French trade
Alexandra Manis
Table of Contents
The Discovery of Canada - pg 1
Relations with Native Americans - pg 2
Between Profit and Piety - pg 3
Achieving the French Dream - pg 4
Why Fur? - pg 5
The Discovery of Canada
Canada was discovered in the year 1534 by Jacques Cartier and Samuel
De Champlain. The French were helped by the Hurons. They wanted to
find the north-west passage. Cartier wanted to establish permanent
settlement. France wanted to trade with the Native Americans there, as
they knew the natives would have the easiest time pulling resources from
the environment in which they had lived almost their entire lives.
Jacques Cartier Samuel De Champlain
Relations with Native Americans
In order to get more furs, they became friends with the natives. Natives
adopt various french tradesmen into their tribes. The French traded with
Abenaki, Huron, and the Iroquois. They intermarried to strengthened
social ties and trade. The children, a mix of white european and Native
American, were called Metis.
A Metis trapper
Between Profit and Piety
Two years later, a company of over a hundred associates profited off of
the trade. All of the profits were then donated to help the missionary
efforts in the area. These missions were run by the Jesuits, who had a
strong desire to ‘save’ their native trade partners. The conversions also
helped with the ability to forge trade alliances, as soon many of the tribes
understood and spoke the french that the Jesuits taught them.
Jesuits
Achieving the French Dream
The first Europeans to purchase furs from Indians were French and
English fishermen who, during the 1500s, fished off the coast of
northeastern Canada and occasionally traded with the Indians.
Eventually though, many left their fishing jobs to work solely as
tradesmen alongside the Native American trappers. Cartier, who wanted
to establish permanent settlement of the area, used this to establish French
settlements, which were crucial to the trade and usually popped up
around the missionary sites and forts. While France had originally only
wanted to colonies for trade and not to expand their territorial reach,
colonies such as Quebec and Ontario became strongholds for french
settlers, with cities springing up from these crude trade posts, forts, and
old missionary sites.
Map of trading posts
Why Fur?
The French, above all else, wanted fur. They considered it a luxury item,
a thing kept only by the wealthy of society. To have fur was considered a
social status, and so it was in high demand. Not only was it fashionable,
however, it was also warm. The French paid their Native counterparts in
manufactured goods they had brought with them from Europe, using
guns, metal cooking utensils, cloth, and glass for trade. In return, the
Native Americans gave them all types of furs, such as beaver, fox, and
racoon. These furs were turned into fluffy coat trims, muffs, and hats.
Beaver fur top hat