The Huron Wedat Analysis

Even the immense generosity of the Huron Wedat nation couldn’t keep the Jesuit missionaries from following their directive. When the French came to settle the New World, they set out not only to conquer the land, but also the indigenous beliefs. As such, the Jesuit missionaries set out to convert devout Hurons to Catholicism. Though the conversions centers were successful in the view of the French Jesuits, the Sainte-Marie settlement in particular was ironically condemned by fate from the first stake hammered into the soil. The unforgiving shores of Georgian Bay gave way to a brutal conditions, leaving the already strained relations of the two parties the key to the vulnerability of the settlement to opposing Iroquois forces. With the word …show more content…
Though the conversion process, which included a small number of Wendat, was going relatively well, the purposes of the Jesuits were in question. Historians question whether the Jesuit priests in question had any respect for the native culture whatsoever, as “Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons portrays a partnership between the Wendat and French missionaries, and ignores, or at least plays down, Jesuit efforts to undermine every aspect of Wendat culture”. This shows that although the Sainte-Marie Mission was converting very small amounts of natives, they were affecting the community more negatively than they ever could have imagined. At its height, the French population at Sainte-Marie reached 66, which was quite significant due to the remoteness of the mission. This put a large foreign presence in the midst of a First Nations group that were already settled there, which troubled them deeply. When French ministers used Sainte-Marie as a home base, they would venture out and preach in the twenty surrounding villages, hoping to evangelize a population already grounded in its own beliefs. However, this was but the beginning of the conflict of the region. Superiors of Sainte-Marie, the first being Father Jean de Brébeuf, and his successor Father Jérôme Lalemant unintentionally brewed conflict between the tribes through their preaching. As God’s work was done, and …show more content…
The Iroquois had previously quarreled with the Wendat throughout history, though their current conflict revolved around trade with the new inhabitants of their land. While the Wendat traded with the settlers of New France along the St. Lawrence River, the Iroquois traded with the Dutch to the south, near the Hudson River. This economic conflict between the groups brought both tension, as each group attempted to out-produce one another in terms of the amount of beaver pelts they could collect and trade with the settlers. If either the Wendat or the Iroquois were able to secure the advantage, a military conflict would arise in order for the economic loser to recuperate. In turn, the Confederacy did not appreciate the French missionaries attempting to convert even their enemies, and sought to solve both their problems. With the Sainte-Marie settlement relatively well-defended, they sought to attack the village of Sainte-Joseph. The first missionary to perish violently in the new world, Father Antoine Daniel, was killed as a message to the French settlers in Huronia. Failing to heed the Iroquois warning, Sainte-Marie had its reign as one of the most populous settlements in the New World stained with blood. In March of 1649, a large Iroquois force sack the villages of Sainte-Louis and Sainte-Ignace, and capture Fathers