Hello people!
I have been doing my latest project in Humanities, New Beginnings! I will be talking about the fur trade within New France and how it affected the people living there. Sadly, this will be my last blog post in humanities 8. I hope you enjoy.
Driving question: What did the establishment of New France mean for all the people involved.
What was our project?
We had to create 2 visual representations showing 2 opposite point of views on a topic in New France. We used a program called Flourish, it allowed me to use a slider to show each photos. I chose to learn about the fur trade, at first, it was a really good trade that created alliances between the European and Indigenous nations. However, they started killing a lot of beavers, nearly wiping out their entire population.
The first thing we started of with was a Seycove ad challenge. At first, the teachers planned it so that we had to create an ad on why you should go to New France. They later changed it because going to New France also had a down side. I created this with Julia and Kadin. My main idea for the ad was that Seycove was more than a school, there is a nice community and a beautiful landscape around it. I took a photo of Kadin next to the school and forest and used filters to make the school black and grey and made the forest even more vibrant. Here it is:
After finishing the ad, we revisited some old photography techniques we could potentially use in our visuals. We went outside and started experimenting. I took some long shots, birds eye view, worms eye view and some others. We then created a prototype using the photos we just took.
We then did a fur trade simulation on how it would be inside the different nations. I got put into the Haudenosaunee and had to do some minor research. I learnt that the Haudenosaunee was comprised of 6 nations and was allied with the British and against the French.
After that I had to create a pitch on what my visuals will be like. Here was my pitch:
My topic: The fur trade.
Photo: I plan to use a photo that I took last week during the nature photography walk. The photo focuses on a stream next to the forest.
1st Visual representation:
1st symbol: My first symbol is a beaver in the water that is just swimming about. I chose to use this because the focus of my visual is the beaver trade.
2nd symbol: The second symbol is a musket, they had to shoot their target to take its pelt.
3rd symbol: My last symbol is a dollar bill. I put this in because the fur trade was a really profitable business.
Sign: This sign will say “A new and undiscovered land” because the Europeans will be discovering a “new land” even though the Indigenous was here for hundreds of years.
2nd Visual representation:
1st symbol: For my first symbol in my second visual representation I chose fire. I added fire on top of the forest to show how the beaver trade was heavily damaging the ecosystem
2nd symbol: My second symbol I chose was a musket that was just fired at the beaver. It shows how the First Nations killed the beavers.
3rd symbol: My last symbol was a dead beaver that was just shot by the musket. It represents how the indigenous had to murder the wild life so that they could make money.
Sign: This sign will say “No more beavers” because all the beavers in the land would have been hunted to extinction.
Finally, I started working on my 2 visuals. My first 2 drafts were similar to my first prototype, but I rearranged the photos a bit. After getting advice from Cam B, he told me I should change the font to make it easier to read. I also changed the photos a bit so that it looks better. My final revision only changed the text box so that it has a border to stand out more.
I also explained what each symbol and why they are all important:
For my first visual, it depicts a nice environment where everything is happy and prosperous.
First symbol (money): I added a dollar bill because it shows that the beaver trade was a really profitable business. Not only that, it was really valuable to have.
Second symbol (beaver with beaver hat): I chose to have a beaver wearing a hat to show that everyone really wanted the fur pelts. The pelts were not only really soft and durable, but was cool and fashionable.
Third symbol (a musket): The musket represents how the indigenous traded the pelts for they guns. It shows how the indigenous people improved their technology.
My second visual shows the beaver dead and the forest on fire. I chose to create it like this because the fur trade heavily damaged the eco system.
First symbol (burnt forest): The burnt forest represents how the Europeans took things without thinking about the environment.
Second symbol (dead beaver): The dead beaver shows how the fur trade nearly cause the beaver species to go extinct.
Third symbol (musket being shot): I made it so that the musket is shooting the beaver because it shows how the indigenous used their “gifts” to hunt even more beavers than before.
What I learnt:
I learnt a lot about the creation of New France and why it was an important part of our history. Not only that, it shaped Canada to what it is today. I also learnt about how the Indigenous nations helped the Europeans establish a colony in New France.
My answer to the driving question:
The establishment of New France had good and bad consequences. The Europeans could start fresh in a new land that had endless possibilities. However, it was really hard to start over because of the winter, it would freeze a lot of people and cause them to get diseases. Not only that, they created a new trade, the fur trade. It was a really profitable business and the indigenous got new and advanced technology in exchange for beaver pelts. They also nearly wiped out the population of beavers and ruined the ecosystem.
Overall, I enjoyed learning about our past and what things we could’ve done better. I think I created 2 decent visuals that shows the importance of the Fur Trade. However, I think I could have made the visuals a bit more realistic.
Thanks for reading!
Goodbye.
-Chris
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