New Conflicts

 A display case features items from the days of the height of the fur trade in North America.

Beside it are contemporary items. The Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670 and dominated much of the fur trade. Their distinctive coloured stripe motif is today seen in items still sold in their stores.

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia is the title of the painting seen here, dating around 1751 and from the circle of Samuel Scott. The British had established Nova Scotia as a colony.

Its governor from 1749-52, Edward Cornwallis, was ruthless and brutal towards the Mi'kmaq people living there.

The French and Indian War, otherwise known as the Seven Years War, would erupt in North America and around the world, pitting the English and French against each other. It would end in British victory, and end the era of New France for good. Four portraits of First Nations chiefs by John Vereist are here, dating to the period, collectively called the Four Kings Of Canada.

Weapons of the period are displayed between two portraits of opposing generals who met at the pivotal Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City. James Wolfe commanded British forces and fell in battle. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm died of his wounds there. The victory by the British was the climax of the war in North America.

Two more paintings of the period, both by Dominic Serres and both dating to 1760. A View Of The Treasury And Jesuit College, Quebec City and A View Of The Church Of Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire, Quebec City are displayed together.

The British would have to accommodate the people they were now governing.

Some of their decisions of the time led to the American Revolution among the thirteen colonies of the Atlantic seaboard.

A complicated war, because not everyone in what's now the United States agreed with going to war against the Crown. Loyalists fought against the Continental army, and came north to make a new life following the war.

And a few years beyond that, the Americans started another war with the British, this time to drive them out of North America entirely. The War of 1812 was fought by British regulars, Canadian militia, and First Nations warriors to prevent that from happening.

The Americans didn't achieve their goal.