“By an unlucky coincidence, the return of the Jesuits to the Huron country coincided with the beginning of a series of virulent epidemics that were to reduce the Huron population by approximately fifty percent within six years. These same diseases infected all the tribes who had dealings with the French and penetrated along the trade routes into areas no Europeans had yet visited.”
Bruce. G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1669, 1976
Indigenous groups, such as the Huron, maintained contact with colonial settlers to
Create military alliances to protect their lands from rival tribes and European encroachment
Develop the fur trade which provided Indigenous groups with valuable European goods, such as firearms and metal tools
Adopt European religious and political institutions, such as Christianity, for peace and prosperity
Manage the unavoidable interaction with settlers due to their encroaching expansionism on Indigenous settlements
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