The French-speaking Fur Traders in Early North-America

Thèmes abordés

French-speaking, Fur Traders, North-America, colony, French-speaking Empire, France, French fur trade industry, New France

Résumé du document

During the sixteenth century a vast French-speaking Empire was claimed by a few brave adventurers. New France was the name of this vast Empire in North-America. It was a territory that spread from historic Acadia (present day Canadian Maritime provinces), past Quebec and the great lakes (then called Canada), and stretched along the Mississippi River till New-Orleans (then Nouvelle-Orléans). During the French regime, the fur trade was the major commercial activity that sustained New France. This trade remained very important throughout the french regime but had to evolve as it moved gradually towards the interior.

Extraits

[...] For example tobacco, alcohol, trade jewelry and other luxury items accounted for only ten percent of the goods that could be traded. These products enormously changed the way of life of the tribe. In return, the natives trapped the beaver and prepared the furs for trade The hides and furs exported to Europe were used primarily to make luxury items for very wealthy customers. The fur traders received in fact far more than furs from Native people. They were able to acquire valuable knowledge and skills that allowed them to survive in the deep wilderness[10]. [...]

[...] On April he decreed that no one would be allowed to go trading "with the Huron or other Nations without our previous written consent, under penalty of a fine".[4] The inhabitants of the French colony could get furs for their own use, but only in exchange for the product of their harvests or trade. The settlers were not allowed to make a personal profit out of these goods. The activities of the traders contributed to the rapid expansion of the territory of New France, from the Great Lakes and the way south to the Gulf of Mexico. At the end of the seventeenth century, those French- speaking fur traders traveled regularly on the main rivers in northern Quebec and Ontario but also on the Missippi River or on the great lakes. [...]

[...] The fur traders had a life which was different from the one of the settlers in Canada or in Acadia since the fur traders lived in the woods among the natives and far from the cities and the forts. The histories of French and Indian Societies became intertwined and inseparable. Nevertheless, even when the French settlers established good relations with Native tribes, they were in no danger of thinking the Natives were their equal[12]. Natives and French men did not amalgamate into a single people, as some French visionaries of the early seventeenth century had thought they might. Both groups remained though fundamentally themselves [13]. [...]

[...] As the trade attracted more attention from the tribes of the interior, it was the Huron who came to dominate it Some native tribes of the interior, particularly the Cree rapidly adapted to the trade. They traded their own furs and increasingly acted as middlemen for other native tribes further off in the interior. Then as the French explorers and traders moved deeper into the west, they managed to also preserve their trade by also moving westward[8]. The European fur traders had to respect the local native traditions and customs. They had to follow a certain ceremonial. [...]

[...] The French-speaking Fur Traders in Early North-America During the sixteenth century a vast French-speaking Empire was claimed by a few brave adventurers. New France was the name of this vast Empire in North- America. It was a territory that spread from historic Acadia (present day Canadian Maritime provinces), past Quebec and the great lakes (then called Canada), and stretched along the Mississippi River till New-Orleans (then Nouvelle-Orléans). During the French regime, the fur trade was the major commercial activity that sustained New France. [...]