Fur trade
The
fur trade is a worldwide industry involving capturing of animals for their fur.
The North American fur trade (also called the
Indian trade) was a huge part of the early
history of contact in
North America between
European-Americans and
American Indians (now often called
Native Americans in the United States and
First Nations in
Canada). European
traders and trappers explored the continent and established relationships with native communities, hoping to obtain the best
furs and pelts—
beaver was especially prized—for
European markets. Native hunters exchanged pelts for European-manufactured items that were desired in their communities, such as metal tools,
firearms, clothing, and
alcohol.
Often, the political benefits of the fur trade became more important than the economic aspects. Trade was a way to forge alliances and maintain good relations between different cultures. Consequently, there was much rivalry between different European-American governments for control of the fur trade with the various native societies. American Indian peoples sometimes based decisions of which side to support in time of war upon which side provided them with the best trade goods in an honest manner. Because trade was so politically important, it was often heavily regulated in hopes (often futile) of preventing abuse. Unscrupulous traders sometimes cheated natives by plying them with alcohol during the transaction, which subsequently aroused resentment and often resulted in violence.
The fur trade came to a close as game was depleted by overhunting, as expanding European settlement displaced native communities from the best hunting grounds, and as European demand for furs subsided. In order to continue to obtain European goods and to pay off their debts, American Indians thereafter often resorted to selling land to the European settlers.
After the
United States became independent, trading with Native Americans in the U.S. was nominally regulated by the
Indian Intercourse Act, first passed on
July 22,
1790. The
Bureau of Indian Affairs issued licenses to trade in the
Indian Territory, which in
1834 consisted of most of the United States west of the
Mississippi River, where
mountain men and traders from
Mexico freely operated.
Before the colonization of the Americas,
Russia was a major fur supplier of
Western Europe and parts of
Asia. Fur was a major Russian export since the early middle-ages. Originally the majority of furs exported from Russia were pelts of
martens,
beavers,
wolves,
foxes,
squirrels and
hares. Between the
16th and
18th centuries Russians tamed
Siberia — a region rich with various valuable kinds of fur-bearing animals such as
arctic fox,
sable,
sea otter and
stoat. In search of sea otter the
Russian Empire expanded into the Americas, notably
Alaska. Between the
17th and second half of the
19th century, Russia was the biggest supplier of fur in the world until the U.S. and
Canada joined the fur market. Fur trade played a vital role in the development of Siberia, the
Russian Far East and the
Russian colonization of the Americas. To this day sable is a regional symbol of Ural
Sverdlovsk oblast and Siberian
Novosibirsk,
Tyumen and
Irkutsk oblasts of Russia.
*
Beaver Wars*
Fur brigade*
History of Siberia*
Hudson's Bay Company*
Northwest Company*
Mountain men*
Coureurs de bois (and voyageurs)
*
Russian-American Company*
Bernard DeVoto (1947)
Across the Wide Missouri.
*
A Brief History of the Fur Trade*
"The Fur Trade" from The Canadian Encyclopedia*
History of the Fur Trade in Russia*
The Economic History of the Fur Trade: 1670 to 1870 (EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic History)
*
Rendezvous Voyageur: Gateway to the Pays d'en haut
