Traders

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A Fur Trader in the Council Tipi, about 1892American Indian nations traded for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Over a 200-year span beginning in the mid-1600s, European traders exchanged manufactured goods for valuable furs with Indian people. Following the American Revolution, the United States competed fiercely with Great Britain for dominance of the North American fur trade. After the War of 1812 there were three main parties involved in the Northwest Territory's fur trade: Indians, fur trading companies, and the U.S. government. 

Dakota and Ojibwe men were the primary trappers of fur-bearing animals (beaver being the most valuable) in the woodlands and waterways of the Northwest Territory.  In exchange for these furs, French, British, and U.S. traders provided goods such as blankets, firearms and ammunition, cloth, metal tools, and brass kettles. For thousands of years, Dakota and Ojibwe people had used tools made from readily available materials. By the 1800s, however, trade goods were a part of daily life for many American Indian communities.Mixed blood (Indian and French) fur trader, about 1870
 
By the 1830s the fur trade had declined dramatically due to changes in fashion, the availability of less expensive materials for hat-making, and because available game in Dakota and Ojibwe hunting grounds had been reduced by competition with European immigrants. Many fur traders took the opportunity to become land speculators, and economics in the region changed forever. Since many Dakota and Ojibwe people had become increasingly dependent on the trade, it became a matter of survival to enter into exchanges of land for money, goods, and services; to maintain their welfare; and to pay off debts claimed by traders. 
 
 
 
Theme: 
Shared History
Topics: 
Fur Trade
Bibliography: 

Anderson, Gary Clayton. Kinsmen of Another Kind: Dakota-White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650-1862. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Brown, Jennifer S. H. Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980.

Gilman, Carolyn. Where Two Worlds Meet: The Great Lakes Fur Trade. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1982.

Green, William D. A Peculiar Imbalance: The Rise and Fall of Racial Equality in Early Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

Nelson, George. My First Years in the Fur Trade: The Journals of 1802-1804. Edited by Laura Peers and Theresa Schenck. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002.

Nute, Grace Lee. The Voyageur. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1955.

Resources for Further Research: 

Websites

Seeking a Fortune: The Fur Trader. Tales of the Territory. Minnesota Historical Society.
 

Primary

Nelson, George. My First Years in the Fur Trade: The Journals of 1802-1804. Edited by Laura Peers and Theresa Schenck. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002.
 

The Fur Trade Collection. Minnesota Historical Society.

Secondary
People of the Fur Trade: On the backs of men, in the hands of women. Northwest Company Fur Post. Minnesota Historical Society.

 

Historic Sites
North West Company Fur Post

Glossary Terms: 
Trader
Voyageur
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