North American fur trade
The North American fur trade is the (typically) historical commercial trade of furs and other goods in North America, predominantly in the eastern provinces of Canada and the northeastern American colonies (soon-to-be northeastern United States). The trade was initiated mainly through French, Dutch and English settlers and explorers in collaboration with various First Nations tribes of the region, such as the Wyandot-Huron and the Iroquois; ultimately, the fur trade's financial and cultural benefits would see the operation quickly expanding coast-to-coast and into more of the continental United States and Alaska.
"Fur trade in Canada" redirects here. For the book, see The Fur Trade in Canada.
Europeans began their participation in the North American fur trade from the initial period of their colonization of the Americas onward, bringing the financial and material gains of the trade to Europe. European merchants from France, England and the Dutch Republic established trading posts and forts in various regions of eastern North America, primarily to conduct trade transactions with First Nations and local communities. The trade reached its peak of economic prominence in the 19th century, by which time the entire operation was fueled by seasoned trails, the knowledge and experiences of numerous frontiersmen and the system of elaborate trade networks.
The trade soon became one of the main economic drivers in North America, attracting competition amongst European nations, whom maintained trade interests in the Americas. The United States sought to remove the substantial British control over the North American fur trade during the first decades of its existence. Many Indigenous peoples would soon come to depend on the fur trade as their primary source of income and method of obtaining European-manufactured goods (such as weaponry, housewares, kitchenwares, and other useful products). However, by the mid-19th century, changing fashions in Europe brought about a collapse in fur prices and led to the crashing of several fur companies. Many Indigenous (and European) communities that relied on the fur trade were suddenly plunged into poverty and, consequently, lost much of the political influence they once held.
The number of beavers and river otters killed during the fur trade was devastating for the animals' North American populations. The natural ecosystems that came to rely on the beavers for dams, river and water management and other vital needs were also ravaged, leading to ecological destruction, significant environmental change, and even drought in certain areas. Following this degradation, both the river otter and beaver populations in North America would continue to decline, without much noticeable improvement until around the mid-twentieth century.[1][2][3]
English colonies[edit]
By the end of the 18th century the four major British fur trading outposts were Fort Niagara in modern New York, Fort Detroit and Fort Michilimackinac in modern Michigan, and Grand Portage in modern Minnesota, all in the Great Lakes region.[93] The American Revolution and the resulting resolution of national borders forced the British to re-locate their trading centers northward. The newly formed United States began its own attempts to capitalize on the fur trade, initially with some success. By the 1830s the fur trade had begun a steep decline, and fur was never again the lucrative enterprise it had once been.[94]
Southeastern United States[edit]
Background[edit]
Starting in the mid-16th century, Europeans traded weapons and household goods in exchange for furs with Native Americans in southeast America.[96] The trade originally tried to mimic the fur trade in the north, with large quantities of wildcats, bears, beavers, and other fur bearing animals being traded.[97] The trade in fur coat animals decreased in the early 18th century, curtailed by the rising popularity of trade in deer skins.[97] The deer skin trade went onto dominate the relationships between the Native Americans of the southeast and the European settlers there. Deer skin was a highly valued commodity because of the deer shortage in Europe, and the British leather industry needed deer skins to produce goods.[98] The bulk of deer skins were exported to Great Britain during the peak of the deer skin trade.[99]
Post-European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries[edit]
Spanish exploratory parties in the 16th century had violent encounters with the powerful chiefdoms, which led to the decentralization of the Indigenous people in the southeast.[100] Almost a century passed between the original Spanish exploration and the next wave of European immigration,[100] which allowed the survivors of the European diseases to organize into new tribes.[101]
Most Spanish trade was limited with Indians on the coast until expeditions inland in the beginning of the 17th century.[96] By 1639, substantial trade between the Spanish in Florida and the Native Americans for deer skins developed, with more interior tribes incorporated into the system by 1647.[96] Many tribes throughout the southeast began to send trading parties to meet with the Spanish in Florida, or used other tribes as middlemen to obtain manufactured goods.[96] The people of Apalachicola Province provided deer skins, and in return the Apalachees would give them silver, guns, or horses.[96]
As Europeans settlers gradually colonized the southeast, the deerskin trade experienced a boom which persisted into the 18th century.[98] Many of the white settlers who had settled in the Carolinas in the late 17th century came from Virginia, where trading patterns of European goods in exchange for beaver furs already had started.[102] The white-tailed deer herds that roamed south of Virginia were a more profitable resource.[98] The French and the English struggled for control over southern Appalachia and the Mississippi Valley, and needed alliances with the Indians there to maintain dominance.[103] European settlers used the trade of deer skins for manufactured goods to secure trade relationships, and therefore power.[97]