Fur Trade | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Duncan McGillivray

    Duncan McGillivray, fur trader (b in Inverness-shire, Scot c 1770; d at Montréal 9 Apr 1808), brother of William and Simon McGillivray. 

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Duncan McGillivray

  • Collection

    Fur Trade in Canada

    The fur trade was a vast commercial enterprise across the wild, forested expanse of what is now Canada. It was at its peak for nearly 250 years, from the early 17th to the mid-19th centuries. It was sustained primarily by the trapping of beavers to satisfy the European demand for felt hats. The intensely competitive trade opened the continent to exploration and settlement. It financed missionary work, established social, economic and colonial relationships between Europeans...

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e4ec1e55-01c2-4b77-a220-f05a84fd4c9c.jpg Fur Trade in Canada

  • Article

    Grande Société

    Grande Société, contemporary name for war profiteers charged with providing food for Canada and the French troops stationed there during the SEVEN YEARS' WAR.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Grande Société

  • Article

    Indigenous Perspectives on the Fur Trade

    Indigenous peoples in Canada were essential players in the fur trade of the early 17th to the mid-19th centuries. They provided animal furs, including highly sought-after beaver pelts, to European traders, who, in turn, gave Indigenous peoples manufactured items like pots, beads, textiles and weapons. While some past historians have framed the fur trade as a predominately unequal commercial exchange, it was conducted according to First Nations laws and principles, and worked to transform strangers into kin and sometimes even enemies into allies. When European traders arrived in North America, they entered an Indigenous world on Indigenous terms and travelled and traded there only with the co-operation and goodwill of First Nations. Indigenous peoples taught European newcomers how to behave in the fur trade, emphasizing the importance of gift-giving, reciprocity and family obligations. From an Indigenous perspective then, the fur trade was as much about family, co-operation and reciprocity as it was about commerce and exchange.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/IPFurTrade.jpg Indigenous Perspectives on the Fur Trade

  • Article

    Isobel Gunn

    Isobel Gunn (sometimes spelled Isabel, a.k.a. Isabella Gunn, John Fubbister and Mary Fubbister), labourer (born 10 August 1780 in Tankerness, Scotland; died 7 November 1861 in Stromness, Scotland). Gunn disguised herself as a man in order to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 19th century. She travelled to Rupert’s Land (now Canada) to work in the fur trade and is believed to have been one of the first European woman in Western Canada.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e205bf43-b721-4b81-8dfc-84b31d99794a.jpg Isobel Gunn

  • Article

    James McGill

    James McGill, fur trader, merchant, politician, philanthropist (born 6 October 1744 in Glasgow, Scotland; died 19 December 1813 in Montreal, Lower Canada). James McGill was one of Montreal’s most prominent citizens in the 18th and early 19th centuries. He grew a successful career as a fur trader into a business empire. McGill also held various positions in public office, including three terms in Lower Canada’s legislature. His will contained the endowment for McGill University. James McGill’s achievements cannot be separated from the fact that he enslaved Black and Indigenous people and profited from this practice.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/JamesMcGill/James_McGill_portrait.jpg James McGill

  • Article

    Jean-Baptiste Gaultier de La Vérendrye

    Jean-Baptiste Gaultier de La Vérendrye, fur trader, explorer, son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye (born 3 September 1713 on Île Dupas, Quebec; died 6 June 1736 at Lake of the Woods.) In 1731, Jean-Baptiste was a member of the first group to head west under his father's command. In autumn of 1731 he completed the building of Fort Saint-Pierre at Rainy Lake. His role in the construction of Fort Maurepas in 1734 establishes him one of the founders of present-day Manitoba (see also Francophones of Manitoba .)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/La Vérendrye/La_Vérendrye.jpg Jean-Baptiste Gaultier de La Vérendrye

  • Article

    Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière

    Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière, also spelled as Lagimodière, Lagimonière and Lajimodière, fur trader (born 26 December 1778 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec; died 7 September 1855 in St-Boniface, Manitoba). 

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Lagimodieres.jpg Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière

  • Article

    John Bell

    John Bell, fur trader, explorer (b on the Isle of Mull, Scot 1799; d at Saugeen, Ont 24 June 1868). John Bell joined the North West Company as a clerk in 1818.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 John Bell

  • Article

    Joseph Lewis

    Joseph Lewis, alias Levi Johnston, also Lewes and Louis, fur trader (born c. 1772–73 in Manchester, New Hampshire; died 1820 in Saskatchewan District). Joseph Lewis was a Black fur trader, originally from the United States, who participated in the fur industry’s early expansion into the Canadian Northwest in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is one of very few Black people involved in the fur trade whose name was documented in existing texts. Joseph Lewis is further notable for being the first Black person in present-day Saskatchewan, as well as, in all likelihood, Alberta.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/BlackFurTraders/Le_Code_Noir_1742_edition.jpg Joseph Lewis

  • Article

    Louis Jolliet

    Louis Jolliet, explorer, cartographer, king’s hydrographer, fur trader, seigneur, organist, teacher (baptized 21 September 1645 in Québec City; died between 4 May and 18 Oct 1700 likely near Île d'Anticosti).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/2dc62fed-c7a6-4a34-a2ba-15665a1fe30b.jpg Louis Jolliet

  • Article

    Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye

    Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye, explorer, cartographer, fur trader, military officer (born 9 November 1717 at Île aux Vaches, Quebec (New France); died at sea off the coast of Cape Breton 15 November 1761). Known by his title Chevalier, the youngest son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye led the first European exploration across the Missouri River into the Great Plains. He served New France in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e79f20a3-2d9e-4d31-8ea5-54192e37171c.jpg Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye

  • Article

    Médard Chouart des Groseilliers

    Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers, explorer, fur trader (bap at Charly-sur-Marne, France 31 July 1618; d at New France 1696?). A man of courage who valued personal freedom and initiative, Des Groseilliers opened Lakes Michigan and Superior to the fur trade and Jesuit missionaries.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/fd34405a-13bf-4708-ac81-457fa7e4dd65.jpg Médard Chouart des Groseilliers

  • Article

    Michel Cadotte

    Michel Cadotte, pioneer fur trader, interpreter, mediator (born 22 July 1764 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; died 8 July 1837 in La Pointe, Wisconsin). Cadotte established a large, successful fur trade along the south shore of Lake Superior, which covered present-day northern Wisconsin and extended into parts of northern Minnesota. Half French Canadian and half Ojibwe, he endeared himself to the Indigenous people of the area by marrying Ikwesewe, the daughter of an Ojibwe chief, and by his compassionate understanding of Indigenous ways. These factors allowed Cadotte to gain a monopoly on the fur trade with the Indigenous peoples of the area.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/MichelCadotte/MadelineIslandPic.jpg Michel Cadotte

  • Article

    Ounanguissé

    Ounanguissé (“Shimmering Light of the Sun,” also spelled Onangizes, Onanguisset and Onanguicé) was wkama (leader) of the Potawatomi ca. 1660s–1701. He was an important figure in the alliance between the French and Indigenous people of the Great Lakes region during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He is most well known for a speech he gave regarding this alliance during a meeting he had with the governor general of New France, Louis de Buade de Frontenac in 1697. He also made an important contribution to the establishment of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Ounanguissé