Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Iberians Three decades after Columbus’s voyages, the Spanish were in control of a vast quilt-pattern of indigenous empires. Their military prowess had been sharpened in the reconquista and their tolerance for non-Catholics dulled by the Inquisition. The colonization of … Continue reading →

In the period before contact with the Americas, the countries of England and France, as they appear on the map today, had not yet taken shape. For much of the Middle Ages, both regions faced invasions by Germanic and Scandinavian tribes … Continue reading →

A map of the world in 1400 reveals a patchwork of small countries and kingdoms, most of them heavily centralized, but few of them truly expansive. There are exceptions, such as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (and its successor state, … Continue reading →

In Chapter 2 we considered the very deep history of human occupation in the Americas. Here, we do the same for the Europeans. Northwestern Europe to 1491 The earliest human-made or anthropogenic tools discovered in France have been dated to more than 1.5 … Continue reading →

Dr. John Douglas Belshaw is an Open Learning faculty member at Thompson Rivers University, a consultant to the post-secondary sector, and a writer. He has authored, co-authored, and edited several books and articles on the history of British Columbia. Contributing … Continue reading →

Preparing the first open text on Canadian history has been an exercise in innovation and experimentation. It has had at its heart from the start, however, a singular vision of a resource that will remove a financial barrier to students … Continue reading →

Canadian History: Pre-Confederation was created by John Douglas Belshaw. This creation is a part of the B.C. Open Textbook project. In October 2012, the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education announced its support for the creation of open textbooks for the 40 highest-enrolled first and … Continue reading →

Pre-contact North America was home to a numerous and diverse array of peoples, languages, religions, and cultures. Scientific origin theories such as the Bering land bridge and coastal migration suggest that the ancestors of these groups arrived in the Western … Continue reading →

These brief histories of the Aboriginal Americas reveal that categorization is complicated. Take language, for example, which is often used as a key element of nationality (e.g., French people speak French and live in France and almost everyone in France speaks French). … Continue reading →