Which of the following describes how the fur trade affected indigenous peoples in North America?

During the colonial period, Native Americans had a complicated relationship with European settlers. They resisted the efforts of the Europeans to gain more of their land and control through both warfare and diplomacy. But problems arose for the Native Americans, which held them back from their goal, including new diseases, the slave trade, and the ever-growing European population in North America.

In the 17th century, as European nations scrambled to claim the already occupied land in the “New World,” some leaders formed alliances with Native American nations to fight foreign powers. Some famous alliances were formed during the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. The English allied with the Iroquois Confederacy, while the Algonquian-speaking tribes joined forces with the French and the Spanish. The English won the war, and claimed all of the land east of the Mississippi River. The English-allied Native Americans were given part of that land, which they hoped would end European expansion—but unfortunately only delayed it. Europeans continued to enter the country following the French and Indian War, and they continued their aggression against Native Americans. Another consequence of allying with Europeans was that Native Americans were often fighting neighboring tribes. This caused rifts that kept some Native American tribes from working together to stop European takeover.

Native Americans were also vulnerable during the colonial era because they had never been exposed to European diseases, like smallpox, so they didn’t have any immunity to the disease, as some Europeans did. European settlers brought these new diseases with them when they settled, and the illnesses decimated the Native Americans—by some estimates killing as much as 90 percent of their population. Though many epidemics happened prior to the colonial era in the 1500s, several large epidemics occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries among various Native American populations. With the population sick and decreasing, it became more and more difficult to mount an opposition to European expansion.

Another aspect of the colonial era that made the Native Americans vulnerable was the slave trade. As a result of the wars between the European nations, Native Americans allied with the losing side were often indentured or enslaved. There were even Native Americans shipped out of colonies like South Carolina into slavery in other places, like Canada.

These problems that arose for the Native Americans would only get worse in the 19th century, leading to greater confinement and the extermination of native people. Unfortunately, the colonial era was neither the start nor the end of the long, dark history of treatment of Native Americans by Europeans and their decedent’s throughout in the United States.

Canada was built on the fur trade, which supplied European demand for pelts from animals such as the beaver (Castor canadensis) to make hats. In Michif, the word for beaver is “aen kaastor.” At the start of the fur trade, the First Nations did most of the trapping. However, the Métis, who are sometimes considered “children of the fur trade,” became skilled hunters and trappers as well. The Métis began making a living as trappers by the end of the 1700s. They sold furs to three fur trade companies: Hudson’s Bay Company, the North West Company, and the American Fur Company. Dealing with competing fur trade companies was profitable for Métis trappers because they could sell their furs to the highest bidder. However, these profits began to diminish in 1821 when HBC and the NWC merged, operating as a new entity under the retained HBC name. HBC’s new-found monopoly on the fur trade meant lower fur prices. Furthermore, in Europe, less expensive silk hats became more popular during the 1830s, causing beaver prices to continue to drop. Prices also dropped for the furs of other animals, and many Métis trappers who had become reliant on the fur trade had to do other things to support their families.

Métis women were integral to the fur trade. They were sought after as marriage partners for fur trade managers because of their kinship ties to local First Nations and Métis. Some English Métis women, known as “Country Born,” married high-ranking officials and became members of the “Red River aristocracy.” French Métis women were likely to marry fur trade labourers such as French-Canadian voyageurs. Their work was vitally important, as they provided food such as garden produce, berries, fish and game to the fur trade posts. They also made and sold hand-worked items such as sashes and quilts.

Voyageurs were the main labour force of the Montreal-based fur trade system. They paddled large fur trade canoes from Montreal to Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay, Ont.), then to what are now northern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories and into present-day Oregon. Few roads made by people existed, making the rivers the best way of connecting communities. The voyageurs used the river systems to haul furs and goods for trading purposes. 

From the 1770s until the 1821 merger, most voyageurs were French-Canadians from Lower Canada (now the southern portion of Quebec) and to a lesser extent Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and Algonquins (Anishinaabeg). After the fur trade merger, the majority of boatmen working in the fur trade were Métis. Carrying on the voyageur way of life, they paddled transport canoes and York boats in the northern parts of the present-day Prairie provinces. They also unloaded freight canoes and York boats. Louis Riel counted on Métis boatmen, particularly the Portage La Loche brigade, as the muscle needed to support his provisional government during the Red River Resistance in 1869-70.

Métis boatmen worked for several months at a time, often enduring a great deal of hardship. In some places, a river would have too many rapids, or it was too narrow for boats to travel upon. Métis boatmen would then carry, or portage, their boats on their backs until they reached another lake or river. Those who were not carrying boats hauled heavy packs of trade goods on their backs. These bundles often weighed as much as 90 kilograms.  This heavy weight was held in place by a strap or tumpline around their heads. They often carried their boats and heavy packs for several kilometres through tangled underbrush, over slippery rocks and through clouds of blackflies. Today, the Métis honour their ancestors by holding “Métis Voyageur Games” at events across Canada such as the Back to Batoche festival. These events test the strength, accuracy and endurance of the participants.

After the 1821 merger of HBC and the NWC, many Métis fur trade workers became free traders, independent hunters and trappers. The bison hunts took on an increased importance as demand for bison robes and hides — the leather was used to make industrial belts — became more prominent from the 1840s until the great herds of bison began disappearing in the 1870s. Some of the Métis served as fur trade provisioners and as hunters, providing processed bison meat or pemmican to the fur trade workers.

Many sons of HBC traders also became fur trade employees, serving in a variety of positions such as clerks, postmen and factors. These English Metis were less likely to be involved in labouring positions such as manning York boats than their French Métis compatriots.

Today, Métis in the northern parts of the Prairie provinces and in Northwest Territories continue to trap. The Métis continue to honour the traditions of their fur trade ancestors by holding annual “King Trapper” events.

Which of the following describes a feature of the North American but not the Russian fur trade?

What commodity was soft gold in early modern commerce?

What was considered soft gold?

Which of the following was established as a Spanish colony in the 16th century?