Stages of the Fur Trade

1497

Cabot discovers cod fishery

1534

Cartier claims Gulf of St. Lawrence for France – meets natives who want to trade furs for European goods

French and natives meet each summer at Tadoussac, exchanging furs for European goods

1600

Informal fur trade between French and English fishermen and natives

Increasing demand for furs in Europe – need for more organized trade to provide adequate supply

Phase 1: Ship to Shore (1497-1608)

1608

Champlain establishes French settlement at Quebec

1649 1663 French form alliance with Huron, who become “middlemen in French fur trade

1630s: Jesuit missionaries sent to convert Huron to Christianity

Phase 2: Company Monopoly (1608-63)

Huron, weakened by disease, are exterminated in warfare with Iroquois

French colony on verge of collapse due to Iroquois attacks

Flow of furs to France disrupted

1663

Phase 3: Reorganization & Rivalry (1663-1763)

Young King Louis XIV assumes direct control of New France

1668

‘Coureurs de bois’ (young Frenchmen) replace Huron as middlemen in fur trade

French government issues licenses to fur traders

Two French traders Radisson & Groseilliers, refused license to export furs out of Hudson Bay, take their idea to England, making successful voyage in 1668

1670

Phase 3: Reorganization & Rivalry (1663-1763)

England’s King Charles II issues charter to Hudson’s Bay Co., granting it exclusive rights to trade furs out of Hudson Bay

1700HBC charter grants ownership of all lands drained by rivers emptying into Hudson Bay

Natives bring furs to HBC posts on shore of Hudson Bay (“sleep by the frozen sea”)

1700

Phase 3: Reorganization & Rivalry (1663-1763)

French establish chain of trading posts west of Great Lakes in effort to divert furs from HBC to Quebec

1763

French trading lines stretch thousands of kilometers into Canadian West

1730s

La Vérendrye & sons establish French posts on Lake Winnipeg and Saskatchewan River

French lose Seven Years’ War

New France becomes British colony

Newly arrived English merchants assume control of French fur trade