The Great Peace of Montreal of 1701: French-Native Diplomacy in the Seventeenth Century

Gratien Allaire is a professor of history at Laurentian University in
Sudbury, Ontario.

For Gilles Havard, the Great Peace of Montreal was “a powerful
illustration of the success of the French-Amerindian alliance” and
“de facto recognition by the French of the independence of the Native
nations.”

Havard’s study is a superb piece of scholarly analysis of the complex
diplomatic relations between the various nations (at least 40 of them)
around the Great Lakes area, in the zone of French influence, with the
French in the lead role. Showing the diversity of interests, objectives,
leadership, and points of view among the many different nations and
within the nations themselves (e.g.,, pro-French, neutral, pro-English
Iroquois nations or factions), Havard belongs to a most important
historiographical current that considers them well-organized nations.

A second significant contribution is Havard’s interpretation of
warfare in Amerindian societies. Rather than conquest of land or
vengeance or warriors’ acts of bravery, warfare’s most important
purpose was to acquire prisoners and add slave and captive manpower,
male and female, to one’s nation. Accordingly, the return of slaves or
prisoners was the one question that almost rocked the treaty
negotiations in 1701.

Havard aims to provide an understanding of the Great Peace of 1701 and
the Montreal conference that led to it. He studies the diplomatic
circumstances and the political environment of the late 17th century,
detailing the various aspects of Amerindian diplomacy, alliances, and
strategies, and explaining the reasons for war and peace between the
different Amerindian and European nations involved in the St. Lawrence
and Great Lakes region. He describes at great length the four years of
negotiations that preceded the Montreal Conference. In addition to the
usual endnotes and bibliography, the book contains a reproduction and
translation of the treaty, helpful maps locating the different nations,
a very pertinent “Glossary of the Names of Native Peoples,” and an
extremely useful “Cast of Characters” (short biographies of the
principal actors in these important events).

This English version of a book first published in French in 1992 is a
most welcome addition to Native studies and a must-read for those
interested in the field.