Chapter 4 - Competition for TradeName:

Chapter Inquiry - How did the various people in North America work together in the fur trade and compete to control it?

The Vikings came to North America in the year 1000. The next Europeans didn’t arrive for another 500 years. The first contacts between the Europeans and the North American aboriginals happened along the coast. The Europeans and the First Nations peoples were very surprised to meet people who were differentfrom themselves.

  1. Depending on your perspective your observations can be very different from someone else. What does this mean?It means that how you view something is affected by your beliefs, understanding, and approach which is often different than someone else.

  1. How did the Europeans and the First Nations people learn to get along?

Quite well at first as they wanted to trade with one another.

Did this happen quickly?Yes but took some time.Why was it important that they get along with each other?Each had something the other wanted in trade.

The Fur Trade: The Foundation of an Economy

Trading occurs when each side has something that the other would want/like.

1.What items did the First Nations people like to get from the Europeans?Pots, knives, axes, copper wire, and guns, blankets, cloth, and thread.

2.Why were these goods desirable to the ones that they already had?Stronger and lasted longer.

3.What kinds of goods did the Europeans want to get from the First Nations People? Lots of furs. What types of this item did they have?(8 Marks) fox, marten, otter, bear, lynx, muskrat, wolf, and beaver.

4.The Europeans used these things for fashionable trims on coats and jackets.

5.The First Nations People and the traders used the bartersystem when trading their goods. The First Nations people were already good at using this system when they traded corn, tobacco, furs, copper, potteryto trade with their neighbors. What did the Europeans usually use when they bought something back home?Metal coins.

6.Before trading they would show respect and trust by sharing the peace pipeand offering wampum that is a string of shells to honour new friends and create harmony. The Europeans were paid about 10 times more for the pelts (furs) than they paid for the goods that they traded them for. This mark-up made them a big profit.

Three Key Players – There were three major groups involved in the fur trade. List them in the spaces below and explain the role that each played in the process.

1.First Nations – hunted and trapped animals in winter. Women skinned and prepared the pelts. In spring men and women loaded canoes with furs and travelled to trading posts to trade furs for goods.

2.Merchants – in both French and English fur trade, merchants financed and organized the trade. Puchased and shipped goods from Europe to Canada. Shipped furs back to Europe to sell to hat makers.

3.Coureur de bois and voyageurs – French traders paddled on long journeys into the wilderness to trade with the First Nations. Then paddled back to trading posts in Montreal.

Relying on First Nations – The Europeans didn’t know how to live in the harsh North American wilderness, First Nations people helped Europeans in the following ways:

  • Showing them how to find food.
  • Teach them to make medicine to cure diseases like scurvy.
  • How to dress in cold weather.
  • Transportation in the form of canoes.
  • Share knowledge of their regions.
  • Translating deals with various groups.
  • Help negotiate trade deals.
  • Provide a workforce to cook food, sew moccasins, prepare pemmican, snare animals, lace snowshoes.

Although the First Nations Women did not hunt for furs, they still played an important role in the fur trade. In the space below list the ways that they played a role.

  • Prepare furs
  • Worked in forts making moccassins and clothing. Gathered food.
  • Working on the road – paddled canoes and worked in camps.
  • Shared language and geography skills.

The French Fur Trade – How did the French government influence the fur trade and the economy of New France?

  1. Coureurs de bois spent their wages in shops - shop owners bought food from the farmers, farmers used that money to buy from other business/cooper
  2. In the early days of New France the fur trade was the foundation of the economy.Who controlled the fur trade in New France? The French King.
  3. Who was Jean-Baptiste Colbert and what was his role in New France? (4 items)Man in charge of planning the economy in New France. Wanted the mercantile system. Did not allow trading posts in the interior of North America to avoid conflict with First Nations. Relied on the Wendat for furs brought to Montreal
  1. Who was Jean Talon and what was his role in New France? (4 items)In charge of the economy after 1665. Used money to attract more colonists. Supported local industries. Doubled the the number of colonists.
  2. Who was Governor Frontenac and what was his role in New France?(5 Marks)Nobleman, governor in 1672, needed new trading partners due to death of Wendat and Haudenosaunee wars. Sent coureur de bois into the interior knowing if he didn’t, the English would.
  1. In the Great Peace of Montreal, 3 nations joined together to fight the Haudenosaunee. After 60 years of war the First Nations and French began to negotiate peace. They signed a peace treaty and finally the trappers and the coureur de boiscould travel safely.
  1. When the local beaver supply began to decline the French expanded their trapping farther north and west. This resulted in them exploring the entire continent. This Peace lasted until the 1750s.

Transportation: Crucial to Any Economy

  1. What form of transportation did the traders rely on?boats They used water routes because they were fast and convenient.
  1. France controlled the fur trade along the St. Lawrence Riverand Great Lakes.
  1. The Adirondack Mountains blocked the English fur traders of the 13 colonies from expanding into the West.

The Canoe – A Canadian Institution – The canoe played a very important role in the fur trade of early Canada.

  1. Without the canoe, travelling into the interior of North America would have been impossible.
  1. Why were the birch bark canoes ideal for travelling? (3 items) The were lightweight so they could be carried if needed and moved quickly in the water. They were also very sturdy and could last on long journeys.
  1. What is the origin of the word Canoe?The Arawak language of the Caribbean.
  1. What do you think the First Nations People meant when they were talking about a great “Western Sea”?The Pacific Ocean.

Provide a brief biography of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendreye.

(Be thorough)La Verendreye took charge of the French fur trade post near Lake Superior. Made several trips through the forests of North Ontario. He later reached Lake Winnipeg. “Discovered” the Saskatchewan River and it became the most important river for the French fur traders too. Made alliances with First Nations and started several western trading posts. His sons reached the Rocky Mountains but he didn’t find the Western Sea.

The English Fur Trade- The English didn’t really want to build a colony, instead they just wanted to make money in the fur trade.

The advantages of building forts along the shores of Hudson’s Bay were:

1.Close to the abundant fur supplies of the north. Northern fur is better because it is thicker due to colder climates.

2.Many rivers flow into Hudson’s Bay and they are good for transportation.

3.Large supply ships could transport goods directly to the English forts. The French route involved sea and inland travel by canoe. English forts could get trade goods to England in one year while it took 2 years for French traders to get their furs to France.

Isabel Gunn was born in 1781 and died in 1861.Where did she live before she came to Canada?Scotland What year did she come to Canada to be with her husband who worked with the Hudson’s Bay Co.?1806Women were not allowed to do this so what did she do?Disguised herself as a man. What did she call herself? John Fubbister. What finally forced her to admit that she was a woman? She gave birth to a baby. What eventually happened to Isabel Gunn?Worked in the laundry of a post on Hudson Bay; returned to Scotland.

Converging in the West – What caused the competition between the French and English fur traders to come to an end in 1760?

New France came under British control in 1760 and this ended the competitions between English and French fur traders.

What is Nor’Wester short for?Men who worked for Northwest Trading Company.

  1. What year was this company established?1779 What did this company eventually accomplish?They extended the fur trade farther than it had ever been in New France.
  2. Marie-Anne Gaboury (1780-1875) was the first non-aboriginalwoman to live in WesternCanada. She helped to establish the French presence in Western Canada.
  3. The Rocky Mountains were a barrier that kept the voyageurs from pushing westward.
  4. Alexander Mackenzie was one of the first Europeans to cross the continent by land from east to west.

The Impact of Contact – the fur trade resulted in many long-term changes.

Positive Impacts: /
  • First Nations and Europeans get to know each other.
  • They copied each other’s ways of doing things.
  • They borrowed each other’s technologies.

Negative Impacts /
  • Many First Nations died of diseases previously unknown to them.
  • European governments claimed First Nations lands as their own.
  • First Nations lost their traditional ways of life.
  • They lost their lands
  • The First Nations became dependent on European goods.
  • Lost their languages.

Fort Whoop-Up and the Whiskey Trade – page 95.

  1. What was a common trading item in 1860?Alcohol. There was no policeforce in Canada so you could do as you liked. The free traders would trade alcohol for buffalo hides.
  2. Fort Whoop-up was built in 1869 by J. J. Healyand Alfred Hamilton. Whisky was made from many ingredients including (5 Marks)pure alcohol, tea leaves, rotten chewing tobacco, painkillers, red pepper, lye, ginger, soap, red ink, and molasses. This caused many First Nations People to become so sick that they couldn’t care for their families, and some even ended updying from it’s poisons.

What new “dual heritage” culture was created? Metis. What people are considered to be a member of this group?The children of First Nations women and European traders.