Pioneers in Canada
by Harry Johnston (1858–1927)
- Free to read
- 7 hours to read
- 13 chapters
- Reading level: 8th & 9th grade
"Pioneers in Canada" by Sir Harry Johnston is a historical account written in the early 20th century. The work explores the adventures and experiences of early European explorers and settlers in Canada, focusing particularly on their interactions with the indigenous populations and the natural environment. The book aims to detail the historical context and motivations behind the expansion of the British Empire, highlighting the trials and tribulations faced by those pioneers. At the start of the text, Johnston sets the stage by explaining the broader purpose of his series, which intends to recount real-life adventures in unexplored territories. He reflects on the journeys of various historical figures, including Jacques Cartier and John Cabot, who made significant contributions to the early exploration of North America. The opening chapters present an outline of the migration patterns of early humans, the encounters between Europeans and Native Americans, and the essential geographical features that shaped these exploratory narratives. Johnston's approach intertwines scientific observations with storytelling, providing readers with insights into both the landscape and the historical implications of European colonization in Canada.
- Canada · History · To 1763 (New France)
- Indians of North America · Canada
- Northwest, Canadian · Description and travel
- Frontier and pioneer life · Canada
- Pioneers · Canada · History
- Canada · Discovery and exploration
Read the opening
Chapter I
The White Man's Discovery of North America
So far as our knowledge goes, it is almost a matter of certainty that Man originated in the Old World—in Asia possibly. Long after this wonderful event in the Earth's history, when the human species was spread over a good deal of Asia, Europe, and Africa, migration to the American continents began in attempts to find new feeding grounds and unoccupied areas for hunting and fishing. How many thousands or hundreds of thousands of years ago it was since the first men entered America we do not yet know, any more than we can determine the route by which they travelled from Asia. Curiously enough, the oldest traces of man as yet discovered in the New World are not only in South America, but in the south-eastern parts of South America. Although the most obvious recent land connection between the Old and New Worlds is the Aleutian chain of islands connecting Kamschatka with Alaska, the ethnologist is occasionally led to think by certain evidence that there may, both earlier and later, have existed another way of reaching western America from south-eastern Asia through Pacific archipelagoes and islets now sunk below the sea. In any case it seems quite probable that men of Mongolian or Polynesian type reached America on its western coasts long before the European came from the north-east and east, and that they were helped on this long journey by touching at islands since submerged by earthquake shocks or tidal waves.
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About this edition
This free edition of Pioneers in Canada by Harry Johnston comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #13003, released 2004-07-23. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Adventure, History - Other, History - American, History - British.
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