 1600s event and a headline today. Name the thread that joins them
• StoryRead and decideThe Trading SeasonSixty pelts, a French trader, and a stream that can only give so much.

Why it matters today

• The treaty your town is on

  Almost every town in Ontario sits on treaty land. The agreements in this world are still the law — look up which one is yours.

• The Métis Nation of Ontario

  The people born of this trade have their own government today. It started on the rivers you follow here.

• Cause and consequence

  A fashion in Paris emptied ponds here. Ask what a thing you buy today changes somewhere far away.

Words you will meet

Tap a word. The lessons explain each one the first time it appears.

• voyageur

  A canoe paddler and trader who carried furs and goods along the rivers of the fur trade.

• Métis · say “may-TEE”

  A people who grew from Indigenous mothers and European fathers in the fur trade, with their own language, culture and nation.

• consequence

  Something that happens BECAUSE of something else. The cause comes first; the consequence follows.

• treaty

  A formal agreement between nations. Treaties between the Crown and First Nations are still law in Canada today.

• perspective

  The way a person or group sees something, shaped by who they are and what they want.

• wampum

  Beads of shell woven into a belt whose pattern records an agreement or a story. The Two Row Wampum records an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch.

What Ontario asks

The 2018 curriculum expectations this world teaches, in the Ministry’s own words. 5 of the course’s 35.

• A1.1 describe some of the positive and negative consequences of contact between Indigenous peoples and European…

  describe some of the positive and negative consequences of contact between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and settlers in what would eventually become Canada (e.g., with reference to the impact of European diseases on First Nations; the impact of Europeans’ belief that they had the right to claim First Nations territory for themselves; intermarriage between First Nations women and European men and the ethnogenesis of the Métis ; competition between different First Nations peoples, Métis, and European settlers for land and resources; alliances among First Nations and between First Nations and European settlers; the introduction of alcohol and European weapons; the contribution of First Nation ideas about democratic community governance systems), and analyse their significance

• A1.2 analyse aspects of contact between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and settlers in what would…

  analyse aspects of contact between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and settlers in what would eventually become Canada to determine ways in which different parties benefited from each other (e.g., early European settlers, slave owners, coureurs de bois , and European fur trade company employees benefited from First Nations and Métis ways of knowing, including their knowledge of land-based subsistence with respect to hunting, medicines , foods, geography, modes of transportation appropriate for local conditions, and established trade routes; the imperial government in France benefited economically from the fur trade and from alliances with First Nations, who aided them in their conflict with the British; First Nations benefited from some of the new materials and technologies introduced by Europeans; First Nations and European peoples benefited from the cultural knowledge, social ties, and language skills of the Métis)

• A1.3 explain some of the ways in which interactions among Indigenous peoples, among European explorers and…

  explain some of the ways in which interactions among Indigenous peoples, among European explorers and settlers, and between Indigenous and European people in what would eventually become Canada are connected to issues in present-day Canada (e.g., with reference to land claims ; treaty rights and responsibilities; treaty-making processes and people excluded from these processes; environmental stewardship and relationships with the land; resource ownership, extraction, and use)

• A3.5 describe significant aspects of the interactions between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and…

  describe significant aspects of the interactions between Indigenous peoples and European explorers and settlers in what would eventually become Canada (e.g., with reference to trade; sharing of beliefs, knowledge, skills, technology; disruption of Indigenous gender norms and roles; intermarriage; military alliances and conflict; the theft of Indigenous lands; spread of diseases; introduction of alcohol; the roles of First Nations, Métis, and Europeans in the fur trade; the impact of the fur trade on Indigenous peoples; loss of First Nations’ access to lands for sustenance and to support ways of life)

• A3.6 describe key factors that led to the ethnogenesis of the Métis people in what would eventually become Canada,…

  describe key factors that led to the ethnogenesis of the Métis people in what would eventually become Canada, with specific attention to the Great Lakes and Mattawa regions (e.g., contact between First Nations and European fur traders and explorers; the need among European traders/explorers in unfamiliar territories for help and guidance from First Nations; intermarriage between traders and First Nations women; gender imbalances in new settlements)