Canada goes West

Why Bother?

• $$$$ - the fur trade is a money making machine!• Exploration of the West was more of a ‘business plan’ –

people wanted to exploit the land for profit, not to settle it

• Canada is essentially founded on the whims of fashion– Coats– Trim– Blankets– Hats

1763

• Loyalists have moved to Canada• Immigration from Europe starts to increase

• There is lots of land to the west that has not been explored…

• Europeans needed to use established trading patterns– Death could result otherwise

• The conflict between Iroquois and Huron had roots in trade even before Europeans showed up

Hudson’s Bay Company

• 1669 - Started by two coureurs de bois (Radisson and Groseilliers)

• They wanted to start a fur trade based on the Hudson Bay

• New France/France did not want to back them– So they asked Charles II and he agreed• He called the area “Rupert’s Land” after his cousin

North West Company

• Made up of American and Scottish businessmen

• They moved to Montreal after 1763– They took over trading networks that the French

had– They kept the French employees

• Formed officially in 1783

• Unlike the HBC, the NWC dealt directly with the aboriginal people

• NWC would intercept furs on their way to HBC

• This forced HBC to build inland posts– Competition had begun!

Voyageurs

• You can travel by water (mostly) all the way from Montreal to the Rockies

• There are a few parts where you need to “portage” (travel over land)– Had to carry 36+ kg, and the canoe

NWC

• The NWC was successful because the cost of running business was cheaper

• But in the end, the HBC was too great to overcome– In 1821 the two companies merged into the HBC

Interior Exploration

• Fur traders did a lot of mapping and exploring– Even though their goal was economic

• Aboriginal peoples helped Europeans in the area

• (Page 272) – Explorer routes

Alexander Mackenzie

Simon Fraser

David Thompson

James Cook

George Vancouver

Franklin