Canadian Centenary Series
Another volume, Canada 1922–1939: Decades of Discord by John Herd Thompson and Alan Seager, was shortlisted for the 1985 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction.
[1] The editors hoped that this would take advantage of co-operative scholarship, while ensuring that each volume would have the unity and distinctive character of individual authorship.
[2] However these two volumes were instead written by Dale Miquelon and George F. G. Stanley, respectively, presumably because Frégault was appointed the Deputy Minister of the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs (1961–1966; 1970–1975).
[9] Written by Tryggvi J. Oleson, a Manitoba historian of Icelandic descent, Early Voyages and Northern Approaches was the second volume to be published, in 1963.
In support of this thesis, Oleson relied on his interpretation of archaeological evidence, such as the structure of stone shelters in the eastern Arctic which he saw as similar to Icelandic structures; the development of a sea-culture including whaling from small boats, which he saw as similar to Norse practices; and a body of academic historical research from Icelandic scholars, which was not generally available to Canadian researchers.
Several reviewers challenged Oleson's interpretation,[11][12] particularly William Taylor, who was one of the leading experts in Arctic archaeology at the National Museum of Canada,[13] as well as Wilcomb E. Washburn from the Smithsonian Institution.
[14] The one contemporary review which was more favourable was from Thomas E. Lee, another archaeologist from the National Museum of Canada, who wrote that he had read Oleson's "tremendous work" six times, cover to cover, and thought it was "...by far the most important and instructive single work to come out of Arctic research in this field in recent times.
"[15] More recently, there has been some favourable re-examination of Oleson's thesis, emphasizing his careful scholarship and reliance on works in Icelandic which were not accessible to most Canadian academics.
[10] The criticism of Oleson's thesis, particularly its sometimes personal tone, appears to have caught the general editors of the Centenary Series by surprise.
They were also hampered in responding to the criticism by the untimely death of Oleson shortly after Early Voyages and Northern Approaches was published.
[17] Trudel was one of the first specialists in the history of New France prior to the British Conquest, and this volume is a condensation of three of his earlier texts: Les vaines tentatives, 1524–1603; Le comptoir, 1604–1627; La seigneurie des Cent-Associés, 1627–1663.
The initial attempts at colonial settlement relied on a succession of grants of rights to the fur trade to commercial groups, with an added requirement to bring in settlers (habitants).
The conflict, known as the Beaver Wars, resulted in an Iroquois victory, and the Hurons fleeing from their homeland in the Great Lakes area to new settlements near the town of Quebec.
He concludes that the primary reason that the French government emphasised missionary work in New France was to bolster its claims to support from the papacy against other European powers which were colonising North America.
New to the throne, Louis XIV cancelled the charter of the Company of 100 Associates and made New France into a royal province, under his direct rule.
Acadia had been regained and the French had explored the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi, establishing a much greater presence in the fur trade.
Louis was prepared to put considerable economic and military resources into the development of the colony, which was under the supervision of his able minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
