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Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims 2016
This is the story of the canoe, that singular American artifact so little changed over time. Featured here are canoes old and new, from birch bark to dugout to carbon fiber; the people who made them; and the adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America.

Follow author Mark Neuzil on Twitter: @mrneuzil

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  • 9780816681174 (hardcover)
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  • Literature
  • Native American Studies
  • Regional Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • History
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  • Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes22
  • Sidebar: Napolean Sanford5
  • Chapter 3: The Fur Trade1
  • Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes1
  • Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes1

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  • dugout[remove]30
  • British Columbia7
  • Caribbean7
  • Early Modern6
  • Haida5
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  • Sims, Norman3
  • Unknown2
  • de Bry, Theodor2
  • Allmon, Charles1
  • Caves, Ron1
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  • image30

    • photograph21
    • illustration7
    • painting2

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  • 19003
  • 15621
  • 15851
  • 15901
  • 15911
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A black-and-white photograph of two people poling a dugout canoe on the Columbia River in 1900.

Log Canoe on the Columbia River

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Lee Moorhouse, Log canoe on the Columbia River, ca. 1900.

This woodcut illustration of a Taino dugout canoe first appeared in Girolamo Benzoni’s La Historia del Mondo Nuovo in 1562. It is titled Modo di nauigare nel Mare di Tramontana, or “navigating into the north wind.” Since the canoe and paddle shapes are not accurate, this illustration probably came from Columbus’s written description rather than from personal contact.

Modo di nauigare nel Mare di Tramontana

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Woodcut illustration of a Taino dugout canoe, Girolamo Benzoni’s La Historia del Mondo Nuovo, 1562.

A Florida dugout canoe and typical Timucua houses are shown in a 1591 engraving by Theodor de Bry after Jacques Le Moyne.

Florida Dugout Canoe and Typical Timucua Houses

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Florida dugout canoe and typical Timucua houses, 1591, engraving by Theodor de Bry after Jacques Le Moyne.

Dugout canoes are still used in daily life throughout the Americas. This contemporary dugout was photographed at Playa de San Mateo del Mar near Oaxaca, Mexico.

Contemporary Dugout at Playa de San Mateo del Mar

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Contemporary dugout photographed at Playa de San Mateo del Mar near Oaxaca, Mexico.

Inscriptions on bone from the Late Classic Era Mayan burial site at Tikal (c. 800–c. 1000 CE), redrawn by Linda Schele, artist and Mesoamerican scholar. These and several other images document Mayan canoe transport.

Mayan Bone Inscriptions

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Inscriptions on bone from the Late Classic Era Mayan burial site at Tikal (ca. 800–ca. 1000 CE), redrawn by Linda Schele, artist and Mesoamerican scholar.

The Putun were a group of Chontal Maya from the Gulf Coast of what are today the Mexican states of Tabasco and Campeche. They were the star navigators of the Mayans. Called the “Phoenicians of Mesoamerica,” to them goes the credit for the maritime trading empire along the Caribbean west coast. This fresco featuring dugout canoes is from the interior of the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá.

Fresco Featuring Dugout at Chichén Itzá

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Fresco featuring Putun dugout canoes, interior walls of the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza.

photograph of Caribbean dugout fishing boats made from gommier trees, lined up on a beach in Martinique in 1959.

Dugouts in Martinique

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Caribbean fishermen repair their nets in a beach in Martinique, 1959.

This drawing by John White dates between 1585 and 1593, and was probably intended to display a bounteous scene to encourage English colonists. Inscribed “The manner of their fishing.” The Algonquin of North Carolina used dugout canoes to harvest fish from February to May. The word “cannow” is written on the hull of the boat.

The Manner of Their Fishing

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Drawing by John White (~1585–1593), inscribed The manner of their fishing and A Cannow.

In one of the earliest views of New York, this woodcut by Kryn Frederycks, titled T’ Fort Nieuw Amsterdam op de Manhatans, depicts native dugouts amidst European sailing vessels, ca. 1626.

T’Fort Nieuw Amsterdam op de Manhatans

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Kryn Frederycks woodcut titled T’ Fort Nieuw Amsterdam op de Manhatans, ca. 1626.

A dugout next to an oyster house on the water near New Haven, Connecticut, 1872.

Oyster Dugouts

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

The oyster industry of the East Coast relied on dugout canoes to navigate the rivers of Connecticut during the nineteenth century. This photograph dates to 1872 and depicts a dugout next to an oyster house near New Haven.

Archeologists Melissa Memory, Donna, Ruhl, and Ray McGee examine a dugout canoe found during a drought in 2000 at Newnans Lake, Florida. The canoe is one of the longest and better-preserved dugouts from the lakebed. More than 100 dugouts were discovered ranging in age from 500 to 5,000 years old. Photograph by Jeff Gage/Florida Museum of Natural History.

Newnans Lake Dig

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Archeologists examine a dugout canoe found during a drought in 2000 at Newnans Lake, Florida.

John Webber, Tereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing presents to Capt. Cook, c. 1773-1784. This watercolor depicts the distinctive “crab-claw” sail of the Owyhee (now Hawai’i) island double hull canoes. Artist John Webber traveled with Captain James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific in 1776-1780.

Tereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing presents to Capt. Cook

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

John Webber, Tereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing presents to Capt. Cook.

A black-and-white photograph of six dugout canoes of various sizes along a beach at Songhees Reserve.

Dugout Canoes on the Beach at Songhees Reserve

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Dugout canoes line the beach at Songhees Reserve in Victoria, British Columbia, 1868.

A black-and-white photograph of a family of three in a dugout canoe: two adults and one small child. One of the adults is throwing a double pronged sealing spear into the water.

Kwakiutl Family

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

A Kwakiutl family navigating the waters of Quatsino Sound.

A black-and-white photograph of a dugout canoe. Logs and structures are in the background.

Haida Dugout in Kasaan

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

British botanist and ethnographer Charles F. Newcombe photographed this newly hewn Haida dugout canoe at the village of Kasaan, Alaska, along the Northwest Coast, c. 1900.

A color photograph of three decorated dugout canoes on a rocky beach.

Three Cedar Canoes at Skidegate

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Three cedar canoes on the beach at Skidegate.

A black-and-white photograph of two men working to make dugout canoes. Each man is working on a separate canoe and two other canoes are in the background to the side.

Four Canoes Cut from One Cedar Log

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Old-growth cedar trees are immense and can provide the materials for several boats. In this photograph, four different canoes are being hewn from one red cedar log at Olympic Loop, Queets River, Washington. Photograph by Dale O. Northrup, c. 1930.

An etching of two men working with steam to hollow a dugout. Men in the background fell trees with fires.

The Manner of Makinge Their Boates

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

The Manner of Makinge Their Boates, Theodor de Bry, 1590.

A black-and-white photograph of Bill Reid and several other people using steam to spread the sides of a hollowed dugout canoe.

Bill Reid and Associates Creating a Dugout Canoe, 1985

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Bill Reid and Associates Creating a Dugout Canoe, 1985.

A color photograph of a painted dugout canoe.

Haisla Dugout Canoe

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Haisla dugout canoe carved and painted by David Shaw in 1934, overpainted by Bill Reid in 1967.

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