The Fur Trade Questions (Key)
1. What was traded between Jacques Cartier and the Mi’kmaq peoples?
The French traded iron goods for furs
2. Why were beaver pelts in high demand. 3 reasons
Beaver pelts were warm, water resistant, and Europeans had already hunted the beaver to extinction on their own continent.
3. Where was the early center for the fur trade? Why was this location chosen?
The first centre for trade was established at Tadoussac. It was located where the Saguenay River meets the St. Lawrence River. The Saguenay River provided First Nations traders access to and from the interior of the continent, while the St. Lawrence River provided the French access to the Atlantic Ocean.
4. Explain “Tadoussac exemplified the economic and technological interdependencies that had developed between Aboriginal peoples and European traders.”
Only the Aboriginal peoples knew the landscape. Their knowledge and skills were vital to the success of the fur trade. They were able to use many of their previously established trading routes.
5. In 1608, where did Samuel de Champlain set up a new trading post? Why did he do this?
Champlain founded a trading outpost at present day Quebec City in an attempt to solidify France’s hold on the fur trade.
6. State 3 reasons why the success of the fur trade depended on maintaining good relations with the Aboriginal peoples.
The French were outnumbered, the French depended on the Aboriginal peoples’ knowledge and skills to survive in the wilderness, and the Algonquins and the Wendat had strategic locations along the northern route that were significant to the fur trade.
7. What did Champlain do to forge an alliance with the Aboriginal peoples?
Champlain sent young representatives of the fur company to live among the Aboriginal peoples in order to learn their languages, values, and customs. He also agreed to join the Wendat and Algonquin in their war against the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee).
8. Why did the Dutch and English have a military advantage over the French?
The Dutch and later the English became allies with the Iroquois and supplied them with guns in exchange for furs. The French only supplied their allies with guns if they converted to Catholicism. Very few converted in the beginning.
9. What was significant about the royal charter that was issued in 1670?
The English granted the newly formed Hudson’s Bay Company exclusive trading rights of the lands that drained into Hudson’s Bay. This territory covered about 40 percent of Canada’s territory today. At the time it gave the Hudson’s Bay Company control of nearly a twelfth of the world’s land surface.
10. Explain how the Hudson Bay Company marked the beginning of the rivalry between the French and the English for control over the fur trade.
The English were in a good position to trade with Cree fur traders in the north. The French had to travel by foot to intercept the traders before they reached the outpost set up by the Hudson’s Bay Company. This allowed HBC to have first pick of the available furs. Coureurs de bois and Métis pushed further inland to expand French territory entering lands controlled by the Iroquois; allies of the English. A series of raids and counter raids between the Iroquois on one side and the French and their allies, the Algonquin and the Wendat, on the other until peace was established in 1701.
11. Define coureurs de bois and Metis.
Coureur de bois – French and or Métis fur traders in the Northwest
Métis – A person of mixed First Nation and European decent
12. What ended the competition for the fur trade?
The fall of New France to the English in 1760.