In Canadian archaeology we sometimes study the contact between Europeans and North American Indians by the objects that belong to this sort of indistinct period when North American Indians and Europeans where in an equal cultural relationship.

The basques brought one object to North America which was the whaling and fishing "txalupa". This was an object that was developed for the fisheries but the natives who worked around the gulf of St. Lawrence adopted this object because it fit into their cultural paradigms of maritime activity. The Mi'kmaq very quickly adopted the "txalupa", by the year 1600 there were probably more Mi'kmaq "txalupas" around the gulf of St. Lawrence than basque "txalupas".

When the first colonists came to North America around 1603-1604, they were astonished to discover that every time that they saw a sail in the horizon it was another "native txalupa" and they always called them "basque txalupas". It's a very interesting story.

The "txalupa" became a symbol of the Mi'kmaq and other native groups that were in contact with the European fishermen, but had completely transformed the cultural significance of this boat and turned it to their own benefit. The natives used it for daily travelling, for fishing, they also used it for helping the European fishermen, and they also used it for warfare. For example a native chief in southern Nova Scotia had a fleet of 60 "txalupas", and he took these "txalupas" across the gulf of Maine, that's 400 km, to attack one of his rivals on the mainland. 60 "txalupas" with 400 warriors inside, that was the very first year that there were colonists in this area, so we can tell that even before the first colonization, the "txalupa" was a very important object that had been transferred from Europeans to the native cultures.