Legacy of the Fur Trade

Competition

!   Decline of fur in Great Lakes area in the late 1600’s led to expansion north and west

!   Trading posts were built further along the St Lawrence River and along the coast of Hudson’s Bay

!   The English declared a trading monopoly on lands draining into Hudson Bay !   Named Rupert’s Land after the King’s cousin who

funded the expedition

Rupert’s Land

The Hudson’s Bay Company

!   Hudson’s Bay Company founded in 1670

!   The monopoly gave HBC legal/trading powers as well as administrative and judicial control over Rupert’s Land

!   Trading Posts stayed close to Hudson Bay and First Nations traders had to come to the forts

!   Northwest Company was founded in 1779 by French and Scottish traders to compete with HBC

French-English Rivalry

!   French moved further west after the HBC started ! Coureurs de Bois were given licenses and became

known as Voyageurs

!   Travelled to First Nations communities to trade

!   French and English began destroying each other’s forts and building inland forts in an attempt to reach more communities to acquire more furs

!   Explorers mapped out and built posts further west !   La Véredrye established Fort Rouge in 1738

First Nations roles in the Fur Trade

!   Men !   Trappers !   Middlemen !   The home guard – close to forts !   HBC employees

!   Women !   “The Custom of the Country” – kinship connections

!   French “free-traders”

!   Survival knowledge, cooking, cleaning, pelt-prep, canoe repair

Conflict

!   French allied with Innu, Algonquin, and Wendat (Huron)

!   British allied with Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

!   Expanding territories put enemy groups in conflict

!   Decades of war and conflict between First Nations groups based on French-English conflict !   Also conflict between French-English including their

First Nations allies

Dependency

!   Alcohol – previously unknown; now traded !   Some First Nations communities began suffering from

social problems related to addiction

!   Trade !   Many First Nations people did not want to give up the

supply of European goods !   Trade started favouring Europeans as they demanded

more and exchanged less !   Less tradition, more time trapping/trading

!   communities became dependent on European goods