Background
Commercial
trade between Aboriginal and European people began almost with their
first encounter in the sixteenth century. The Fur Trade Era, which
lasted approximately 250 years, can be divided into three periods: the
French Era (c.1600 – 1760), the British Era (c.1760-1815), and the
American Era (c.1816-1850).1
Trade developed between European fishermen and Aboriginal groups as the
fishery gradually moved inland. The fishermen traded pots, kettles, and
glass beads, among other things, for furs. As fashion for fur-trimmed
accessories took hold of the European continent, demand for these furs
outstripped supply in Europe, making North America the principal source
for furs.2 Up until this point the
fur trade was simply an extension of the fishery.
With little support from France, New France was reliant on its
relationship with Aboriginal traders. John Dickensen and Brian Young have stated that, "Until the
mid-seventeenth century, Europeans were a small minority in the
continent who had to adjust to the native ways of conducting trade and
war."3 Initially the French government sought to control trade by
granting temporary monopolies along with large land grants for
colonization to members of the nobility. This proved to be an
ineffective strategy and was replaced by a more open policy of granting
charters or trading rights to companies and to merchant-traders. Some
anthropologists argue that this almost total reliance on Aboriginal
groups for trade also resulted in a permeation of Aboriginal social
arrangements and religion by the Europeans.4
[Top] [Back] |
Background
Montreal Peddlers
North
West Company
Hudson's Bay Company
Geography and Ecology
The Trade
Provisioning
Buffalo
Rope Trade
Company
Employment (Wage Labour) |