The Fur Trade
The sixteenth century to late
nineteenth century
Pre Contact
• Before European contact, the Indigenous
peoples of the Americas survived by using
resources off of the land.
• In this time period there were systems of
governance established and a strong culture,
which was both respected and celebrated.
Ships along the Coast
• In the early 1600’s, European ships sailed the
coasts of the Americas, looking for a way
across the land between them and China.
• In 1610, Captain Henry Hudson sailed his ship
into a northern strait which led into a wide
bay. The next time Europeans would come
into Hudson Bay, nearly 50 years later, the
sailors would be looking for fur, not China.
The Nonsuch
• King Charles of England asked the Frenchmen
Radisson and Groseillier, as well as a number
of wealthy Englishmen to sail ships into the
bay. They were hoping to bring back many
furs; however storms and ice turned the first
ship back to England. In September 1668 a
second ship named the Nonsuch reached the
bay safely with Groseillier on board.
Men on the Nonsuch
• The crew from the Nonsuch built a small fort
where they lived for the winter and in the
spring, the Indigenous people came to trade
their furs.
• In June of 1669, the Nonsuch sailed back to
England, arriving in October. The owners of
the Nonsuch were so pleased with the furs
that they decided to form a company that
would send ships every year to trade on the
bay.
The Monopoly
• The king gave the newly formed company a
monopoly of trade in the area. This meant
that no one else would be allowed to trade
there and all of the collected furs must only be
sold to the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).
The North American Fur Trade
• Trading was not a foreign concept to
Indigenous people as they traded everything
from copper tools to pottery amongst
themselves.
Trading Posts
• At first the Europeans returned to England
with the ships each year. Soon the Hudson’s
Bay Company began building trading posts
which allowed the Europeans to live at the
post all year round.
The Métis
• Many of the European men developed
relationships with First Nations women and
the resulting children came to be called Métis.
Métis people were valuable during the fur
trade as they could speak the languages of the
Indigenous people and were reliable and
resourceful.
The Beaver
• The beaver has two kinds of fur. Next to its
skin is a warm, woolly coat and over this wool
grows long, silky guard hairs.
• The supply of fur-bearing animals in western
Europe was largely exhausted, however fur
was still a symbol of elegance and wealth.
Currency
• The Indigenous people did not use money in
their trading but the Europeans did use a
currency system. In the trading between
these two groups the beaver pelt became the
currency.
Currency continued
• Tokens were made and items to be traded
were measured against the value of a beaver
pelt.
• For example, four martens were equal to one
beaver.
System of currency
• European traders brought along with them a
number of items, which they knew would
assist Indigenous people in their daily lives,
and these items had a trading value in terms
of beaver pelts.
• For example in one list of the value of goods
one gun cost 12 beaver pelts.
French Fur Traders go West
• Fur traders from New France (Quebec)
paddled their canoes southwest to trade. A
difference between these traders and the HBC
traders is that they were mobile when trading
and met the Indigenous people to trade rather
than waiting for them to come to a trading
post.
French Traders go west.
• Among the traders who travelled west were
Pierre Gaultier de Varenesse, Sieur de La
Verendrye and his 50 men.
• La Verendrye built a number of trading posts
along the rivers for the Indigenous people to
bring their furs to the French instead of taking
the furs as far as the Hudson Bay.
French Traders
• The French soon became a strong force in the
west and posts had been built as far as the
Saskatchewan River.
• There was a constant battle for power
between the French and English. The French
captured the English post on Hudson Bay and
the English captured Quebec.
The Final Battle
• A seven-year war between France and
England in the seventeenth century put the
fur trade on hold.
• The Treaty of Paris at the end of the sevenyear war put an end to France's position as a
major colonial power in the Americas.
North West Company
• Fur traders from the British colony began to
travel towards the western plains looking for
furs. At first most of these peddlers worked by
themselves, travelling for long periods of time
to the western plains and back to Montreal.
North West Company
• In 1784 many peddlers came together and
formed the North West Company (NWC). A
few years later another large groups of traders
joined the newly formed company.
• The NWC had two partners: the Montreal
partners who sold furs and bought trade
goods, as well as partners who stayed in the
west and traded with Indigenous people,
known as wintering partners.
HBC and NWC
• In 1821, the two companies decided to end
their competition for furs and join together
under one name.
• The new company would still be known as the
Hudson’s Bay Company because it was the
HBC that, under the Royal Charter, still
controlled the route from the Hudson Bay.
Ending of the Fur Trade
• The fur trade slowly began to dissolve,
partially due to the lack of furs and partially
due to the lack of Indigenous people willing to
assist in trapping and trading the furs.
• The change in style in Europe from fur to silk
was the final blow to the North American Fur
Trade.
• At the end of the fur trade many traders went
to work in mines, lumber and on the railroad.
References
Neering, Rosemary. The Fur Trade. Markham,
Ont.: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1985.
http://www.furtradestories.ca/era_precontact.h
tml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fur_trade
References Continued.
http://www1.canadiana.org/hbc/stories/produit
s2_e.html
http://www.metisnation.ca