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Flashcards in Why Bison Matter Deck (5)
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1
Q

why do bison matter?

A
  • For Government of Canada, bison matter because they’re a keystone species (both cultural and ecological)
  • For historians, bison are important because their decline contributed to marginalization of indigenous peoples -> with loss of bison came loss of indigenous peoples’ independence and power
  • For environmental historians/energy historians, bison mattered because they fuelled the Canadian fur trade -> bison energized colonization
2
Q

energy regimes

A
  • According to Vaclav Smil, human history can be understood in terms of “energy regimes” (different combos of fuels and “prime movers”)
  • bison played a role in Somatic energy regime (biomass/food and muscle)
3
Q

fur trade expansion

A
  • fur trade expansion thought to be due to the canoe, but it was really due to new fuel (bison/pemmican)
  • voyageurs expanded fur trade, and needed fuel to make up for hard labour (ex. paddling, portaging) until pemmican was used
4
Q

fur trader diet

A
  • old diet: “custom of the voyageur” -> carbs, little protein (ex. corn, peas, lard) could only take them so far, but it was the only thing they could bring on canoes
  • then fuel changed -> pemmican introduced!
5
Q

pemmican: what is it? why does it matter?

A
  • food made of bison meat and fat; voyageurs traded for it from FN people
  • had twice the energy of the voyageur diet -> solved the energy crisis and fuelled expansion of fur trade
  • other consequences:
    • Bison became valuable commodity (environmental consequence)
    • Fuelled rivalry between fur trade companies -> increase in violence
    • Increased violence between traders and indigenous peoples -> fur traders less dependent on indigenous peoples due to their energy security