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ABORIGINAL PEOPLES IN CANADA circa 1740 represents
a temporal cross-section of the Aboriginal population early in the eighteenth
century. The year 1740 was selected for this map because it represents
one hundred and fifty years of Aboriginal-European contact at the height
of the French Regime. Good manuscript and printed map coverage for New
France and Hudson Bay, along with contemporary population estimates, are
available for this period.
Population data for 1740 is based on censuses conducted by the
French in 1739 to 1741 in order to assess the number of warriors
within their alliance system. On the basis of these, as well as
other estimates, it is likely that the Aboriginal population depicted
on the Canadian portion of this map stood at about 45 000 people.
Based on the late 18th and 19th century data, and making allowances
for the ravages of diseases and war, it is likely that the total
aboriginal population of Canada in 1740 did not exceed 200 000.
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