Summary Of Jean De Brebeuf A Valuable Source Of Understanding The Huron Culture

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Considering the amount of time that Americans have lived on the North American continent, there is a lack of understanding of American Indian history. With the beginning of colonization, historians began to get a better understanding of some of the Native Americans that were living there at that time. Thanks to the French, we are able to have a better understanding of the tribes that lived on the land long before Europeans came to settle this continent. To have an understanding of the tribes, we can learn a lot from Jean De Brebeuf, who lived with the Huron’s for any years. The question that must be answered is, is Jean De Brebeuf a valuable source of understanding the Huron culture of the 17th century? De Brebeuf is a great source of …show more content…

From his writings, De Brebeuf used his experience to explain the culture of the Huron. The writings explain that the area that the Huron resided in was not a very large area and that he informs us that the tribe lives up near the Great Lakes region. Also, De Brebeuf informs the reader that in the middle part of the American continent there are around 30,000 people that lived in twenty towns and that they speak the same language. This evidence lets us know that the author is a valuable source because he took the time to inform future missionaries about the basic information of the people. Before going into a part of the world that people are not knowledgeable about, basic demographics are important to understand the people. Besides the demographics of the Huron, De Brebeuf informs the readers that the people were farmers, fishers, as well as traders of resources. Thanks to the writer, the Hurons were seen as a society that used many different methods to provide necessities for their tribe. De Brebeuf informed future settlers of the language of the Huron people. The author lets us know that the language was organized. According to De Brebeuf, the language was, “Very complete and very regular.” Even though people of the 17th century saw the language as difficult, De Brebeuf believed that if this language was mastered, understanding the people would lead to less misunderstandings. From Jean De Brebeuf’s examples of the Huron culture, a better understanding of its people made understanding this society much easier. De Brebeuf’s depiction was valuable for the missionaries as well to people that would learn about the