The French gave European goods to Indigenous people in exchange for beaver pelts. The fur trade was the most important industry in New France. With the money they made from furs the French sent settlers to Canada.
Why was the fur trade so valuable to New France?
Why was the fur trade so important to France? Trade started after the French offered the Indians kettles, knives, and other gifts as a means to establish friendly relations. The Indians, in turn, gave pelts to the French. By the late 1500’s, a great demand for fur had developed in Europe. This demand encouraged further exploration of North America.
Why did the First Nations trade fur?
The fur trade was based on good relationships between the First Nations peoples and the European traders. First Nations people gathered furs and brought them to posts to trade for textiles, tools, guns, and other goods. The First Nations people were trading furs, which they could easily trap, for tools made from metal. Read, more on it here.
What is the difference between French and British fur trade?
What was a big difference between the way the French and the British approached Canada/the fur trade? The French wanted to set up colonies and meet with the First Nations where they were. The British were not interested in colonies and built trading posts so that the First Nations could come to them.
What made the fur trade successful?
to oversee the fur trade with the Indians. What factors made the Dutch colony successful? rich soil rivers with plenty of fish the fur trade lots of wild game.
What was the role of the French in the fur trade?
The most important players in the early fur trade were Indigenous peoples and the French. The French gave European goods to Indigenous people in exchange for beaver pelts. The fur trade was the most important industry in New France. With the money they made from furs, the French sent settlers to Canada.
Did France participate in the fur trade?
The French and British often competed in the fur trade. Although New France often lost money, the French did not want to lose the fur trade to their imperial rivals, the English. The French, who had far fewer colonists than the English, created and maintained an amicable relationship with the Native Americans.
Who did the French sell fur to?
Between 1615 and 1649, the Hurons hauled French trade goods into the western interior and sent flotillas laden with furs downriver to Quebec and later to Trois-Rivières. These two settlements were subsequently eclipsed by Montreal as the destination for Aboriginal trade flotillas.
How did the French treat the Native Americans?
France saw Indigenous nations as allies, and relied on them for survival and fur trade wealth. Indigenous people traded for European goods, established military alliances and hostilities, intermarried, sometimes converted to Christianity, and participated politically in the governance of New France.
When did the French began a fur trade?
Two phases of the French fur trade were evident in Northeastern Minnesota: the French Contact Phase (mid 1600s-1700) and the French Expansion Phase (1713-1763) led by Pierre Charles La Verendrye (Gilman, 1982).
When did French fur traders come to America?
French explorer Jacques Cartier in his three voyages into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the 1530s and 1540s conducted some of the earliest fur trading between European and First Nations peoples associated with 16th century and later explorations in North America.
How long did the fur trade last?
The fur trade was a vast commercial enterprise across the wild, forested expanse of what is now Canada. It was at its peak for nearly 250 years, from the early 17th to the mid-19th centuries. It was sustained primarily by the trapping of beavers to satisfy the European demand for felt hats.
What are some fun facts about the fur trade?
The North American fur trade started when native people of Newfoundland encountered European fishermen and traded pelts for iron tools. The Hudson's Bay Company was the largest fur company and run by the British. In Europe, felt hats were sought after and were made by combining beaver and rabbit wool.
How many beavers were killed in the fur trade?
Two hundred plus years of the fur trade killed off beaver populations—40 to 60 million beavers basked in North America in the 19th century before hunters massacred them for hats and perfume. Now in revival mode, the comeback kits have grown to around 10 to 50 million beavers across the continent (including Mexico).
Why were the French nice to Natives?
They respected Native territories, their ways, and treated them as the human beings they were. The Natives, in turn, treated the French as trusted friends. More intermarriages took place between French settlers and Native Americans than with any other European group.
Did the French fight Native Americans?
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes.
Why did the French expect Native Americans to side with them?
Because the different tribes were considered allies, the French also expected their support in conflicts against the British or enemy tribes like the Iroquois.
Who were involved in the fur trade process?
After the War of 1812 there were three main parties involved in the Upper Mississippi fur trade: Native Americans (primarily the Dakota and Ojibwe), the fur trading companies, and the US government. These parties worked together and each had something to gain from a stable trading environment.
Who did New France trade with?
Indigenous peoples were important partners in this growing fur trade economy. From roughly 1600 to 1650, the French forged alliances of kinship and trade with the Huron-Wendat, Algonquin and Innu.
How did the fur trade affect the French and Indian War?
Trading posts began to spread to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley by the mid-eighteenth century, which helped cause the French and Indian War when the English wanted to seize control of the lucrative fur trade.
What did France trade in the 1600s?
France was traditionally exporting salt and wine. Other exports were mainly wheat, light cloths and dyestuff. A large part of French trade, especially Mediterranean, was by and large under the control of Italian merchants.
How did the fur trade affect the French?
Most critically, the fur trade drew the French into close and constant proximity to Aboriginal peoples. Lacking sufficient manpower and resources to conduct the trade alone, the French depended on Aboriginal peoples for the harvesting, processing, and transportation of furs, and also for their services as guides and intermediaries. Securing these services required the French to forge alliances with several First Nations, including the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the Hurons in the first half of the seventeenth century, and the Saulteaux, the Potawatomis, and the Choctaws in the second. These alliances ensured that the French became deeply enmeshed in Aboriginal economies, societies, and politics, while simultaneously drawing Aboriginal peoples into a European sphere of influence. Thus, the fur trade entailed far more than a simple exchange of commodities: it fostered the interchange of knowledge, technology, and material culture; it underpinned powerful military coalitions; and it gave rise to new cultural forms and identities. In the interest of maintaining these complex and often lucrative interactions, the French developed attitudes and policies toward Aboriginal peoples that differed markedly from those of English-speaking settlers on the Atlantic seaboard.
When did furs stop being traded in France?
By the mid 1690s, the supply of furs had so exceeded European demand that New France faced economic collapse. Hence, on May 21, 1696, Louis XIV revoked all congés and ordered the immediate closure of all but a handful of trading posts.
What was the North American beaver's coat made of?
This coat had two layers – an outer layer consisting of long, smooth, and stiff guard hairs, and an inner layer consisting of short, soft, and fluffy underfur. It was the underfur that captured the interest of European traders, as each of its strands was barbed and could therefore be linked with other strands to form a solid piece of felt. This could only be done, however, after the underfur had been separated from the guard hairs through one of two methods, both of which involved processing by Aboriginal peoples. The first method produced the so-called greasy beaver pelt, or castor gras – a pelt that had been sewn into a garment and worn in direct contact with an Aboriginal person’s skin. After several months of continuous abrasion and exposure to human sweat, oils, and body heat, the guard hairs had loosened and fallen out of the pelt leaving only the underfur. The second method produced the so-called parchment beaver pelt, or castor sec – a pelt that had been sun-dried immediately after having been harvested. Removing the guard hairs from this type of pelt required specialized treatment from feltmakers in Europe.
How did France establish a colony in North America?
In the interests of securing a regular supply of these pelts and those of other animals, France laid the foundations of a permanent colonial presence in North America in the early seventeenth century. By then, the French had whet their appetite for New World furs thanks to the seasonal trading activities of Basque whalers and French fishermen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence throughout the 1500s. This seasonal trade had become increasingly profitable and competitive over the course of the century, such that French merchants had begun sending ships to the region for the sole purpose of procuring furs by the 1580s. In an effort to control the burgeoning trade, the French Crown granted monopoly rights to a succession of merchant companies. Tenure of a monopoly required that a company commit itself to promoting French settlement in North America and also to sponsoring Roman Catholic missionary activity among Aboriginal peoples. It was under these terms that merchant companies established the first permanent French settlements along the St. Lawrence River – Tadoussac in 1600, Quebec in 1608, and Trois-Rivières in 1634. Yet the French were not the only Europeans to be drawn permanently to North America by the lure of furs: Dutch merchant companies were establishing year-round settlements along the Hudson River during the same period – first at present-day Albany in 1614 and then downstream on Manhattan Island in 1625-26. The locations of these settlements reflected the commercial interests of their French and Dutch founders. Each settlement was situated at the outlet of a pre-existing trade network that stretched deep into the fur-rich interior of the continent.
What were the first nations to join the French?
Securing these services required the French to forge alliances with several First Nations, including the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the Hurons in the first half of the seventeenth century, and the Saulteaux, the Potawatomis, and the Choctaws in the second.
How did the Aboriginal people trade?
They conducted this trade through networks that criss-crossed North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic. Composed of waterways, portages, and overland trails, these networks conveyed such diverse trade goods as seashells from the east coast, copper from the shores of Lake Superior and the Coppermine River, obsidian glass from various locations in the west, and tobacco from south of the Great Lakes, as well as dried foods, fishing nets, and pelts from across the continent. The extensiveness and efficiency of these networks ensured that European-made goods filtered into the interior long before European traders ventured inland from the Atlantic shore. For instance, archaeologists have unearthed European silverware, brass ornaments, and Delft pottery dating from the mid-sixteenth century in the homeland of the Seneca people – south of Lake Ontario and hundreds of kilometres west of the Atlantic Ocean.
What was the demand for fur in the sixteenth century?
The late sixteenth century witnessed the beginning of a dramatic growth in European demand for furs. Driving this demand were the vagaries of fashion: fur and fur-trimmed clothing were increasingly sought after as expressions of status, wealth, and style.
Where did the fur trade begin?
The beaver was now an easy target, and a lively fur trade emerged. In the beginning, the fur trade centered around Canadian settlements near the St. Lawrence River, and the primary trading partners were the Huron tribes. As Europe cried out for more furs, a new breed of men emerged.
What did the Indians trade fur for?
They exchanged the furs for metal hatchets, knives, kettles, traps, needles, fish hooks, cloth and blankets, jewelry and decorative items, and later for firearms and alcohol. Over the course of the 17th through the 19th centuries, impact on the Indians as a result of the fur trade came about in various ways.
What did the Indians receive in exchange for their goods?
In exchange for their goods, the Indians received European products, both practical, such as iron tools and utensils, and decorative, such as bright-colored cloth and beads. The Indians also received firearms and liquor, both of which had an enormous impact on Indian lifeways.
Which tribes were involved in the fur trade?
Although eastern tribes, such as the Algonquian-speaking Micmacs, Montagnais, Naskapis, Abenakis, and Crees, were all involved in the French fur trade, it was the Iroquoian-speaking Hurons, living further to the west, who became the foremost suppliers.
Who was the first French and Indian fur trader?
The French and Indian fur trade began with Jacques Cartier in 1534 along the St. Lawrence River. His original intent had been to find the Northwest Passage to the Orient, but he found instead an untapped source of furs among the Indians who were eager to trade for European goods.
When did beavers come into fashion?
The beaver hat was "in fashion", from 1625 to the early 1800's, in most of Europe. People in the 1600's also thought beaver hats held supernatural powers. It was believed that if you rubbed beaver oil onto your hair, it would help your memory.
What were the fur traders called in New France?
They left the colony and headed west to trade for furs. They were called “coureurs des bois”.
What was the fur trade called in 1627?
In 1627, the French king gave fur-trading rights to one company. It was called the Compagnie des Cent-Associés (Company of One Hundred Associates). In exchange, the company promised to bring settlers to New France. The company also promised that it would help the French Catholic priests convert the Aboriginal people to Christianity.
What were the coureurs de bois called?
They were called “coureurs des bois”. These “runners of the woods” came to know the Native people, especially the Potawatomi and Miami. They learned Indian ways of hunting, trapping and canoeing, as well as how to use plants as medicine. Often the French coureurs de bois married Indian women and had families.
When did men wear beaver fur hats?
In the late 1500s, men’s hats made from beaver fur became very fashionable in Europe. French fishermen who fished for cod around what is now Newfoundland and Nova Scotia began trading with the Native people for beaver pelts.
Who wrote the book Fur Trade in Nouvelle France?
Fur Trade in Nouvelle France, by Suzanne Boivin Sommerville. This article was originally published in Michigan’s Habitant Heritage (MHH) in October 2005. Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, Myths, and Facts about the Operation of the Fur Trade during the French Reg ime, by Diane Wolford Sheppard.
Who were the voyageurs of the 17th century?
Four of the voyageurs are ancestors of many FCHSM members. Clau de David (ancestor of Thérèse David who married Jacob de Marsac), Séba stien Hodiau (ancestor of Jeanne Cécile Catin who married Jacques Campeau), Pierre Levasseur, and Antoine Trottier are ancestors of numerous French Canadians who settled in present-day Detroit, Michigan and Essex County, Ontario.
What is the Forgotten Voyageurs?
The Forgotten Voyageurs – Understanding their World and their Contributions to the Establishment of Michilimackinac, Fort St. Joseph, and Détroit as vibrant communities in the Great Lakes, Diane Wolford Sheppard’s 12 October 2019 presentation at the FCHSM Meeting. Fur Trade in Nouvelle France, by Suzanne Boivin Sommerville.
Who photographed voyageurs unloading a canoe at Colonial Michilimackinac?
Loraine DiCerbo’s photograph of voyageurs unloading a canoe at Colonial Michilimackinac
