Cultural Crossings: 10,000 Years of Memories
The First Nations - literally, the first peoples here - likely began settling in Alberta as early as 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, after the glaciers that helped carve the Rocky Mountains and the prairies finally receded. In the south, peoples such as the Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan hunted the bison that in the early 19th century numbered some 40 million across the North American plains. Further north, First Nations such as the Woodland Cree and the Chipewyan took advantage of rivers and woodland to fish, and to hunt game such as moose and caribou.
The arrival of European explorers in the late 1700s, followed by fur traders, missionaries and settlers, placed such pressure on the First Nations that their traditional way of living on the land - moving with the game and the seasons - began to change, especially with the near extinction of the bison here by the late 19th century. Those years also saw the creation of a new people: the M
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