by Rich Wandschneider | Aug 11, 2024 | horses, Hudson’s Bay Company, infectious diseases, Lakota, Native revival, Navajo, Ned Blackhawk, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce War, North American Indian, Pacific Northwest Indians
I’ve written before about Ned Blackhawk’s outstanding book, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. Here’s more. The title itself is revolutionary—“rediscovering” echoing and countering the decades of homage to Columbus for...
by Rich Wandschneider | Oct 2, 2023 | catholic indian missions, Henry Spalding, Hudson’s Bay Company, Louisiana Purchase, Metis, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
I’m not a Catholic, and not an anti-Catholic. And I won’t whitewash the many heinous crimes of boarding schools and deviant priests. But, given that, I see a strong bent of anti-Catholicism in our history. The result of a strong current of Anglo-American Protestant...
by Rich Wandschneider | Apr 16, 2021 | beaver, beaver hats, fur trade, Hudson’s Bay Company
We know now that the fur trade in North America began in the 1500s with English, and French and Spanish Basque, fishermen off the Atlantic coast. When the fish weren’t enough—or when economies suggested—the fishermen went ashore and took and traded for beaver pelts...
by Rich Wandschneider | Nov 18, 2016 | Astor, beaver, Columbia District, fur trade, Georg Simpson, Hudson’s Bay Company, joint occupancy, North West Company, Oregon Country, salmon
President-elect Trump’s promise to promote coal mining and open more public lands for development of natural gas and oil is not new politics. And the Indian-centered and inspired movement to stop the Dakota Access pipeline is not the first fight by Native Americans...
by Rich Wandschneider | Nov 24, 2015 | Father Serra, Hudson’s Bay Company, Indian land tenure, John Jackson, Metis, Ray Cook, Rupert Costo
There is so much to say about my friend Ray Cook, the man who introduced me to Rupert Costo, the Jesuits, and Father Serra’s journey to sainthood. Ray passed away quietly in California, and, unfortunately, did not see the blog post he inspired—I think it would have...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 6, 2015 | Alvin Josephy, fur trade, Hudson’s Bay Company, Rupert’s Land
Marc Jaffe and I have been editing away on a book of Alvin Josephy’s writings for over a year. Our goal is to let Alvin show readers how Indians are intricately woven into the fabric of American history—they are not a “sideshow”; to explore Alvin’s explorations of...
