Panis (slaves of First Nation descent) facts for kids
Panis was a word used in New France for enslaved people from First Nations groups. At first, it mostly referred to people from the Pawnee tribes. Later, the term Panis became a general word for any enslaved Indigenous person in the French colony, no matter their original tribe.
What Does "Panis" Mean?
The word Panis first appeared around 1670 in Montreal. It is believed to come from the name of the Panismahas, a group within the Pawnee people. These Pawnee people lived in the Illinois Country, which was a far-off part of New France.
During the mid-1600s, eastern tribes often captured Pawnee people. These tribes had metal weapons from the French, which gave them an advantage. They took many Pawnee people as captives. Because of this, the name "Pani" started to mean "slave" in areas east of the upper Mississippi River.
The French then began using Panis to mean any enslaved Indigenous person. This word also reached New Mexico as Panana. Apache groups brought many Pawnee captives there to trade with the Spanish and Pueblo Indians. Those who captured people often focused on women and children to sell them into slavery.
History of Panis Slavery
Slavery of First Nations people in New France became official in 1709. This happened with a law called the Ordinance Rendered on the Subject of the Negroes and the Indians called Panis. This law meant that First Nations people could be enslaved only within the colony. However, in reality, enslaved people remained enslaved even if they traveled elsewhere.
In 1747, the colonial government thought about trading enslaved First Nations people for enslaved people of African descent. But the French government stopped this idea. They worried it would harm their important alliances with First Nations groups.
By 1757, a French explorer named Louis Antoine de Bougainville noted that the Panis people played a similar role in America as enslaved African people did in Europe. However, fewer enslaved First Nations people were brought into the colony before the Conquest of New France in 1760.
After the British took over New France in 1760, some French laws and practices, including the enslavement of First Nations people, continued. This was part of the Articles of Capitulation of Montreal. By the late 1700s, more enslaved people of African descent were brought into the region by European traders.
Over time, court decisions and new laws in the Canadas (parts of Canada) led to the end of slavery. The last recorded enslaved First Nations person in Lower Canada was given to a Montreal hospital in 1821. Slavery was officially ended in 1834. By then, most enslaved people in the region were of African descent.
How Many People Were Enslaved?
The Canadian Museum of History has information about the number of enslaved people. From the start of New France until 1699, about 35 people were held as slaves in Canada. Most of these were First Nations people.
From 1700 to 1760, the museum estimates that about 2,000 people were enslaved in Canada. Two-thirds of these were First Nations people. Most enslaved First Nations people were very young, with an average age of just 14 years old. Many of them did not survive because they came from inland areas and had not been exposed to European diseases.
From the mid-1600s until slavery was abolished in 1833, about 2,683 First Nations people were enslaved. This made up almost two-thirds of all enslaved people in New France during the time of French rule.
One known enslaved Panis woman was Monette. She lived in the 1760s and was enslaved by a fur trader named John Askin. Monette was the mother of John Askin Jr., Catherine, and Madeline. Catherine later married Robert Hamilton, who founded Queenston. Madeline married Dr. Robert Richardson.
