The Fur Trade

1
The Fur Trade

• The sixteenth century to late nineteenth century.

2
Pre Contact

• Before European contact the Indigenous peoples
  of the Americas people 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.

3
Ships along the coast

• In the early sixteen hundreds European ships
  sailed the coasts of North and South America,
  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 came into Hudson Bay,
  nearly 50 years later, the sailors were looking
  for fur not China.

4
The Nonsuch

• King Charles of England asked a number of
  wealthy Englishmen as well the Frenchmen Radisson
  and Groseillier 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.

5
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.

6
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. All
  of the collected furs must only be sold to the
  Hudson Bay Company.

7
The North American Fur Trade

• Trading was not a foreign concept to Indigenous
  people as they traded amongst themselves,
  everything from copper tools to pottery.

8
Trading Posts

• At first the Europeans returned to England with
  the ships each year. Soon the Hudson Bay Company
  began building trading posts which allowed the
  Europeans to live at the post all year round.

9
The Métis

• Many of the European men developed relationships
  with Indian 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.

10
The Beaver

• The beaver has two kinds of fur. Next to its
  skin is a warm woolly coat however over this wool
  grows the 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.

11
Currency

• The Indigenous people did not use money in
  their trading but the Europeans used a currency
  system. In the trading between these two groups
  the beaver pelt became the currency system.

12
Currency continued

• Tokens were made and items to be traded were
  measured against the value of a beaver pelt.
• For example, four martins were equal to one
  beaver.

13
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.

14
French Fur Traders go west.

• Fur traders from New France (Quebec) paddled
  their canoes south west to trade. A difference
  between these traders and the Hudsons Bay
  Company (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.

15
French Traders go west.

• Among the traders who travelled west was 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.

16
French Traders

• The French soon became a strong force in the
  west and posts have been built as far as the
  Saskatchewan river.
• There is a constant battle for power between the
  French and English. The French captured the
  English post on Hudson Bay and the English
  captured Quebec.

17
The Final Battle

• A seven year war between France and England in
  the 17th century put the fur trade on hold.
• The Treaty of Paris at the end of the seven year
  war put an end to France's position as a major
  colonial power in the Americas

18
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.

19
North West Company

• In 1784 many of the peddlers formed the North
  West Company (NWC) and a few years later another
  large groups of traders joined the newly formed
  company.
• NWC had two partners, Montreal partners who sold
  furs and bought trade goods, as well as partners
  who stayed in the west and traded with indigenous
  people. These workers were known as the wintering
  partners.

20
HBC and NWC

• In 1821 the two companies decided to end their
  competition for the furs and join together under
  one name.
• The new company would still be known as the
  Hudsons Bay Company because it was the HBC that,
  under the Royal Charter, still controlled the
  route from the Hudson Bay.

21
Ending of the Fur Trade

• The fur trade had slowly dissolved, partially due
  to the lack of furs and also the lack of
  Indigenous people who were 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 on the rail road, mining and lumbering.

22
References

• Neering, Rosemary. The Fur Trade. Markham, Ont.
  Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1985.
• http//www.furtradestories.ca/era_precontact.html
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fur_trade

23
References Continued.

• http//www1.canadiana.org/hbc/stories/produits2_e.
  html
• http//www.metisnation.ca