Chapter 4— Competition for Trade

1. Social Studies 7 Chapter 4—Competition for Trade

3. Competition in the Interior • The Nor’Westers challenged HBC fur trade dominance by building trading posts and forts in the interior of North America. Among the first was Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, built to trade with the large First Nations population in the modern Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) that had previously had to travel all the way to the HBC’s York Factory on Hudson Bay.

4. Competition in the Interior • As the Nor’Westers began to take a larger and larger share of its profits, the HBC knew that it had to adapt to compete in the trade. Both companies expanded and explored further inland, and grew more aggressive in their trading practices. They set the value of furs brought by First Nations higher than one another—the HBC would offer more valuable goods to trappers and hunters in return for their furs, and the Nor’Westers would do the same to compete.

5. Competition in the Interior • They began to trade alcohol with the First Nations more and more frequently. HBC and Nor’West traders in the same region would come into conflict with each other, and occasionally with the hunters and trappers, the source of their furs. The relationships between First Nations and the various fur trading groups grew more and more complicated.

6. Exploration: Crossing the Rockies • With competition increasing on the prairies, both trading companies tried to expand and explore further north and west to find new markets. The Peace and Mackenzie Rivers were the source of this exploration: both flow from Lake Athabasca (in Northeast Alberta), and were explored by a Nor’Wester named Alexander Mackenzie. He first travelled north on the Mackenzie River (hence the name) in 1789, unintentionally reaching the Arctic Ocean. Several years later in 1793, he was able to cross the Rocky Mountains on the Peace, Parsip, and Bella Coola Rivers, leading the first expedition to cross North America over land.

7. 1789

8. 1792-3

9. It is often said that the fur trade was the most important factor in exploring the west. Do you agree?

10. Positive Impacts of Contact • Cross-cultural exchange: First Nations and Europeans forged friendships and alliances, and shared technologies, knowledge, and lifestyles. • Wealth: the fur trade allowed Europeans to grow very rich through the process of mercantilism, contributing to the overall quality of life enjoyed by colonists and home country inhabitants. Many First Nations peoples also benefited in some ways from the new consumer goods they gained through trading. • Identity: the colonization of North America and interaction with its native peoples forged a new identity for colonists, and even created an entirely new people with a distinct culture and identity, the Metis.

11. Negative Impacts of Contact • Exploitation: though beneficial from one perspective, the wealth gained by European fur trading companies was not always positive. • The wealth was largely one-sided: the companies made much more money off of the trade than their First Nations “partners.” • Europeans established “ownership” over large tracts of land used previously by First Nations. This loss of land was destructive to the societies of many First Nations groups, breaking down some and tearing others apart.

12. Negative Impacts of Contact • Work: many First Nations peoples changed their entire way of life to participate in the fur trade. They hunted heavily, found work in forts and factories, and paddled canoes for goods and money. Doing this for generations weakened the culture and social structure of many groups. • Language: with the expansion of the HBC and Nor’Westers, English and French became the dominant languages of the region. Many Aboriginal language groups began to decline in population/use, and some are lost even still.

13. Negative Impacts of Contact • Environmental Impact: as the trade went on for generations, overhunting of certain animals caused large drops in their population. The beaver and the buffalo were those animals most affected by the trade: the buffalo was nearly extinct after only a few short decades, while the beaver was able to survive overhunting for a little longer. As both populations dropped, many First Nations groups that had previously relied heavily on them were displaced and changed forever.

14. Negative Impacts of Contact • Dependence on European goods: First Nations groups had developed tools and strategies for living in the wilderness over thousands of years, and understood that they had to maintain balance and respect their environment in order to survive. As they came to use European manufactured goods that were more efficient in some ways (but equally destructive in others), many came to use only those goods and forget the traditions and tools of their ancestors.

15. Negative Impacts of Contact • Disease: among the most devastating effects of contact was the various diseases the Europeans brought with them to the new world. Centuries of living in congested, crowded urban centers had granted Europeans immunity to the many bacteria and viruses that lived on their bodies and in their environment. As many First Nations tended to live in smaller units in more open areas, they had less exposure to these viruses and therefore no immunity.

16. Negative Impacts of Contact • Exposure to viruses like smallpox, measles, influenza (flu), and whooping cough became epidemics that destroyed large portions of many First Nations groups. Further, this was not always accidental: there are many cases of European traders and missionaries giving goods like blankets and clothing knowingly infected with disease to First Nations to drive them off of their land. • Facts & Figures: the 1781-82 smallpox epidemic killed three out of every five First Nations people on the Prairie. Another in 1837-38 killed even more.