"Canoes of Great Swiftness": Rivercraft and War in the Northeast

Abstract

The Wabanakis of northern New England were much more successful than their Algonquian peers in resisting the advance of settler colonialism into their homeland. This article argues that the key to that success was the birchbark canoe; a technology that gave Wabanakis a decisive military advantage during several conflicts with the British Empire. The incredibly light weight birchbark canoe allowed Wabanakis to portage around New England's many waterfalls and across the region's many river valleys with relative ease. Although Europeans admired the birchbark canoe, they failed to reproduce that technology for their own use. The article also explores how colonists such as Benjamin Church vainly attempted to adapt whaleboats in order to match the sophistication of indigenous nautical technology. This piece troubles the assumption of European technological superiority in their interactions with Native Americans. It also points to the importance of waterways and the nature of transportation in understanding how historical subjects conceived space and experienced encounters in colonial America.