Aboriginal Population

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a map comprised of two condensed maps showing Aboriginal population. The main map shows an attempt to depict the Aboriginal ethnic and linguistic situation as it existed when the various Aboriginal peoples were first met by Europeans. It is based on a similar map which accompanied Bulletin 65 of the National museum of Canada - Indians of Canada by Diamond Jeness, first published in 1932. As Canada was first explored almost wholly in an east to west direction, the time of first European contact varies from place to place. Europeans met the Aboriginal peoples of the Labrador coast as early as the eleventh century A.D., while, on the other hand, many tribes in the far west and north-west remained unknown until late in the nineteenth century A.D. It must also be understood that this map is valid only for a limited period of time before and after the first European contact in any area. The fact that a given tribe was found in a certain area in 1600 A.D., for example, is no basis for assuming that it was there several centuries earlier. Of the groups shown, the Beothuk, Tsetsaut and Nicola are now extinct. The small scale inset map and graph that accompany the main map give a general picture of the distribution of Canada's Aboriginal population in 1951.