FAQ: What Was The Role Of The Fur Trade In New France?

The fur trade was the most important industry in New France. With the money they made from furs, the French sent settlers to Canada. These were mainly traders and religious missionaries. Missionaries worked to convert Indigenous people to Christianity.

What role did fur play in the development of New France?

Although its annual value paled in comparison to that of the North Atlantic cod fisheries, the fur trade was nevertheless the economic engine of New France: it underwrote exploration, evangelization, and settlement initiatives while providing income for habitant households and generating private fortunes for officials,

What were the roles in the fur trade?

The fur trading industry played a major role in the development of the United States and Canada for more than 300 years. The fur trade began in the 1500’s as an exchange between Indians and Europeans. The Indians traded furs for such goods as tools and weapons. Today, almost all trappers sell their pelts.

How did the fur trade help France?

Most of the Indian nations with which the French had trading alliances were agricultural. With the fur trade, men’s economic importance increased as they now hunted not just for calories, but for trade goods. As their hunting ranges increased, this brought them into more conflicts with other tribes.

What was the French goal in the fur trade?

Europeans Battle for Trade Indeed, one of the principal goals of the French fur trade during the 1700s was to maintain strong ties and military alliances with the Indians. Between 1698 and 1763, France and England fought a series of four wars for control of North America.

How did the fur trade contribute to the foundations of the economy in New France?

Later, as the fur trade developed, many First Nations societies came to depend on the fur trade as their primary source of income. The fur trade industry contributed to the foundations of the economy of New France by being the primary employer and means by which the colony was able to grow.

What role did the fur trade play in the expansion of Russia?

Fur trading allowed Russia to purchase from Europe goods that it lacked, like lead, tin, precious metals, textiles, firearms, and sulphur. Russia also traded furs with Ottoman Turkey and other countries in the Middle East in exchange for silk, textiles, spices, and dried fruit.

What were women’s role in the fur trade?

Women were, in fact, the primary producers of the fur trade: they trapped the smaller marten for its fur, and they made the moccasins, snowshoes, canoes, and other equipment necessary for travel on winter hunts. For food they hunted small animals, fished, and made pemmican.

What was the Metis role in the fur trade?

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. Their work was vitally important, as they provided food such as garden produce, berries, fish and game to the fur trade posts.

What was beaver fur used for?

For everyday use or costume and decoration, furs have been used for the production of outterware such as coats and cape, garment and shoe lining, a variety of head coverings, and ornamental trim and trappings. Beaver pelts could be made into either full-fur or felted-fur hats.

What did New France trade?

Instead, the riches which Europeans found here were fish and furs. Early contact with the Indigenous peoples established trading patterns. The First Nations brought fur pelts of otter, mink, marten and fox and traded them for European tools, pots and liquor.

What was the importance of the fur trade to the European settlers and the First Nations?

The fur trade provided Indigenous peoples with European goods that they could use for gift-giving ceremonies, to improve their social status and to go to war. The French forged military alliances with their Indigenous allies in order to maintain good trade and social relations.

What happened to the fur trade after the French and Indian War?

The British hurt the French traders’ business when they bought fur from the Indians. They took control of the lands that had been claimed by France (see below). France lost its mainland possessions to North America. Britain now claimed all the land from the east coast of North America to the Mississippi River.

What did New France supply to France?

The colony’s existence depended principally on the export of fur to France, and for its own provisions it depended heavily on a number of French products, including manufactured goods, wine, spirits and luxury items.

What were the main focuses of the New France Economy What role did the First Nations people have in the economy of New France?

But the fur trade was the real economic driver of New France. The harvesting of furs created wealth, stimulated the exploration of the continent and created alliances with many Aboriginal peoples.

What impact did the fur trade have on the First Nations?

This changed their normal nomadic movements. The French traded differently, going into Indigenous lands where they often took First Nations wives and gradually evolved a Métis (mixed race) people. The Indigenous peoples became dependent on the trading posts for firearms and ammunition and for European food.