June 26 2021 - Writing History

 

History is always written wrong and needs to be rewritten ~George Santayana What do you imagine Canada's history timeline should be?  I found the timeline taught when I was in school at dummies.com. By Will Ferguson Part of  Canadian History For Dummies Cheat Sheet  Canadian history is a lot of fun. There are heroes and villains, tragedies and triumphs, great battles and sudden betrayals, loyal refugees and long struggles for social justice. The interpretation of Canadian history may vary – radically, at times – but there are still core events from our past that every Canadian should know. Brush up on your Canadian history with the following timeline of important events. 30,000–10,000 BC Prehistoric hunters cross over into Canada from Asia circa 1000 AD Leif Ericsson leads a Viking expedition to the New World 1451 The Iroquois Confederacy is formed (aka Haudenosaunee) and so on for lots of rows and row of colonist events. Yes - Ferguson's history is about the colonization and then confederation of Canada.  It is so selective that the question immediately arises:  What are  all the events that took place and who are all the people that lived here? So I found a Canadian history timeline about Indigenous peoples HERE.  The Canadian Encyclopedia presents a storyline that covers the indigenous peoples and events. Here are samples: NOVEMBER 30, -1 ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES  Evidence of Human Occupation in North America Irrefutable archeological evidence of human occupation in the northern half of North America, including in the Tanana River Valley (Alaska), Haida Gwaii (British Columbia), Vermilion Lakes (Alberta), and Debert (Nova Scotia).   JANUARY 01, 1450 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES  Haudenosaunee Confederacy Try Resolving Disputes in Lower Great Lakes Region The Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois League), organized by Dekanahwideh (the Peacemaker) and Hiawatha, tries to provide a peaceful and equitable means to resolve disputes among member nations in the lower Great Lakes region JANUARY 01, 1493 LAW  “Doctrine of Discovery” is Decreed The papal bull Inter Caetera — the “Doctrine of Discovery” — is decreed a year after Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to America. Made without consulting Indigenous populations nor with any recognition of their rights, it is the means by which Europeans claim legal title to the “new world.” What draws me in is the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee Confederacy referenced in both history timelines.  I looked it up in Wikipedia - it has an extensive entry on the Iroquois Confederacy.  But I can see that there are two different storylines about Canada's events of the past.  And who writes these? Is the Wikipedia entry on the Iroquois another storyline from the colonist point of view? What might be the story from the Indigenous point of view?   I guess it is time to start somewhere  - at Raven Reads with Canadian History Books by Indigenous Authors.  It is HERE. It is time to find out what the Canadian storyline is.   Lilycrest Gardens blossom period has begun.  Here are two from the field yesterday.