Chapter 4: The Fur Trade

1. Chapter 4: The Fur Trade • The growing economy in Canada as a result of the fur trade, brought both the French and the British together. Sometimes this could result in violent conflict over fur trading territory. • Economic competition played a significant role in the British and French struggling for power in Canada. • What competitions have you been in? What is the most important competition you have been involved in? • In economic competition, "winning" means controlling more wealth than other people. • List 5 factors that would help the British or the French win this economic competition. • P.107

2. Timeline of the Fur Trade • We’re going to create a timeline of the fur trade together We will examine: • Who, where and when? • How did economic competition shape the fur trade? • What roles did French, British, First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples play in the fur trade? • How did the fur trade influence migration and settlement?

3. Timeline of the Fur Trade • This timeline will be treated as a journey of discovery. The timeline is really important because the fur trade had a significant impact in how Canada developed.

4. Phase 1: • The Early Fur Trade: 1500-1603 • P.108-109

5. Cod Fishing and its role in the settlement of Canada: • The Mi'kmaq began to trade fish with Europeans who came to Canada to fish for cod on the East coast. When the British would come to shore to dry their fish, the Mi'kmaq would trade furs with the French when they came to shore to gather supplies and get fresh water.

6. Glimpsing at the Early Fur Trade • Early fur trade seemed to benefit both the Europeans as well as the First Nations. However, most historians agree, that as the fur trade progressed, it became less beneficial to the First Nations. • Why do you think this is the case? • Come up with at least 3-4 reasons why the fur trade would favor the Europeans as time went on.

7. Glimpsing at the Early Fur Trade • Within this early fur trade, we see a rather fierce competition begin to develop between the French and the British. • Create at least 3 similes to compare the relationship between the French and British. E.g. The British and French would fight like cats and dogs.

8. Competition p.109 How would this competition change the fur trade for the First Nations? How could competition affect the: • Environment? • The need for new technology? • The way First Nations used the land? • Family life?

9. Phase 2: • Expansion Inland: 1603-1670 • P.110-114

10. Phase 2: • Fur trade crossword • P. 114 – Respond questions • #2 Skits

11. Phase 3: • Rival Networks: 1670-1760 • P.115-120

12. Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) • The HBC was the main competition for France in the fur trade. Britain had offered a group of fur traders a monopoly on the land surrounding Hudson's Bay known as Rupert's land.

13. Middlemen Emerging: • The Cree and Nakoda soon became middlemen in the trading system between the Hudson's Bay trading forts and the First Nations in the west. Due to these tribes being centrally located in the middle of the West, they were able to shuttle furs between tribes and the HBC forts. The Anishinabe also became middlemen in this trading relationship.

14. Voyageurs: • New France hired men to make canoe trips in and around the Great Lakes. • The French had established trading forts in these regions and these voyageurs would make the trips between the settlements in order to trade furs. • The French had a strategy to help build and protect their fur trading relationship with the First Nations. They began to initiate cross-cultural marriages with First Nations. • The French would call the children of these marriages, "Metis" or mixed.