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Article: The persistence of travel and trade: St. Lawrence river valley French engages and the American Fur Company, 1818-1840.
- Article from:
- Michigan Historical Review
- Article date:
- September 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Clarke Historical Library. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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L'homme quebecois has little more parish consciousness than frontier consciousness. The true locus of his continuity is more temporal than spatial: it is the family. Relatives--the extended family--who are scattered over the continent and not confined to the Laurentian Valley will welcome the family nomad.... The extended family is what creates the true network of migration, integrating the individual wherever he goes: it is in effect an invitation to go off without calamitous disruption. It is a homeland writ small, a movable homeland, and it provides a basis for solidarity ... and negates geography. Thus the people preserve their identity through their very instability. ...