1. European Contact

Indian peoples were living in North America long before Europeans came; they had developed their own political and social organizations:

• There were approximately 600 diverse Tribal groups or Bands.
  
• There were between 200,000 and 300,000 people in what is now Canada.
  
• Tribal groups or Bands had similar characteristics.
  
• many were divided into clans or Totem groups based on kinship, as people married members from other clans, the interdependence of the Band was extended;
  
• there was respect for elders and affection for children; and
  
• everything in creation was approached with reverence.

The first Europeans to arrive in the Americas did not understand or accept these differences.

Upon Columbus' arrival in South America in 1492, the Indian people were welcoming. The Spanish however, instituted harsh treatment on the Indian people:

• many were tortured and killed;
  
• some were returned to Spain as slaves, many of whom died on the voyages back;
  
• large numbers killed themselves with poison;
  
• an estimated 1/2 of the population killed themselves or were murdered during two years of Columbus' rule;
  
• by 1515 there were approximately 10,000 Aboriginal people left on Haiti; their Nation disappeared by 1840.

At the time of contact, Europeans had doubts as to whether Indian people in the Americas were human -- only Christians were considered human. In 1512, Pope Julius II declared that:

"Indians are truly men...they may and should freely and legitimately enjoy their liberty and possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved."

European arrival in the "New World" changed First Nations societies forever.