Explorers Owed Their Lives to Help from New World’s Natives
If it hadn’t been for the presence of aboriginal people, European settlers could not have endured life in Nova Scotia centuries ago, a conference in Halifax heard Saturday.
Amateur historian Niven Sinclair said the Mi’kmaq helped colonizers adapt quickly to the New World, and for that their efforts should be publicly praised.
"The reality is that the early voyagers who came to these shores could not survive for a single day without the help of the indigenous people," he told about 65 delegates to the Atlantic Conference.
The international symposium, which wraps up today at Saint Mary’s University, has attracted historians, archeologists, native leaders and others to metro to examine historical contacts between First Nations people and Europeans in North America.
Experts in their fields reported on their work and heard Mr. Sinclair, a retired entrepreneur from the United Kingdom, talk about his ancestor, Prince Henry Sinclair, a Scottish nobleman.
According to folklore and monuments, the Scotsman sailed to what is now North America in 1398. He was said to have spent the winter in Nova Scotia before moving along the coast to Massachusetts. But many historians dispute the claim that Prince Henry beat Columbus to North America by nearly a century...
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Amateur historian Niven Sinclair said the Mi’kmaq helped colonizers adapt quickly to the New World, and for that their efforts should be publicly praised.
"The reality is that the early voyagers who came to these shores could not survive for a single day without the help of the indigenous people," he told about 65 delegates to the Atlantic Conference.
The international symposium, which wraps up today at Saint Mary’s University, has attracted historians, archeologists, native leaders and others to metro to examine historical contacts between First Nations people and Europeans in North America.
Experts in their fields reported on their work and heard Mr. Sinclair, a retired entrepreneur from the United Kingdom, talk about his ancestor, Prince Henry Sinclair, a Scottish nobleman.
According to folklore and monuments, the Scotsman sailed to what is now North America in 1398. He was said to have spent the winter in Nova Scotia before moving along the coast to Massachusetts. But many historians dispute the claim that Prince Henry beat Columbus to North America by nearly a century...