Naskapi
The Naskapi ('people beyond the horizon') are counted among the North American Indians and are a group of the First Nations in Québec , Canada . They belong to the Algonquin peoples of the subarctic cultural area and are linguistically assigned to the Cree . Since the first contact with the Europeans, the Naskapi have lived in Nunavik , Québec and Labrador . Today the approximately 1,500 Naskapi live in the northernmost communities Kawawachikamach and Natuashish / Utshimassits . The Innu , who are closely related to them, live in eleven settlements in Québec and Labrador.
The Naskapi ( Innu and Iyiyiw - 'people') formed the northern tribal group, the closely related Montagnais (French: 'mountain dwellers') the southern and eastern tribal group of the earlier Innu . Nowadays only the Montagnais officially call themselves Innu ( Nehilaw and Ilniw - 'people'), while the Naskapi only use this name.
Both groups refer to their rough, wild and inaccessible tribal area as Nitassinan ('Our Land'). The tribal groups differed primarily in their way of life - the more numerous approx. 4,000 Innu were predominantly more local semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers who hunted elk , caribou and small game in the open lichen forests of the boreal zone . Some coastal groups also farmed, fished and harvested maple syrup . The Naskapi, numbering only about 1,500 people, lived as full nomads mostly in the light forest tundra from hunting for elk and in the open tundra on caribou; also from fishing and collecting roots and wild plants.
In summer the naskapi lived in tents made of birch bark and in winter they covered the tents with caribou fur. In winter they buried their dead on scaffolding and trees, otherwise they were buried in the ground. The social system of the Naskapi was patrilinear . In contrast to neighboring tribes such as the Inuit, who pulled threads or sinews soaked in charcoal or paint under the skin, the Naskapi simply rubbed charcoal or soot into a cut to tattoo them (so-called ink rubbing).
The ethnic religion of the Naskapi was animistic , as all natural phenomena were seen as animated. Central was the idea of Manitu , the all-embracing mystery or the great power that is contained in all beings, things, activities and appearances and that was venerated in Chisa-manitu as the world soul . The bear cult had a special position among the Naskapi: it was spiritually revered, but also coveted as food. If a bear was discovered in a cave, its soul was called and offered to smoke a sacred tobacco pipe with it as a sign of reverence. This then happened in a ritual way by putting tobacco in the mouth of the killed bear before the hunter smoked the pipe next to him. Today - according to the ongoing surveys of the evangelical-fundamentalist conversion network Joshua Project - 20 percent of the Naskapi are still followers of the traditional religion (which is either practiced alongside Christianity or mixed with some Christian elements), while most are officially Christians (especially Catholics) are.
The Innu were allied with the Atikamekw , Maliseet and Algonquin against their traditional enemies, the Mi'kmaq and Iroquois . Again and again during the Beaver Wars (1640–1701) the Iroquois invaded their territories and abducted women and warriors into slavery, as well as plundered their hunting grounds in search of more furs. Since these disputes on the part of the Iroquois were carried out with hitherto unknown brutality, the Innu now adopted the methods of torture and torture as well as the cruelty of their Indian enemies. The Nasapie, however, mostly had conflicts with the Inuit advancing southwards in the east.
The Innu should not be confused with the Inuit or Inupiaq - Inuktitut .
language
The Naskapi language, called Iyuw-Imuun (Iyuw-Iyimuuun) or Innu-Aimun , depending on the dialect , is closely related to the Innu language, Ilnu-Aimun (also Western Montagnais ) or Innu-Aimun (also Eastern Montagnais ).
The Naskapi of Kawawachikamach speak the y -dialect or Iyuw-Imuun (Iyuw-Iyimuuun) (also 'Koksoak dialect', Western Naskapi ) and the Naskapi / Mushuau Innu in Natuashish the n -dialect or Innu-Aimun ( Mushuau-aimun , also 'Mushuau Innu', 'Davis Inlet' or 'Natuashish dialect', Eastern Naskapi ). The language name Innu-Aimun denotes both the dialect of the Eastern Naskapi and the language of the Innu (Montagnais) as a whole, especially that of the Eastern Montagnais (Innu) - but not the dialect of the Western Naskapi.
Today (2011 census) about 620 Naskapi still speak their mother tongue, of which (according to Golla 2007) about 800 Western Naskapi (Kawawachikamach) and 500 Eastern Naskapi (Natuashish). In addition, most use Canadian English , some Naskapi from Kawawachikamach also speak Canadian French and Innu-Aimun.
history
French people
The Naskapi were first mentioned by the Jesuit André Richard in 1643. He called the Naskapi Ounackkapiouek and referred to them as one of the small peoples north of Tadoussac . The word Naskapi did not appear until 1733 and referred to a group of around 40 families on Lake Achouanipi .
Hudson's Bay Company
In 1740, Joseph Isbister of the Hudson's Bay Company reported rumors of Indians called "Annes-carps" in the northeast of the Richmond Gulf. Later they were referred to as "Nascopie" or "Nascappe".
When the Hudson's Bay Company set up its first post in Fort Chimo in 1831, the previously very sporadic contacts between Naskapi and the French and British continued to grow. However, contrary to the hopes of the traders, the Naskapi lifestyle was difficult to combine with trapping if they did not want to endanger their semi-nomadic livelihood. This appeared to the traders as laziness or unreliability.
As early as 1842, the company forced relocations of the tribe from Fort Chimo to Fort Nascopie, whereby the relocation was reversed in 1870. In 1915 - this time it was the Canadian government - forced relocation to Fort McKenzie, which in turn was reversed in 1948. Again in 1956 the tribe had to move from Fort Chimo to Schefferville . There were also numerous smaller resettlements. At the same time, the company put the “lazy” Naskapi under further pressure by withholding ammunition from them if they were negligent, in order to force them to go through hunger to the trapping they demanded - analogous to the method with which Edgar Dewdney put pressure on the Plains Indians Buffalo herds had been slaughtered. Similar to the situation there, the vital George River caribou herd had practically disappeared.
Canada
It was not until 1949 that the completely neglected Naskapi, whose survival was threatened, came into official contact with the Canadian government when Colonel HM Jones, Superintendent of Welfare Services (as a representative of welfare) and Indian agent Larivière from the Abitibi Indian Agency visited them in Fort Chimo . In view of the catastrophic situation, they prompted help.
During the 1950s, numerous Naskapi tried to return to Fort McKenzie, where they had lived from 1916 to 1948, but on the one hand it was no longer possible to continue the traditional way of life there and on the other hand, cases of tuberculosis occurred. So they had to return to Fort Chimo after only two years.
In 1956, almost the entire tribe moved to the iron ore town of Schefferville ; it is apparently unclear whether this was done on instructions or because there were better opportunities to live there. The relevant Department of Indian Affairs did not even find it necessary to provide information to the mining company concerned, the Iron Ore Company of Canada . The 600-kilometer march from Chimo to Schefferville almost failed at Wakuach Lake, as exhaustion and hunger initially made it impossible to continue. A rescue operation followed, but the tribe now had to live in self-built huts on Knob Lake, near the train station. In 1957 the tribe had to move again because Knob Lake - according to the official version - was contaminated. The people now moved to John Lake north-north-east of Schefferville. There was neither a regulated water supply, nor electricity, nor schools or basic medical care. In the settlement on John Lake also lived some Innu who had been busy building the railroad in the early 1950s.
By 1962, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development had built around 34 huts at a cost of $ 5,000. In 1969, the Department acquired 39 acres of land north of the town center on Pearce Lake, where 43 houses were built in the newly established Matimekosh reservation by 1972 , plus 63 for the Innu.
At least this was the first time that consultations took place, and the naskapi were asked about their wishes. Nevertheless, terraced houses were built that did not correspond to the usual individual house life, and contrary to the promises, no investment was made in landscaping. The Naskapi live unusually close together without the houses being sufficiently soundproof.
Dam construction and electricity projects
From 1975, however, her life changed even more fundamentally. A gigantic electricity project began with the conclusion of the Baie James and North Quebec Agreement , in which the Naskapi did not participate - after they were visited by Billy Diamond, Grand Chief of the Cree and Charlie Watt, President of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association in which large parts of Labrador were to be converted to supply Canada. Since the Inuit, after initially representing the Naskapi, felt overwhelmed by this, the Naskapi were left completely empty-handed. It was not until 1978, with the agreement of northeastern Québec, that the Naskapi entered the negotiations, this time independently. One of the most important agreements was that the naskapi could leave their unloved reserve and look for a new place.
On January 31, 1980, the Naskapi decided by a large majority to move to what is now the Kawawachikamach reserve, where construction work was completed in 1983. In 1984, after three years of negotiations, the Cree-Naskapi Act was passed, which laid down details of self-government. This included numerous rights that are otherwise only allowed to be exercised by communities in Canada.
But the closure of the Schefferville ore mine in 1982 - later Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was President of the Iron Ore Company of Canada from 1977 to 1983 - put the economic fundamentals in serious danger. It was not until 1990 that a joint effort was made to set up a kind of five-year development plan, to implement a mechanism for resolving differences of opinion that resulted from the previous contracts.
The projects of economic development include the Schefferville Airport Company ( runway maintenance , together with the Innu von Matimekosh / Lac John), as well as road construction companies, then dam projects together with Kawawachikamach Energy Services Inc. , more recently business software ( Naskapi Imuun Inc. ) . There is also the Naskapi Caribou Meat Company / Nunavik Arctic Foods , which is dedicated to the commercial processing of caribou, as well as a hunting and fishing club.
Today's First Nations of the Naskapi
- Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach (also: Puatshishaimunnu / Uashkaikaniunnu - "Innu von Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo)", the tribal members originally come from the north of the province of Quebec, but had to forcibly relocate several times before they finally moved from the Inuit settlement Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo ) Moved to Schefferville in 1956 to find work on the local mines and railroad construction. Later, the Naskapi were relocated by Schefferville City Council to a remote location on John Lake, where they had no access to running water, sewage regulation, lived in poverty with no electricity, schools, or medical care.In 1968, Matimekosh # 3 reservation was established for the local Naskapi and Innu (an enclave of the present-day town of Schefferville), to which nasotherapy also moved in 1972, during which time they mostly became as Naskapis de Schefferville Indian band and later Naskapi band of Quebec , respectively. In the 19 In the 1970s, the Naskapi began to represent claims to the Canadian government, and in the “Northeastern Québec Agreement” in 1978 they waived any land claims in relation to the Matimekosh # 3 reservation as a prerequisite for the establishment of their own reservation. As part of the agreement, the provincial government of Quebec transferred 41.44 km² of land to the federal government of Canada in 1981 for the sole benefit of the Naskapi. In 1983 the first naskapi settled in what is now the main settlement of Kawawachikamach ("the meandering river"), which was specially adapted to the climatic conditions prevailing here (water, sewage, electricity, access roads, etc.). Kawawachikamach is about 16 km northeast of Schefferville on the south bank of Lake Matemace in Côte-Nord , Québec , the settlement covers about 16 hectares, like many northern First Nation communities, the Naskapi derive most of their food from hunting, fishing and the trapping. In addition, the harvest is the focus of Naskapi spirituality, reserve: Kawawachikamach, approx. 49 km², population: 698)
- Mushuau Innu First Nation (also: Mushuaunnu - "Innu of the Tundra ", derived from Mushuat "in a barren, treeless, desolate land, in the tundra" + Innu , also: Mushuau-shipu Innu - "Innu along the Mushuau-shipu / Mushuan Shipu , i.e. Rivière George ", now live in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador , in 1967 the Mushuau Innu were settled in Utshimassits ( Davis Inlet ) in the east of the island of Iluikoyak off the coast of the Labrador Peninsula and therefore as Utshimassiunnu (" Innu by Davis Inlet “), in the winter of 2002/2003 they settled in today's main settlement Natuashish (pronounced 'Nat-wah-sheesh')about 15 km west along the north coast of Labrador, which is about 295 km north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and 80 km southeast of Nain (also Naina ) is on the mainland, they speak the eastern dialect of Iyuw Imuun ( 'eastern Naskapi') and used the syllabary of the Cree , today the majority uses the Latin alphabet and not the syllables Font of the Cree, reservation: Natuashish # 2, approx. 43 km², population: 777)
literature
- Frank G. Speck: Naskapi - The Savage Hunters of the Labrador Peninsula , University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1977 ISBN 978-0-8061-1418-7
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- Jump up ↑ Barry M. Pritzker: Native Americans: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Peoples: A Reference Guide , Publisher: ABC-CLIO Ltd (September 1998), ISBN 978-0-87436-836-9
- ↑ Christian F. Feest : Animated Worlds - The religions of the Indians of North America. In: Small Library of Religions , Vol. 9, Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-451-23849-7 . Pp. 147-148.
- ↑ Barry M. Pritzker: A Native American Encyclopedia. History, Culture and Peoples. Oxford University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1 . P. 510.
- ↑ Joshua Project: Canada ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Naskapi), accessed January 1, 2016.
- ↑ The Ilnu-aimun or Innu-aimun (Montagnais)
- ↑ Innu-Aimun - the language of the Innu (Montagnais) ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cree-Montagnais (Innu) -Naskapi Dialects ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 232 kB)
- ↑ Ethnologue - The Naskapi (Innu Aimun, Iyuw Iyimuuun)
- ↑ the in Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo) themselves alien Naskapi and Innu adopted the English name “Fort Chimo” in their language as Puatshishaimu or Uashkaikan
- ↑ Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Innu Nation
- ^ Mushuau Innu Natuashish School
- ↑ Ilnu and Innu communities List of Ilnu / Innu (Montagnais-Naskapi) settlements with indigenous and English names
