Canadian Fur Trade Essays - Fur Trade, Economic History Of Canada

Canadian Fur Trade The Canadian fur trade, which grew out of the fishing industry, began as a small business, but would expand and become not only the exploiter of a primary Canadian resource, but the industry around which the country of Canada itself developed. The fur trade started shortly after the discovery of the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland. The fishermen who fished there were the first people who traded furs with the Indians; this trade was a secondary means of profit for the fishermen. Later this secondary industry became a profitable big business due to changes in European fashion, and fashion techniques. While the fur trade brought economic growth and land discoveries, it developed its very own complex trading network throughout the wild, which laid the groundwork for a nation both geographically and financially. The Europeans and the Natives were both instrumental participants in the growth of the fur trade, but the fur trade had its ill effects on these two cultures. The fur trade not only negatively affected Native and settler life, but also had negative ecological effects, particularly on the beaver. The beaver flourished until the fur traders came after them. Because of the land discoveries and the profit made through the trapping and killing of the beavers, the animals were left nearly extinct. However the invaded habitat of the beaver would become the routes to the European settlements. In the period when the fur trade flourished there were two major players: the European traders and settlers and the Natives with whom they traded. The descendants of these two groups have different opinions on the effects of the fur trade, especially on the Natives. The question remains whether what was done to the Natives was unjust, or merely an inevitable outcome of exploration and discovery. The Natives feel that the fur trade was unjust to them; they feel the trade stole their culture from them and with it their independence. The opinion of many non-Natives is that civilization naturally progresses. Just as the Inuit took over the Tunits who were in the Arctic before them, through force and superior technology, the Europeans took away the land from the Natives in Canada. However, with increased contemporary awareness of social and ecological injustices we can look back and see the adverse effects of the fur trade. Is it more accurate to claim that the fur trade was the destruction of a nation or the birth of one? Although the fur trade is seen as the base upon which Canada was built, it is also seen as an instrument of destruction for the culture of the Canadian Natives and a threat to an ecological balance among the fur-bearing wild life. The development of the fur trade accelerated as Europeans had more and more contact with the Natives in North America. The first known contact between Europeans and Natives is believed to have happened between Vikings and Inuits, in the area the Vikings called Vineland, the present site of Anse-aux-Meadows . These first contacts were uneventful and the relations between the two groups were fair. They continued to trade on a small scale until the Vikings attacked the Natives who retaliated and forced the Vikings to vacate their colony, thus ending the first European relations with the Natives of North America. These Viking colonies remained unknown to the rest of Europe, which would not find the New World for another hundred years. The first discovery of North America after the Vikings was by Christopher Columbus, who was quickly followed by Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot). Cabot did not find the silks and spices of the Orient he was looking for, but he did find something that ended up being worth even more, the Grand Banks and its cod. The warm and cold currents that meet at the Grand Banks result in an extraordinary richness of fish in the area , and soon after Cabot's discovery fishermen from all over Europe flocked to the Grand Banks. These fishermen who came to the Grand Banks during the summer season became the first European fur traders in the New World. This trading was mostly done between the Micmac Indians, and the French, Spanish or Portuguese fishermen.