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Compagnie des Cent Associés, La: One of the societies that received a charter (1627) from France authorizing it to explore, develop, and exploit New France. Their charter stipulated that Indigenous people who became Christian would be considered French and have rights such as proprietary and inheritance rights.
Donnakoh-Noh: (d. 1539) Chief of Stadakohna when in 1536 he clearly asserted the sovereignty of his community to Jacques Cartier, who had raised a cross on the lands of his community without consultation. He and his sons Domagaya and Tayagnoagny were kidnapped by Cartier and taken to France, where he died. However, his words, and his sons’ words, led François I to recognize a degree of sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples in North America despite claiming dominion over their lands.
Hochelaga: St Lawrence Iroquoian settlement at the site of present-day Montreal with about 50 longhouses and a population of at least 1,500 when Europeans first encountered it.
King Philip’s War: (1675–6) Last Indigenous attempt to oust Europeans from New England, led by Wampanoag chief Metacom, called King Philip by the English, but one of the first to build a pan-Indigenous alliance against the settlers in North America. It encouraged the Wabanaki Confederacy to also wage war against the English, and develop stronger ties with the French.
middle ground: Cross-cultural accommodations employed to bridge cultural gaps between people that were often based on mutual misunderstanding. Just because the two parties agreed a protocol worked doesn’t mean each side interpreted it in the same way.
Nescambiouit: (“He Who Is So Important and So Highly Placed Because of His Merit That His Greatness Cannot Be Attained, Even in Thought,” c. 1660–1722) Pigwacket (Wabanaki) chief who was taken to France but returned in 1716 and attempted to form a pan-Indigenous alliance.
Odanak: Present-day Saint-François-de-Sales, near Sorel, Quebec. In the 1700s, it was the largest Wabanaki settlement in New France. Its positioning between the French and the British allowed the Wabanaki to diplomatically balance the two powers off of one another until 1760.
Right of Conquest: The assumption that winning a war meant complete authority over the defeated people and their lands. While in Europe this was not generally applied to allies of the defeated, it was routinely assumed of Indigenous allies in North America who had to demonstrate otherwise on several occasions.
sachem: The Algonquian word for leader among the peoples of the Atlantic region.
sagamore: (also sagamo, saqmaw, saqmawaq, sakimaa) In the Atlantic region, among the Mi’kmaw and Wabanaki peoples this word is used to refer to the junior of the two leaders.
Stadakohna: Major Haudenosaunee settlement on the St Lawrence River at the time of first contact near present-day Quebec City where early explorers noted extensive orchards and crops along the banks of the river led by Donnakoh-Noh.
Tadoussac: Innu settlement at the mouth of the Saguenay River and an important fur-trading centre both prior to contact and once trade began with Europeans, who at first traded from shipboard at Tadoussac, giving Innu an enviable position controlling the trade for half a century until the French decided to establish inland posts and settlements.
Treaty of Boston: (1725) Treaty signed at the end of the English–Indian War between the English and Wabanaki, Wuastukwiuk, and Mi’kmaq. This treaty forced the English to concede that while the Treaty of Utrecht had transferred French claims to Acadia to the English, Wabanaki and Mi’kmaw claims had not been transferred and would require negotiation with Indigenous Peoples to obtain.
Treaty of Paris: (1763) Peace treaty between Britain and France following the latter’s military defeat that effectively ended the French colonial presence in North America, expanding British claims to at least the Mississippi River in the south and even further in the north. Spain gained title to French-claimed lands west of the Mississippi but did little to occupy any lands north of St Louis.
Treaty of Utrecht: (1713) Treaty that ended French–British hostilities that had been part of the War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War) since 1701. As a part of the agreement, France ceded Acadia to the British without consulting their Wabanaki or Mi’kmaw allies. Britain tried to treat the Indigenous nations as conquered, which led to the Wabanaki–New England War.
Wabanaki-New England War: (Dummer’s War, 1722–5) A conflict in response to the Treaty of Utrecht, which did not include Indigenous people at the negotiations. When settlers tried to expand into the lands England had gained from France, the Wabanaki asserted their sovereignty. The Treaty of Boston that ended the conflict required the English to concede that Wabanaki and Mi’kmaw claims had not been transferred by the Treaty of Utrecht.
War of Spanish Succession: (Queen Anne’s War, 1701–13) A European war that spilled over into the Americas. The Treaty of Utrecht ended this conflict and transferred Acadia from French to English authority without Indigenous consultation with the Wabanaki and Mi’kmaw who lived there.