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The Fox Wars were two conflicts between the French and the Fox (Meskwaki or Red Earth People; Renards; Outagamis) Indians that occurred in the Great Lakes region (particularly near the Fort of Detroit) from 1712 to 1733.〔In their book ''The Fox Wars'', Edmunds and Peyser discuss the difficulties in nomenclature, saying, “They referred to themselves as Mesquakies, as do the modern Mesquakie people near Tama, Iowa. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, however, other Algonquian tribes of the western Great Lakes region and upper Mississippi Valley frequently called them Outagami, using a Chippewa word meaning ‘People of the Opposite Shore.’ In contrast, the French almost always referred to the Mesquakies as Renards, or ‘Foxes.’ Almost 90 percent of the anthropological and historical references to the tribe also use the term Fox…since most anthropologists and historians use the term Fox, as do most library reference systems, we finally decided generally to use Fox when discussing our subject.” “Preface” in Edmunds, R. David and Joseph L. Peyser, ''The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France'' (University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1993), xviii.〕 These territories are known today as the states of Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States. The Wars exemplified colonial warfare in the transitional space of New France, occurring within the complex system of alliances and enmities with native peoples and colonial plans for expansion. The Fox controlled the Fox River system. This river was vital for the fur trade between French Canada and the North American interior, because it allowed river travel from Green Bay in Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. The French wanted the rights to use the river system to gain access to both the Mississippi and trade contacts with tribes to the west.〔 〕 The wars claimed thousands of lives and initiated a slave trade where to Fox Indians were captured by native allies of New France and then sold as slaves to the French colonial population.〔 Indeed, alliances between the French and other native groups (such as Ottawa, Miamis and Sioux) as well as those between the Fox and other native groups (such as the Sauk, Mascoutens and Kickapoos) were an important aspect of the Wars, influencing every stage of the conflicts, including the causes, the fighting and the conclusion.〔 〕 The First Fox War (1712-1716) began with inter-alliance violence and ended with the surrender of a large group of Fox and the subsequent peace deal.〔〔 〕 As was custom, peace offerings required the exchange of goods and of prisoners to account for those who died in the conflict, acknowledging the importance of this exchange for establishing peace.〔 The Second Fox War (1728-1733) was far more destructive than the first, and ended with the near annihilation of the Fox population.〔 ==Prior to the Fox Wars== The Fox Indians were living in eastern Wisconsin at the time of their first contacts with the French around 1670.〔 〕 The Fox unsuccessfully sought to establish themselves as middlemen between the French and the Sioux, one of their two traditional enemies, the other being the Ojibwas (Chippewas) in northern Wisconsin.〔 Not only were the Fox unsuccessful, but prior to 1701, many wars between aboriginal people, which also included the French, against the Iroquois were ravaging the aboriginal lands of the Pays D’en Hauts. The Iroquoian wars brought fear and urgency for the French to attempt to save what was left of their trade alliances.〔 〕 Their alliances were in jeopardy, and also, in 1697 the western posts were closed as a result of the termination by Louis XIV of the fur trade west of Montreal.〔 Historian Richard White illustrates central Wisconsin at the end of the seventeenth century as “a vast refugee center, its situation constantly changing, nations socializing, cooperating, feuding, fighting, constantly adjusting their strategies to shift in French trading policy, which was always the dominant reality.”〔 Thus, when the Peace Conference of 1701 finally took place in Montreal, the French were quick to establish a French protectorate in the Great Lakes region.〔 Nevertheless, the question still remained as to how they would facilitate trade with their southern partners, when their main trading posts had been closed. From this point on, the Great Lakes region was going to be even more unstable. ==First Fox War== After the Peace Conference of 1701, Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac resolved the trade issue by establishing a new fort, Fort Pontchartrain, at Detroit. This location was strategic, as it allowed access to the water trade routes, which were more accessible then Montreal, and the warpaths of the Great Lakes region.〔 Despite enabling access to this region by establishing a fort, the French could not survive without the help of the aboriginal people. Governor Cadillac invited numerous tribes to settle in the area. Ottawa and Huron peoples established villages in the area, soon joined by the Potawatomi, Miamis, and Ojibwa. The population may have reached 6,000 at times.〔 〕 This was positive for the French, but their presence and the presence of the Fox would aggravate things in the region. Indigenous groups that were enemies, lived fairly far apart, but in Detroit, they lived side by side competing for a concrete and practical relationship with the French. As French colonizers sought to enlarge their influence in the West, they sought to allie themselves with the Indians as commercial and military partners.〔 At the time, French imperial policy had already privileged certain aboriginal tribes, in particular the Ojibwa-Ottawa-Potawatimi confederacy and the Illini confederacy in the south, and the Sioux were the next profitable alliance.〔 The Wisconsin tribes (Fox, Sauk, Mascouten, Kickapoo and Winnebago), with the intention of dominating the post, prevented the French from having direct trade access to the Sioux.〔 〕 Concurrently, they will disrupt the lives of the Ottawas and Miamis near Detroit, as well as the French settlement.〔 In the spring of 1712, a large group of Fox under Lamyma, a peace chief, and Pemoussa, a war chief, established villages in the area, including a fort with easy gunshot range of Portchartrain. The Fox outnumbered the French and Hurons. However, their luck changed with the arrival of 600 allied warrior under Ottawa war chief Saguima and Potawatomi chief Makisabé reversed the fighting situation.〔 Jacques-Charles Renaud Dubuisson, who wanted the Fox removed from their village, had ordered these reinforcements. For nineteen days, the Fox fought and kept their footing with the French. After several days, the Fox asked for a ceasefire and returned some hostages; however, no ceasefire was granted. Several days later, another parley occurred, as the Fox tried to seek protection of the women and children. Dubuisson chose to let his allies decide their course; they chose to grant no mercy. After nineteen days, during a nighttime thunderstorm, the Fox escaped their village and fled north. The French-allied Indians cornered them near the head of the Detroit River and inflicted four more days of fighting.〔 By the end of the siege and pursuit, around 1000 Foxes and Mascouten men, women and children were killed (including many of the captives). The French lost 30 men, and their allies had 60 fatalities. 〔 It wasn’t until 1726, with the arrival of Charles de Beauharnois de La Boische, that the Fox and French actually achieve peace. In the past, during the First Fox Wars, there had been several attempts to find peace, however, each one failing and causing the Fox to return to war.〔 As a result, during this period, enslaved Fox (men, women and children) entered Canada through raids and became a dominant source of enslaved labour in the Saint Lawrence Valley.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fox Wars」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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