French Fur Trade

French Colonization

1534-1763

By: Diego Lopez

Table Of Contents

Page 1- Title
Page 2- Table of Contents
Page 3- French Explorers, Establishing Colonies
Page 4- Relations with Native Americans ,Trade, Trade Items
Page 5- Fur Trade, Beaver Pelts, French Trappers
Page 6- Missionaries, Expansions of New France, Leading to New War

French Explorers

Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485-1528)- gave geography for the Carolinas up to
Newfoundland including New York Harbor. Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York is

named after him.

Jacques Cartier(1491-1587)-explored St. Lawrence and gave Canada its name.
Explored most of New France’s Canada colonies.

Samuel De Champlain(1567-1635)- “Father of France”. He found Quebec and mapped
the Great Lakes. He governed the city of Quebec. Was a very good geographer and
mapped Northeastern Canada. Lake Champlain is named after him. Made good
relations with the Hurons and fought the Iroquois together.

Establishing Colonies

Quebec was the first empire by France. Established in 1608. Used to be a colony in
today what would be Florida but Spain kicked France out of Florida. Settled in most of
Canada at the beginning of their run. Had a colony in the Caribbean.

Relations with Native Americans

Had a good relationship with the Huron Indians. The Huron and French traded which
made the French colonies thrive. They also made an alliance. Alloquian was also
another tribe New France allied with. Iroquois were natives that usually ended up going

to war with France and their allied tribes.

Trade

The French and Huron traded. This is the reason why the French people did so well in
Canada. Most of the reasons why people came to New France was to get goods and
trade with the natives. Coureurs de bois (crafted woodsmen, trappers, and canoeists)
were extremely important to the fur trade and French trade.

Trade Items

Huron: Gunpowder, guns, axes, tools, alcohol, metal cooking utensils, and cloth.

French: Beaver pelts

Fur Trade

This was one of the only reasons why France would live in Canada. Coureurs de bois were
super important to the fur trade. Trade started in eastern Canada where the French gave the
Indians kettles, knives and other gifts showing to the natives that they want good relations.

Beaver Pelts

This was like diamond of today. It was super valuable and helped the French people
stay warm and help them in war. They could be made into hats and sometimes clothing.
It was very one of the only items the French would trade for in the fur trade. They could

also be used to make blankets.

French Trappers

Also known as coureurs de bois. Started around 17th, 18th century. These people
would trap the fur for themselves and make profit off it or trade with the natives. They
weren’t part of any colony but more of like an entrepreneur type of act.

Missionaries

They turned natives into Christianity at their own consent. They did not force natives to
come but encouraged. Three jesuit priest and three lay brothers went to New France to
try to convert natives.The jesuit missionaries came to New France in 1634. One of the
main missions were they would convert people was called Sainte-Marie-aux-Hurons,
which was established in 1639. The first year 30 Europeans were hired and there were
50 Huron converts. Out of the 2,700 Huron converts after the winter of 1685 only about
300-400 were still alive.

Expansion of New France

Due to bad weather New France expanded super slowly. Also with the all the natives
they have to either fight or make an alliance. They also had a colony in the Caribbean
and that’s where most of the new settlers went due to the nicer weather. 50 years later
after they had parts of Canada and a tiny bit of North America, they had most of the
Great Lakes region and the south east like Louisiana

Leading to War

France was expanding, but in size not population. There was really no government.
Some colonies were bringing in money while other were not. Britain starts taking land
from France.