In the 16th century, Jacques Cartier provoked a power struggle with the people of Stadacona that would end in death and destruction. Their land had become ground zero for French colonization, leading them to wage one of the first wars of Indigenous resistance.

Decimated by disease and shattered by war, the Wendat were brought to the brink of extinction. From the ashes of their homeland, the exiled survivors fought to protect the remaining members of their ancient nation.

Kwakwaka’wakw raiding fleets ruled the Salish Sea for generations. That is, until the 19th century, when dozens of Coast Salish communities joined forces to challenge them and disrupt their dominance of the waves in the Battle at Maple Bay.

In the 1700s, European fur traders sparked deadly rivalries between the Indigenous powers of the West and stoked a devastating new type of warfare. Forced out of their homelands, the Aaniiih managed to preserve their culture and identity against all odds.

In an age when revolution consumed the Western Hemisphere, the Mohawk communities of present-day Quebec fought to protect their ancient homelands and were forced to shift their alliances as colonial boundaries changed across North America.

In the 19th century, nine different Tsimshian communities came together to form a powerful dynasty that fought for survival against raiders and a Tlingit invasion. They combined Indigenous might with European technology to rule the northern waves.

By the 1800s, the Ojibwe were scarred by years of disease and bitter wars against European and Indigenous rivals. For over a century, they faced an impossible choice as turmoil threatened to destroy their nations: land or peace?

In the 1800s, the Russian Empire sought to rule Alaska with an iron fist, but the Tlingit wouldn’t surrender their land or freedom without a fight. They used guerrilla tactics and raids on trading posts to limit Russian expansion in the region.

In the mid-1600s, the Dakota found themselves surrounded by rivals and under threat from waves of Indigenous and European migrants. Desperately outmatched by the industrial eastern civilizations, they spent decades courageously defending their territory.

In the 1800s, Great Britain laid claim to the Salish Sea. To preserve their land and sovereignty, the Coast Salish nations challenged the Royal Navy, the mightiest naval power of the day. The British responded with overwhelming firepower.

In the summer of 1876, the United States military collided with a mighty Indigenous alliance. Led by a Lakota prophet, the alliance dealt the Americans a crushing defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, one of the most famous battles in history.

At the end of the 19th century, the Lakota struggled to keep their culture alive. With their land stolen and most of their leaders imprisoned, many Lakota turned to a charismatic religious movement that set the stage for the final battle for the West.

Life in North America has never been easy, but at the dawn of the 16th century, the arrival of Europeans transformed the nature and cost of conflict on the continent. This era of chaos threatened to destroy the Indigenous nations that call it home.