The early fur trades : a study in cultural interaction

Summary: The Early Fur Trades: A Study in Cultural Interaction presents analysis of fur trading systems in Canada before the nineteenth century. Professors Heidenreich and Ray have combined their original research in a book which highlights sharp and decisive differences between the French-Indian fur trade in the Eastern Great Lakes area, and the English-Indian made in the area around Hudson's Bay. Of equal importance are implicit difference between early Canadian exploitation of the New World and that which occurred on American soil. The authors examine in detail the complexity of pre-contact Indian culture, the ramifications of European contact for that culture, and the cultural adaptations necessary on both sides for the establishment of trade between Indian and European. This fresh examination of a traditional historical theme through the geographical perspectives of land use patterns, exploration, resource appraisal and exploitation, and environmental adaptation sheds new light on the historical foundations of modern Canada by exposing the impact of the early fur trades on this country's development. The second part of the book is of interest to both teachers and students because it contains quotations from sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century documents from which the authors drew their analysis and conclusions. The text is accompanied by questions, projects, early drawings, and maps.