River of Three Peoples: an Environmental and Cultural History of the Wәlastәw / Riviѐre St
RIVER OF THREE PEOPLES: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE WӘLASTӘW / RIVIЀRE ST. JEAN / ST. JOHN RIVER, C. 1550 – 1850 By Jason Hall Masters of Environmental Studies, York University, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, St. Thomas University, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in the Graduate Academic Unit of History Supervisors: Elizabeth Mancke, Ph.D., Dept. of History Bill Parenteau, Ph.D., Dept. of History Examining Board: Rusty Bittermann, Ph.D., Dept. of History, St. Thomas University Michael Dawson, Ph.D., Dept. of History, St. Thomas University Internal examiner Susan Blair, Ph.D., Dept. of Anthropology External Examiner: Matthew G. Hatvany, Ph.D., Dept. of Geography, Université Laval This dissertation is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK October, 2015 © Jason Hall, 2015 Abstract This study investigates how three distinct cultures – Maliseet, French, and British – engaged with and transformed the ecology of the Wəlastəkw/rivière St. Jean/St. John River, the largest river system in the Maritimes and New England. Ranging three centuries, ca. 1550‐1850, it examines cultural interactions relative to the river’s fish, banks, and flow to assess ecological changes. By developing comparisons among Maliseet, French, and British relationships to the river, it analyzes how cultural groups modified and expanded on the ecology of other peoples. Drawing upon a vast array of sources, including Maliseet oral traditions and language, archaeological surveys, scientific studies, historic maps and paintings, as well as diaries, letters, and reports of the waterway and its banks, this research makes significant contributions to a number of scholarly fields: river ecologies and human adaptations of them, Maliseet history, seigneurial settlement in colonial societies, Loyalist ecology, colonial and municipal legal history, historical cartography, and the role of ecological knowledge in governance and environmental activism.
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