Why Bison Matter

Question 1

why do bison matter?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

energy regimes

Answer 2

• 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)

Question 3

fur trade expansion

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

fur trader diet

Answer 4

• 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!

Question 5

pemmican: what is it? why does it matter?

Answer 5

• 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