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SECOND CONTACT: PATTERNS OF "SECOND
ENCOUNTERS” WITH THE INUIT IN EARLY
MODERNITY
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CASES OF HENRY
HUDSON AND WILLIAM BAFFIN
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MIKLÓS VASSANYI'
ABSTRACT
On the basis of case studies concerning Henry Hudson and William Baffin,
this paper tries to find some general rationale for events that used to take
place during second encounters between Canadian Aboriginals and European
explorers in the early 17" century. Our attention will focus on the barter-and¬
massacre case reported by a survivor of Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage (1610¬
11) and on the kidnapping-and-murder case partially witnessed by William
Baffin on his first voyage (1612) to today’s Baffin Bay. Putting ourselves into
the shoes of Second Nations, we shall attempt to find out what they might
experience upon the intrusion of newcomers into Aboriginal lands and what
might cause the aggressive behaviour of both parties in these conflicts, as we
endeavour to reconstruct the broader moral and anthropological context of
the tragical events that often happened between explorers and the Inuit who
had already met alien races before.
On the basis of two case studies concerning Henry Hudson (cca 1565-1611),
and William Baffin (cca 1584-1622), respectively, this paper looks into the
moral and rational motivation behind tragical events that more often than
not took place during “second encounters” between Greenland and Hudson
Bay Inuit on the one hand, and European explorers on the other, in the early
17" century. By applying a term “second encounter” or “second contact” I am
suggesting that there may be a difference between how a group of Aboriginal
people experience an encounter with a race they have never seen before —
in this case, European explorers — and how they meet such companies
afterwards, when on the basis of previous experience they may already know
what to expect and may form plans to fend off an essentially incalculable
1 Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.
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