French Fur Trade

French Fur Trade

By Arnando Santos

Table of Contents

● Explorers and Establishing Colonies P​ age 1
● Relations with Native Americans, Trade, and Trade

Items P​ age 2-3
● Fur Trade, Beaver Pelts, and French Trappers ​Page

3-4
● Missionaries​ Page 4-5
● Expansion of New France and What Led to War P​ age

5-7

Explorers and Establishing Colonies

Giovanni de Verazzano s​ tarted it all when he sailed the
coast of the New World. Then, ​Jacques Cartier​ followed by
sailing to Canada in 1534. Lastly, the Father of New France,

Samuel de
Champlain,​ was
responsible for the
of Quebec, Canada
in 1608. All of
these explorers
might have not had
a huge impact
instantly, but these
events led to the
base of fur trading. M​ ap of the conquered land the French
had. ​These explorers claiming land for France and
exploring the interior of the land allowed for France to go
to the New World and begin fur trading.

Page 1

Relations with Native Americans, Trade, and Trade Items

The French had a very different mindset compared to the
Spanish, English and even Dutch colonies when it came to
the natives. France had come to this cold and rough place
called Canada to trade and to prosper. Later on, the French
create an alliance with the Huron and are generally friendly
towards the natives of Canada, but for what reason? Well,

the French wanted
beaver pelts, but
they’re new to this
region and don’t
know where to look,
so they trade items
like gunpowder,
firearms, knives,
axes, cloths, glass beads, and alcohol with the Natives in
return for pelts. T​ his image shows what a beaver looks
like and where they would be.​ In addition, the French did
this because they knew the Natives knew where the
beavers were, but the trading of these items came with a
catch. If the Natives give the French beaver pelts in return
for the items mentioned earlier, then the French must help
them fight the Iroquois, the Hurons sworn enemy.

Page 2

In conclusion, the French came to trade, but this trading is
followed by many wars and is ends up benefiting both the
Natives and French.

Fur Trade, Beaver Pelts, and French Trappers

The Runner of the Woods was a man who wasn’t of any
particular French Trapping company, but he would trade
firearms and alcohol with the natives. In addition, during
this time, fur trade was common and a stranger walking up
to a Native American settlement
looking for beaver pelts to trade
for wasn’t unusual. Now, the
issue isn’t what he would do,
it’s what happened because of
what he did. Native Americans
like the Hurons didn’t such
technology, like firearms so
introducing this to them
intervened with the culture.
Alcohol also caused issue for
the Native Americans as this
was also foreign to them.

Page 3

All in all, what the Runner of the Woods did wasn’t bad, but
the effect it had on the culture and system of the natives is
where the issue lies.

Missionaries

During the times of French Fur Trade there were many
Jesuit missionaries trying to convert the Native Americans,
peacefully, to be Catholic. Out of all of the Jesuit

missionaries, Father
Jacques Marquette
was the most famous
of them all. Although,
as popular as he is, he
finds little success
trying to convert the
Native Americans, but
a new value is found in
these missionaries.
This image shows
what jacques might
have looked like.​The
missionaries traveled all over the place from the Mississippi
area to the Ohio valley, they traversed monumental
amounts of land.

Page 4

Basically, the missionaries have become geographers and
explorers for the French, finding new land and gaining
knowledge on the environment.

Expansion of New France and What Led to the French
and Indian War

By the 1700s the French begin to expand their empire,
even with the small population pertaining to them. With this
expansion the French begin to very slowly gain dominance

over the new world,
when it comes to the
land. In numbers the
French were, at that
time, extremely
outnumbered and had
a small population as
a result. Then, about
50 years later, the
French have a
massive empire, but the amount of French compared to the
British is still extremely small.​ This is another image of the
French territory.

Page 5

This brings up issues, the French have a tough time
managing all this land, they can’t elect leaders like the
British can, and they didn’t have a House of Burgess in the
French colonies. This is when thing started going south for
the French, a series of wars began to break out, all for their
own reasons, but some of these ended up taking away
control from France. During Queen Anne’s War a massive
amount of French land was claimed by the British and a

smaller version of
this occurred
again in King
George's War.
British men had
taken a French
fort and later on
had to give this
back due to a
treaty. ​This is an
image of what
the French and Indian war might have appeared to look
like. A​ lthough this small victory was quickly denied during
the French and Indian War.

Page 6

The entirety of the land in North America owned by the
French was taken by the British, this caused incredible
trouble for the French and they were eventually completely
wiped from the Western Hemisphere.

Page 7