History of Alberta

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What is now Alberta has been settled for thousands of years by the ancestors of today's First Nations, but recorded history begins only with the arrival of Europeans.

Contents 1 Native groups 2 Pre-Confederation 3 Drive to provincehood 4 Later history 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Native groups

The ancestors of today's First Nations in Alberta arrived in the area at least 8,000 years BP, according to the Bering land bridge theory. Southerly tribes, the Plain Indians, such as the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigans eventually adapted to semi-nomadic Plains Bison hunting, originally without the aid of horses, but later with horses Europeans had introduced. More northerly tribes, like the Woodland Cree and the Chipewyan also hunted, trapped, and fished for other types of game in the parkland and boreal forest regions. Later, the mixture of these native peoples with white fur traders and missionaries created a new cultural group, the Métis. The Métis established themselves to the east of Alberta, but after being displaced by white settlement, many migrated to Alberta.

[edit] Pre-Confederation

The first European to reach Alberta was the fur trader Anthony Henday, who explored the vicinity of present-day Red Deer and Edmonton in 1754-55. He spent the winter with a group of Blackfoot, with whom he traded and went buffalo hunting.^[1] Aside from Henday the important early explorers of Alberta include David Thompson, Peter Pond, Alexander MacKenzie, and George Simpson. The first European settlement was founded at Fort Chipewyan by MacKenzie in 1788, although Fort Vermillion disputes this claim, having also been founded in 1788.

The early history of Alberta is closely tied to the fur trade, and the rivalries associated with it. The first battle was between English and French traders, and often took the form of open warfare. Most of central and southern Alberta is part of the Hudson Bay watershed, and in 1670 was claimed by the English Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) as part of its monopoly territory, Rupert's Land. This was contested by French traders operating from Montreal, the Coureurs des bois. When France’s power on the continent was crushed after the fall of Qubec in 1759, the British HBC was left with unfettered control of the trade, and exercised its monopoly powers. This was soon challenged in the 1770s by the North West Company (NWC), a private Montreal-based company that hoped to recreate the old French trading network in the interior. Many of Alberta’s cities and towns started as either HBC or NWC trading posts, including Fort Edmonton. The HBC and NWC eventually merged in 1821, and in 1870 the new HBC’s trade monopoly was abolished and trade in the region was opened to any entrepreneur. The company ceded Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion of Canada as the Northwest Territories as part of the Rupert's Land Act of 1868.

The economic struggle represented by the fur trade was parrelleled by a spiritual struggled between rival Christian churches hoping to win converts among the native Indians. The first Roman Catholic missionary was Jean-Baptiste Thibault, who arrived at Lac Sainte Anne in 1842.^[2]

In 1864, the Roman Catholic Church in Canada tasked Father Albert Lacombe with evangelizing the Plains Indians, which he had some success with. Several Alberta towns and regions were first settled by French missionary activity, such as St. Albert, and St. Paul. The Anglican Church of Canada and several other Protestant denominations also sent missions to the Natives.

The area latter to become Alberta was acquired by the fledging Dominion of Canada in 1868 in the hopes that it would become an agricultural frontier settled by White Canadians. In order to “open up” the land to settlement, the government began negotiating the Numbered Treaties with the various Native nations, which offered them reserved lands and the right to government support in exchange for ceding all claims to the majority of the lands to the Crown. At the same time the decline of the HBC’s power had allowed American whisky traders and hunters to expand into southern Alberta, disrupting the Native way of life. Of particular concern was the infamous Fort Whoop-Up near present-day Lethbridge, and the associated Cypress Hills massacre of 1873.

At the same as whisky was being introduced to the First Nations, firearms were becoming more easily available. Meanwhile white hunters were shooting huge numbers of Plains Bison, the primary food source of the plains tribes. Diseases were also spreading among the tribes. Warfare and starvation become rampant on the plains. Eventually disease and starvation weakened the tribes to the point where warfare become impossible. This cuminated in 1870 with the Battle of the Belly River between the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Cree. It was the last major battle fought between native nations Canadian soil.

In order to bring law and order to the West, the government created the North West Mounted Police, the “mounties”, in 1873. In July 1874 275 officers began their legendary “march west” towards Alberta. They reached the western end of trek by setting up a new headquarters at Fort Macleod. The force was then divided, half going north to Edmonton, and half heading back to Manitoba. The next year, new outpost were founded: Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and Fort Calgary, around which the city of Calgary would form.

As the buffalo disappeared from the Canadian west, cattle ranches move in to take their place. Rachers were amomg the most successful early settlers. The arid praries and foothills were well suited to American-style, dryland, open-range ranching. Black American cowboy John Ware brought the first cattle into the province in 1876. Like most hired hands, Ware was American, but the industry was dominated by powerful British- and Ontarian-born magnates like Patrick Burns.^[3]

The peace and stablity the mounties brought fostered dreams of mass settlement on the Canadian Prairies. The land was surveyed by the Canadian Pacific Railway for possible routes to the Pacific. The early favourite was a northerly line that went through Edmonton and the Yellowhead Pass. The success of the mounties in the South, coupled with a government desire to establish Canadian sovereignty of that area, and the CPR’s desire to undercut land speculators prompted the CPR to announce a last minute swtich of the route to a more southerly path passing through Calgary and the Kicking Horse Pass. This was against the advise of some surveyors who said that the south was an arid zone not suitable for agricultural settlement.

Nevertheless, the CPR went ahead and was nearly completed in 1885 when the North West Rebellion broke out between Metis and First Nations groups and the government. After the Cree war party attacked a white settlement at Frog Lake, Alberta, Canadian militia from Ontario were sent to Alberta via the CPR and fought against the Cree.

After the rebellion was pacified, thousands of settlers began to pour into Alberta. Initially, the government preferred English-speaking settlers from Eastern Canada or Great Britain, and to a lesser extent, the United States. However, in order to speed up the rate of settlement, the government under the direction of Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton soon began advertising to attract settlers from continental Europe. Large numbers of Germans, Ukrainians, and Scandinavians moved in, among others, often coalessing into distinct ethnic settlement blocks, giving parts of Alberta unique ethnic cultures.

[edit] Drive to provincehood

At the dawn of the 20th Century, Alberta was simply a district of the North-West Territories. Local leaders lobbied hard for provincial status. The Premier of the territories, Sir Frederick Haultain, was one the most persistent and vocal supporters of provincehood for the west. However, his plan for provincial status in the west was not a plan for the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan which was eventually adpoted; rather he favored the creation of one very large province called Buffalo. Other proposals called for three provinces, or two provinces with a border running east-west instead of north-south.

The Prime Minister of the day, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, did not want to concentrate too much power in one province, which might grow to rival Quebec and Ontario, but neither did he think three provinces were viable, and so opted for the two province plan. Alberta become a province along with her sister Saskatchewan on September 5, 1905.

Haultain might have been have been expected to be appointed as the first Premier of Alberta. However, Haultain was Conservative while Laurier was Liberal. Laurier opted to have Lieutenant Governor George H. V. Bulyea appoint the Liberal Alexander Rutherford.

Alberta's other main leader at the time was Frank Oliver. He founded Edmonton's influential Bulletin newspaper in 1903 from which he espoused a sharp criticism of Liberal policies in the West. He was especially disapproving of Ukrainian settlement. He was elected to the territorial assembly, but resigned to become a federal MP. He replaced Sifton as Minister of the Interior and set about reducing support for European immigration. At the same time he was in charge of drawing up the boundaries of the privincial ridings for the 1905 Alberta elections. He is accused by some of gerrymandering the boundaries to favour Liberal Edmonton over Tory Calgary.

Together Oliver and Rutherford made sure that Edmonton became Alberta's capital, and neighbouring Strathcona was home to the University of Alberta, much to the chagrin of Calgarians.

[edit] Later history

Oil was first discovered in Alberta in the 1910's and 1920's. Although small oil patches grew up around places like Turner Valley and Borradalle, oil did not become a significant sourece of revenue to the province until Imperial Oil's Leduc # 1 "blew in" on February 13, 1947.^[4] This really signified the beginning of the Alberta oil boom and brought lasting prosperity to the province. Just as a matter of interest Leduc # 1 continued producing oil until 1974.

The Liberals formed the first government of Alberta and remained in office until 1921. In that year the United Farmers were elected and held power until 1934. In 1934 the UFA was defeated, in part due to a sex scandal involving a former premier, and in part due to the governments inability to combat the great depression.

In 1934 a Social Credit government was elected. Social Credit was based on the economic theories of an Englishman, Major Douglas. These theories were very popular all over the continent as a result of the pain and suffering of the Great Depression. In large part it called for the return of prosperity certificates (or social credit) but more commonly called "funny money" to the people of the province.

After its election many actions of the Social Credit government such as its plan to issue prosperity certificates and its plan to censor the press were declared unconstutional. Despite this the Social Credit Party remained in power for 36 years until 1971. They were re-elected by popular vote no less than 9 times.^[5]

In the election of 1971 the Social Credit government was defeated and the Progressive Conservative Party came to power. They remain in power to this day, coming up on 36 years of majority governments. In 2006, the leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Ralph Klein, admitted that his party did not have a plan for the inevitable growth resulting from oil revenues.^[6] As a result, much of the provinces riches are squandered rather than re-invested in the public services, such as the declining public school system and the health care system. In 2006, residents of the province recieived "Ralph Bucks" cheques as a reward for living in a rich province.

[edit] See also

• Battle of the Belly River
• History of Lethbridge
• List of Alberta premiers
• Monarchy in Alberta

[edit] References

v • d • e History of the Provinces and territories of Canada
Federal	History of Canada • Territorial evolution of Canada
Provinces	British Columbia • Alberta • Saskatchewan • Manitoba • Ontario • Quebec • New Brunswick • Nova Scotia • Prince Edward Island • Newfoundland and Labrador
Territories	Yukon • Northwest Territories • Nunavut

v • d • e Topics on Alberta
History	Fur trade • Numbered Treaties • Alberta Act • Oil exploration • Social Credit • Historic sites
Politics	Political parties • Elections (last) • Government • Lieutenant Governor • Cabinet • Premiers (current) • Speaker • Legislature • Electoral districts (federal)
Geography	Demographics • Mountains • Provincial parks • Lakes • Rivers
Communities	Counties and Municipal Districts • Towns • Villages • Hamlets • Indian Reserves • Métis • Census divisions
Economy	Companies • ATB • Tourism • Highways • Airports
Culture	Education • Festivals • First Nations • Franco-Albertan • Music • People • Symbols • Flag • Coat of arms • Anthem