The North American fur trade was the economic foundation that allowed the French to live and survive in the colony they built on the St. Lawrence river. Not only did it provide a means of selling and buying goods for the people of New France, but the fur trade also stimulated their own economic development and eventually the foundation of Canada. Key to understanding how the fur trade is fundamental to Canadian history, one must look at the nature of competition the Fur trade existed in. The fur trade was a system of trading goods amongst the French, the British and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Europeans and the Indigenous people all mutually prospered but the competition that prevailed between these people and within their communities was extremely significant to how the fur trade shaped Canadian history.
Before the fur trade began, New France originally profited through fisheries they’d established on the St. Lawrence River. The French eventually discovered that more money could be made in the beaver pelt business and they established a trading relationship with the indigenous people who already had broad experience in hunting. What started off as a few fisherman trading belt buckles and hatchets for the used beaver skin rags of the indigenous people, eventually sprawled into something much bigger. The Indigenous people had a vast
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Lawrence trading route did not have similar advantages. They only had access to lower quality beaver pelts. They had to endure tremendous traveling costs. They could only afford to sell items such as rum at non-competitive prices because they simply poor at transporting goods cost efficiently. The St. Lawrence trade system also did not have the same ability to pay off debt as the HBC. While the HBC could pay loans off in 6 months, the St. Lawrence posts would pay after 2-3 years. Not only were the people of New France poor at managing the St. Lawrence trading system but the people of France were just as