Three areas of thought have particular significance to the study: cultural heritage; cultural landscapes, and watercraft as social agents. Among Indigenous societies, intangible cultural heritage is profoundly important, forming the basis of social identity and its transmission and sometimes manifesting in traditional craftsmanship and economic activities. Maritime communities also maintain distinctive intangible heritages, characterized by their dependence upon watercraft and the relationships watercraft enable between people and the physical environment. Christer Westerdahl’s maritime cultural landscape provides a holistic approach to analyze these relationships. A review of the literature shows that watercraft—and canoes in particular—play a key role in many aspects of culture, from economics and politics to social identity and worldview. Watercraft therefor offer a lens with which to focus upon a maritime culture’s relationship to its physical environment and its creation of a cultural landscape.