1

Fur Trade7.1.4. Lesson Plan

Grade 7 Unit 1 2014/2015

2

Students will: Assess, critically, the economic competition

related to the control of the North American fur trade by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:

How did the First Nations, French, British and Metis peoples interact with each other as participants in the fur trade?

How did the fur trade contribute to the foundations of the economy in North America

How was Britain's interest in the fur trade different from that of New France? How was the economic development in New France impacted by the

changing policies of the French Royal Government? What was the role of mercantilism before and after the 1763 Treaty of Paris?

Curricular Objectives

3

Power point:

3 periods Chapter Assignment:

10 – 15 periods

Ch. 4 Lesson Timeline

4

Lesson:The Fur Trade

Pages 105-136

5

How did economic competition shape the fur

trade? What roles did French, British, First Nations

and Metis peoples play in the fur trade? What impact did the fur trade have on diverse

people?

Focus Questions

6

Economic Competition and

the Fur Tradepg. 107

7

What’s Competition?

Pg. 107 Economic Competition

played a central role in the development of the fur trade. In economic competition, “winning” means controlling more wealth than other people.

By shaping the fur trade, economic competition also shaped the people involved in the fur trade. This happened in phases.

Phase 1: The early fur trade

Phase 2: Expansion Inland

Phase 3: Rival Networks

Phase 4: The Drive West

Phase 5: Monopoly in the West

8

PHASE 1: The Early Fur Trade:

1500- 1603The Cod Fishery began the

early fur trade First Nations such as the

Mi'kmaq began to trade with Europeans coming to fish cod off the East Coast.

The British set up stations onshore to dry their catch and the French came to shore to refresh their water supplies.

Fishing Station, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, c. 1700, Gerard van

Edema

9

A Glimpse of the Early Fur Trade

After a couple of false starts, Cartier wrote about a successful meeting with a group of Mi'kmaq from Stadacona. Early Trade benefited both sides and First Nations thought trade built relationships of peace and friendship.

10

Jacques Cartier

Explorer (1491–1557)

French navigator Jacques Cartier was born on December 31, 1491, in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France, and was sent by King Francis I to the New World in search of riches and a new route to Asia in 1534. His exploration of the St. Lawrence River allowed France to lay claim to lands that would become Canada. He died in Saint-Malo in 1557.

http://www.biography.com/people/jacques-cartier-9240128

11

Cartier’s Journal

“Some people came in nine canoes to the mouth of the cove, where we lay anchored with out ships. They made signs that they wanted to barter with us, and held up some skins. We likewise made signs to them that we wished them no harm and sent two men on shore, to offer them knives and other iron goods. Seeing this, they sent on shore part of their people with some of their skins, and the two parties traded together. They bartered all they had.”

- Adapted from Cartier’s Journal of 1534 in H.P. Biggar, The Voyages of Jaques Cartier.

12

Phase 2: Expansion Inland:

1603-1670France dominated the fur trade during this phase. New France became permanently

established.

The fur trade was central to the economy in new France.

In Quebec, ships unloaded trade goods from France and loaded furs bound for France. Smaller boats transported goods and furs between Montreal and Quebec.

Champlain’s illustration of the first habitation the French built in Quebec

13

The French-

Haudenosaunee War

Defaite des Yroquois au Lac de Champlain, 1609(Defeat of the Iroquois at Lake Champlain)

Samuel Champlain (ca. 1570 - 1635)NAC/ANC C-005750

1613 - copperplate engraving

During this war, the Haudenosaunee gained support from the British, who used the conflict to challenge French domination of the fur trade. The French defeated a key ally, the Ouendat, In 1649 therefore getting rid of the middle man in the fur trade. Military actions by the Anishinabe and French soldiers forced the Haudenosaunee to seek a truce in 1701. (pg. 111)

The Ouendat became the middleman between the French and First nations established in the Great Lakes region, such as the Anishinabe (pg. 111)

14

Coureurs de bois

Emerged

Voyageur or "courier du bois" with rifle and axe.

1891Sketch by Frederic Remington.Glenbow Archives NA-1406-55

The loss of the Ouendat as middlemen disrupted the fur trade in New France. It opened opportunities for independent traders – coureurs de bois- to trade directly with First Nations. This soon became illegal as it established official trade based on trading posts.

15

Catholic Missionaries established missions

among the Mimaq, Ouendat, Innu, Kichesiprini and Anishinabe.

Jesuit missionaries aimed to convert First Nations to Christianity. Most showed little interest in becoming Christian. Some converted to solidify their military and trading alliances with the French. (pg. 112)

16

Phase 3 Rival Networks:

1670- 1760 Granted by King Charles II of England, May 2nd, 1670, the Royal Charter gave an exclusive trading monopoly

over the entire Hudson Bay drainage basin to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England

trading into Hudson Bay.Britain established the Hudson’s

Bay Company (HBC) in 1670

The HBC competed directly with France in the fur trade.

Map pg. 115

17

Voyageurs Emerged

After the Haudenosaunee defeated the Ouendat, New France needed a new way to maintain trade. New France established trading forts in the Great Lakes region and hired men to make the canoe trips between its settlements along the St. Lawrence, and the forts and points beyond. These men, known as voyageurs, become an essential link in the French fur trade. ( pg 117)

Voyageur

A voyageur was an adventurer who journeyed by canoe from Montréal to the interior to trade for furs.

18

Francophone Metis have their origins in this phase of the fur trade.The French trading strategy – to develop direct contact and partnerships with First Nations – fostered cross-cultural marriages. The French called the children of these families metis or “mixed” (pg. 117)

19

Métis

Métis are people of mixed European and First Nations ancestry, and one of the three recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

Canadien a descendant of the

settlers of New France

20

Phase 4 The Drive West:

1760-1821New France became a British Colony in 1763

The entire fur trade (the Montreal trade and Hudson Bay trade) came under the British mercantile system. This marked the start of a big economic shift. The French system focused on fur and the British on land. Britain wanted farm products. Eventually, farming pushed the fur trade.

21

Development of the Western Fur Trade

The North West Company took over the French trade network running through the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. The company was owned by British merchants, but depended on Canadien and Metis workers. (pg. 121)

Competition between the NWC and HBC drove the fur trade west. (pg. 122)

22

Intense trapping and hunting began to reduce the population of

beaver and game animals.

As furs and food became scarce, traders and middlemen moved west into new regions.

23

Meet the Metis (pg.

123)As the fur trade moved west, the Metis became established at Red River, a central location for working in the trade. First nations and Europeans valued the skills of the Metis as interpreters and traders, and Metis people took pride in their role and identity. (pg. 123)

The red river cart.

24

Phase 5 Monopoly in the West:

1821-1870The HBC and NWC merged

The furious competition between the HBC and NWC led to shootings, fights, and hostages. Britain ended the conflict in 1821, by encouraging the company to merge into the HBC. (pg. 130)

The buffalo began to disappear, the beaver became scarce, and demand for furs began to fall. In 1869 the HBC sold its territory (Rupert's land) to Canada. (pg. 131)

25

Summing up: Impacts of the Fur

TradeWhat impact did the fur trade have on

diverse people?

26

How did the Fur Trade

Influence the Migration of Peoples?

Because of the fur trade, people moved to new locations.

Champlain established Quebec because it had better possibilities as a fur trade center than Acadia on the East Coast.

The Metis put themselves in the center of trade, both professionally and geographically in the 1800, at Red River.

The Cree and Anishinabe expanded west with the fur trade when the buffalo began to disappear.

The Fur trade brought people West to AB, SK, and MN.