Metissage in New France and Canada 1508 to 1886

This book deals with metissage in New France and Canada in the period 1508 to 1886. Metissage is understood as a syncretistic process of cultural, social and political encounter and mixture of ethnic groups that resulted from mixed marriages and relationships. Those led to the rise of the Metis people in North America, which were distinguished as French-speaking Metis and English-speaking Halfbreeds. The process of mixture began in 1508, when first Indians were shipped to France with the intention to use them as multipliers of French culture on their return to the colony. In 1886, the Act of Savages legally distinguished between "Indians" and "Metis", thus marking the beginning of a mixed-blood identity in Canada that was differentiated from neighbouring Whites, Indians and Inuit. The theoretical approach of the history of concepts is employed in the longue duree to show the variance throughout four centuries.