Canada and Iroquois

The Fur Trade

• Because the Algonquian Indians, neighbor of the Iroquois, would voluntarily clean furs, they were an instant profit for trade in the Americas, having a high pound to value ratio

• The natives would re-work traded goods into new uses, such as kettles into arrowheads, and would drink alcohol as a shortcut to spiritual trances

• Soon, Natives learned to negotiate prices, and how to find new markets where they could get more for their commodities

• Even after mariners had kidnapped some natives to exploit, natives would still trade, although carefully and from a distance

• Abandoning their prior views of animism, the Montagnais were hunting year round, especially the beaver, and faced exterminating the species in that region, like the Huron did

Canada

• In the early 1500s, French fur traders sought to create permanent outposts around Tadoussac, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and present day Nova Scotia

• The St. Lawrence Valley, known as Canada, was not for agriculture but ideal for the Fur Trade

• In 1627, New France had a population of 85 colonists

• The French colonists could not afford to anger the natives, as their survival was dependant on Furs