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When the European settlers came to North America, some First Nation tribes did not welcome them. They disagreed on new people living on their land. This gave the fur traders a smaller chance of trading goods with the natives. The European settlers and fur traders would often get attacked by the disagreeing natives. Before a peace treaty was issued with the Europeans and the disagreeing First Nation tribes, the fur traders had a smaller trade with the natives. This time was troubling because not as many pelts were traded and the Europeans didn't have a good supply of beaver hats witch were popular in Europe. During those times the fur traders did not have as many furs to trade as in the prevoius times.
The fur traders took great journeys across Canada to find perfect hunting spots to catch animals. The kind of animals they considered to hunt were: beaver, fox, muskrat, bear, etc. Out of all the furs in Canada, the Canadian beaver was the most valuable fur/pelt on the fur trade market. It was mostly used for beaver fur hats, a popular item in Europe. There were also companies that did fur trading as well, such as Hudson's Bay company and the North West company. These two very large companies did most of their trading with the Aboriginal People. The Aboriginal People were very good hunters and some became fur traders. Since they lived in North America for hundreds of years, they knew the the land well.
The fur trade initially began in the 1500’s as an exchange between the First Nations and Europeans. The fur trade prospered until the mid-1800’s, when fur-bearing animals became scarce and silk hats became more popular than felt hats, made with beaver. Because of the beaver and other popular animals that became scarce due to fur trading, the fur traders eventually couldn't find any more fur bearing animals.
The fur traders had many setbacks but also many accomplishments as well. There were two main fur trading countries: France and Britain. This slide is about many succesfful French fur traders and their accomplishments.
Henry Hudson's journal: "My crew and I found a new land today."
Pierre Le Royer: a famous French leader of Coureur des bois, helped New France and France get many new furs from the natives for he was a fur trader leader. Pierre Le Royer also made many peace agreements with the First Nations so the French colony will have easy trading. He often brought back many new furs.
Jack Cartier's journal translated in English: " Today the crew and I traded with a new people, the Mi'kmaq."
Coureur des bois: were independent French-Canadian woodsmen who traveled in New France and the land of North America. They ventured into the woods usually to trade many European items for furs and along the way learned the trades and practices of the native people who inhabited there. They were French people and their leader was Pierre Le Royer.
Sameul De Champlain's journal translated in English: "I looked for the Mi'kmaq today, I couldn't find any evidence that it existed."
John Cabot came in 1497 for the British Kingdom looking for a water route to Asia for trading reasons, but hit New Found Land, Canada, instead. This marked the beginning of all European activity on the North American continet. Soon more British settlers and explorers started to come to North America. The French decided to join the British in 1534 when they sent French Navigator Jack Cartier to claim some of the land. The Spanish and Portuguese didn't waste any time arriving in Central and South America, and bringing boat loads of gold and silver. More settlers and other kinds of people emigrated to North America and created an economy, with one of the most popular jobs being fur trading. Fur traders were one of the earliest and most important trades in North America. The fur trading industry played a major role in the development of Canada for more than 300 years.
The fur traders were people who would travel for days and hunt for animals so they can skin them. The fur that was skinned is called a pelt, they are of a great value on the fur trade market. In fact, an Innu man of the First Nation tribes specifically describes that the beaver pelt was so important and valuable on the fur trade market that the British traded it for twenty knives. The kind of people who were fur traders were: the British, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch and many others. Not only the European settlers can be fur traders, the First Nations people can be too. They often traded with the British and received many items they never had before, like muskets, musket bullets, powder horns, etc. The First Nations were the biggest group on North America that traded with the European people.
-1497 when John Cabot came to North America.
-mid 1500's, the fur trade is officially on in North America.
-1670, the company of Hudson's Bay is created
-1783, North West company is formed.
-1763, war breaks out between the British and the French, distracting the fur trade.
-1900's, the Fur Trade is officially over.
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In North America about 95% of the people were eating and wearing products from animals in the 1500's-1900's
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Henry Hudson: was born in 1565 and lived until 1611. His origins were Dutch but served the British when he discovered North America. Henry Hudson was the founder of Hudson's Bay, the major fur trading company. He helped Great Britain by giving them 50% of his profits, including money and furs, particularly beaver furs, because fur vests and hats were very sought at that time. If Henry Hudson didn't send 50% of his profits to Britain (witch was a very large portion of his profits since Hudson's Bay was the biggest fur trading company), Britain at the time wouldn't have had enough beaver fur to make hats and other items.
More than 65,000 Canadians worked in the different sectors of the fur trade during the trade era.
Without Coureur Des Bois and their famous leader who happened to be fur trader Pierre Le Royer, Canada wouldn't have it's beautiful French culture. Without Pierre Le Royer's peace treaty, the natives would've drove the French out of Canada.
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The fur trade contributes $800 million to the Canadian economy, including more than $450 million in exports.
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No matter what kind of country a fur trader was from, I think they contributed to Canada by moving there, building the economy, and making a life for themselves.
Without Henry Hudson, Canada would not have English as it's primary language and be a part of the British Kingdom. I think the English population in Canada was larger than the French population probably because the biggest trading in Canada was with the British.
When the late late 1800's came, the fur traders had even less work opportunities since silk hats were more popular than beaver hats, and animals such as the beaver were scarce because of so much fur trading. This era is when most of the fur traders decided to look into different employment options due to all of these setbacks. A small number of people kept fur trading as their job. But as the years past by, that number decreased rapidly and by the 1900's there were no more fur traders. The fur trade has ended.