What are the five phases of the fur trade about?

Answer 1

Phase 1: 1500 - 1603 The fur trade began with the cod fishery. The First Nations started to trade with the Europeans coming to fish around the Maritimes and Labrador. After many attempts, Jacques Cartier successfully traded with the Stadacona. Cartier's crew traded everything they had. This trade benefitted both Cartier and the Stadacona.

Phase 2: 1603 - 1670 During this time period, France dominated the Fur Trade. Also, New France was established. The French, Mi'kmaq, Kichespirini, Ouendat, and Innu were partners in the fur trade. However, later in this time period, the French - Haudenosaunee war began. The Haudenosaunee got support from the Dutch and British, and the British used this power to dominate the fur trade, which was in France's hands. The Haudenosaunee and their allies defeated the French and their allies in 1649, and actions were taken to force the Haudenosaunee to seek a truce in 1701. Catholic missionaries came to convert the First Nations to convert them to their religion. Hunting and trapping began to make the population of the beaver and game animals less.

Phase 3: 1670 - 1760 The British (now in control of the fur trade) made the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. Then, the British offered a group of merchants a monopoly for trade for Rupert's Land. After the Ouendat were defeated by the Haudenosaunee, the French used the Great Lakes to establish forts and they hired men to make the canoe trips between its settlements along the St. Lawrence River, and the forts and checkpoints. The voyageurs were very important to the French fur trade. A new race was born when the French men married Aboriginal women, the Métis.

Phase 4: 1760 - 1821 New France became a British colony in 1763. The North West Company was formed. The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada. When trading pemmican became popular, territorial expansions occurred. The Métis people developed a culture at Red River, and missionaries established contact with First Nations in the West.

Phase 5: 1821 - 1870 The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, because with great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced to merge. The HBC began to lose their monopoly, and the trade began to decline in the west. The British helped the HBC sell Rupert's Land to Canada (then very small) in 1869.