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The trade of fur between Europe and the rest of the world had many positive results, however there were some negative outcomes as well. The main downside to the fur trade was its environmental consequences. Overhunting of certain species led to the near extinction of these animals. Also, in terms of humans, the trade of fur caused a depletion of food supplies, an increasing dependence on European products, the alteration of native culture, and lastly alcohol abuse which led to high rates and occurence of violence.

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To secure for itself the lion's share of the profits from the trade in luxury furs, the Russian government set up a purchasing system to acquire the best furs for the state coffers. In addition to a generous markup on high-quality furs destined for export, the government also made money on the differential between fur prices in Siberia and Moscow.

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In the north, the French and Great Britain were most actively involved. There was a great demand for marten, muskrat, mink, otter, wolf, bear, and lynx, but the best-known fur was beaver. It was preferred for making the felt hat that, in varying styles, was immensely popular throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. After 1713 the French converted the fur trade from an economic purpose into the means to a strategic end. Their chain of fortified trading posts from New Orleans to Montreal, intended to bar the western expansion of the British seaboard colonies, brought them into conflict with British traders not only from New York but also from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Traders from New Spain (Mexico) had dealt in deerskins and buffalo hides as early as 1580 in New Mexico, appropriating trade that had been carried on among aboriginal nations and developing it into a thriving business from 1600 until at least 1780.

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In 1821, HBC merged with its most successful rival, the Montreal-based North West Company. The resulting commercial enterprise now spanned the continent — all the way to the Pacific Northwest (modern-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia) and the North (Alaska, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut).

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Hudson’s Bay Company meets the competition head on and builds Cumberland House to have a location for inland trading.

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Traders from Quebec continue to follow inland lakes and rivers to trade with native people.

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The Hudson’s Bay Company, the world’s oldest continuously operating trading company, is born with the signing of the Royal Charter on May 2nd.

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Radisson and des Groseilliers, voyageurs from New France, make a fur-trading journey to the land north of Lake Superior.

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Beaver hats are the height of fashion for men and women of wealth and power.

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A Brief Timeline Of Fur Trade In America (HBC)

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A Brief Timeline Of Fur Trade In America (HBC)

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"America's Oldest Company"

Two centuries before Confederation, a pair of resourceful French traders discovered a wealth of fur in the interior of the continent, accessible through the great inland sea of Hudson Bay. After gaining the interest of Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II of England, the first ships set sail from England in 1668. On May 2, 1670, the Royal Charter granted exclusive trading rights of the Hudson Bay watershed to “the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay.”

In its first century of operation, "HBC" was held down in a few forts and posts around the James and Hudson Bays. Annually, trappers brought furs to barter for manufactured goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and blankets.

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Native Americans would trap and prepare fur pelts to trade with European merchants. The Natives would trade with Europeans merchants for guns, horses, alcohol, and other manufactured goods. They would get these goods through negotiations.

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Like the Native Americans, the Siberians would also trap and prepare fur pelts for the Europeans in exchange for their manufactured goods. The fur trade was linked to the yasak system of tribute collected from native tribes of Siberia. Although the Russian government preferred to extract tribute in furs, it also accepted reindeer skins, grain, walrus ivory, etc. Being that the natives could negotiate, this was an advantage for them. The Europeans were not able to just steal their fur by force. Also, the fur pelts would be shipped back to Western Europe and often would be manufactured into clothing.

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By 1500 in Europe, animals in Europe had diminished and the Europeans needed furs from other locations. One place merchants, traders, and trappers went was to North America. French and English explorers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries established private companies to trade for furs in North America. From modest beginnings the North American trade developed by 1650 into a large-scale business. Native traders wanted ornaments and European clothing, metal tools for a variety of purposes, and firearms for hunting and warfare.

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Another one of the places Europeans went for furs was Northern Russia.  With the expansion of the Russian Empire, more merchants were able to come to Siberia. The heyday of the fur trade began in the sixteenth century with the conquest of Siberia. The Stroganov family established trading posts across the Ural Mountains and sent their agents into Siberia to purchase furs with European wares and iron goods.There was a great wealth and abundance of animals in this area. In the seventeenth century well over a thousand Russian entrepreneurs and trappers journeyed to Siberia annually. Many of them settled permanently, and their numbers were supplemented by soldiers, exiles, and forced migrants sent by the government. In the late seventeenth century there were over 25,000 Russian households in Siberia.

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Siberia is located in the northern reaches of Russia. Many of the animals found here were in abundance in the early modern era. Very rarely would hunters and trappers go up to the very northern parts of Russia is it is so inhospitable for both animals and humans

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North America includes the three modern day countries of Canada, USA, and Mexico. Animals like bear, deer, wolves, and wolverines can be found in the northern parts, while some animals like foxes, otters, and fishers are more common throughout North America as a whole. But animals like elk were over hunted and forced into remote location, a high concentration being found at Yellowstone National Park today. Two areas with an abundance of animals to hunt were in Hudson Bay, Quebec and the midwestern region of present day USA.

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Animals hunted for their fur pelts in Siberia included black and white fox, ermine, beaver, squirrel, lynx, wolf, wolverine, rabbit, marten, walrus, sea otter, polar bear, and  mink.

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Animals hunted for their fur pelts in North America include bears, otters, fishers, wolves, wolverines, minks, foxes, seals,  squirrels, raccoons, elks, musquash, and deer.

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Trade Routes Of Fur