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Example research essay topic: Hudson Bay Company Native American People - 1,390 words

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Canadian Fur Trade By: Michael Bell E-mail: The Fur Trade in Canada is a huge part of our history and has played a big role in shaping us as a country. There are many aspects of the Fur Trade that must be looked at to see how Canada has been shaped economically and politically in the past and present. The Fur Trade has also affected the lives of people who lived during the Fur Trade as well as people today through the way capital has been controlled and distributed within society. We must look at the many aspects of the Fur Trade to examine who has benefited and who has been harmed from its effects. A look at the rise and fall of the Fur Trade, and a look at the economic and political history of Canada will show who has benefited and who has been harmed.

Lets begin with the arrival of Cartier one of the first founder of the New America to see how the Fur Trade began. The early beginning of the Fur Trade started in the early sixteenth century. It began with the finding of the great amount of fish along the banks of the New America that really attracted the Europeans to take an interest. The fishing was so great along the banks that the fish would come to you to be caught. "Swarming with fish which can be taken not only with the net, but in buckets let down with a stone. " (Finlay, 1984.

pg 17) The fishing was great but it was not enough to attract fishermen from Europe to colonize this new land. Cartier who had become associated with the natives of the land begun to see that they had a great interest in the goods they had with them. The natives were smart and knew that the items like kettles and iron pots were more useful then there own traditional ways. "They found that the goods of the Europeans were in many instances preferable to there own. " (Patterson. pg. 39. 1972) These new items allowed the native to have a more practical way of cooking and heating water then their own time consuming method they had. All of the trading in the beginning was very friendly amongst the Native Americans and the Europeans until the idea of capital came into the mind of the Europeans for profit. This was the beginning of the trading of furs for surplus amongst the Native Americans and the European.

Over time there was great excitement about the New America and what it could provide for Europe, which was capital. During the mid seventeenth century there was much trading activity in the New America between the Native Americans and the Europeans. "The period after 1663 was characterized by a rapid expansion or trade. " (Innis. pg 29, 1999) This rapid expansion of trade was the peak of the Fur Trade in the New America. Europe began to create huge amounts of surplus like knives, pots, and clothing items to trade for furs from the Native Americans during this expansion. Trading between the two became very extensive, Europeans decided that they wanted to start to produce fur as a commodity. This meant that they needed fur in large quantities so they could ship it to Europe to be produced into hat, coats, and other manufactured goods.

Although trade between the two parties was becoming important, the Europeans were much more advanced technologically, and began to take advantage of their power. Items that the Europeans used for trade with the Native Americans were not always fair for what they were receiving from the Native Americans. "The furs that they obtained in return were not necessarily of equal worth. Some adjustment of values therefor would have been required by the Indians to avoid their suffering loses. " (Ray. pg. 69. 1974) The main reason that this kind of unfair trade was happening was because Europeans felt they were superior and they could exploit them in many ways. Capital of the fur was much greater than the items of clothing, guns and other goods were. The Europeans during this time knew that they could cheat the Native American of their fur because they would be tricked into believing that what they were getting in return for their furs was fair and equal.

During the peak of the Fur trade you see that Native Americans were viewed as not being equals in any fashion, there was an unequallness of trade, relations, and capital. Another aspect of this time of the Fur Trade and throughout was the dependency of the Native Americans on the Europeans. As mentioned before trading between the Native Americans and Europeans was not always fair. The Europeans would ask for huge amounts of furs in exchange for their goods. The furs were worth much more than the goods they were being traded for, which created huge profits and capital for the Europeans. Debt was used so the Europeans could have power and control over the Native Americans. "In their attempts to assure themselves of a portion of the return of future Indian hunts, the various European trading groups gave the Indians sizable advances of goods hoping that they would be able to collect these debts. " (Ray. 1974 pg. 138) These debts made the Native Americans dependent on the Europeans.

This dependency became so bad that the debt could not be paid back and goods that the Natives were so dependent on would not be given to them anymore unless they went to other competing posts. However, when the Hudson Bay Company monopolized the Native Americans got further into debt. "After the Hudson's Bay Company became a monopoly in 1821, however, trappers in debt had no choice but to return to the same post and to likely acquire further debts with the Company. " (Brizinski. pg. 100. 1993) The Native Americans were so use to the Europeans goods that they began to lose their culture and their ways of life. Everything that the Native Americans knew became lost in the Europeans ways. Debt created this dependency on the European goods because the Native Americans became so use to the Europeans ways of life that it would be impossible to change. "The Indians have been so long accustomed to use European goods that it would be with difficulty that they could now obtain a livelihood without them. " (Innis. pg. 271. 1999) This dependency created a stigma on the Native Americans for not being able to provide for themselves and be deponent on their own.

How is a culture like the Native American suppose to rely on their own ways of life when all of what they have ever known has been assimilated into a new unknown European culture. When the Europeans first arrived in the New America the Native American people had no idea of the disease that would come into their people's lives. Disease that the Europeans brought over from Europe devastated the Native American people and entire tribes. "During the early 1800 's, epidemic diseases such as measles, small pox, and whooping cough continued to take their toll. " (Brizinski 1993 pg. 110) The Native American people were not use to these new diseases and because they had no way of curing these diseases, it wiped them out. All of the hunter and trappers of the tribes were all dying so there was no way of producing any fur to trade with.

Disease also caused entire families to suffer. "Loss of hunters often meant starvation for other family members. " (Brizinski 1993 pg. 110) At the end of the fur trade entire Native American population were wiped out due to the diseases the Europeans brought with them in the beginning. There were many contributing factors that led to the fall of the Fur Trade. With the great demand of fur during sixteenth and seventeenth in Europe, fur began to diminish in North America. The Native Americans had no form of income and like mentioned above debt became an increasingly big problem. "As fur resources diminished, bands also accumulated heavy debt. " (Brizinski, 1993 pg. 110) This debt problem became so huge at the end of the fur trade that the European post had to supply the Native American tribe with food and other resource...


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Research essay sample on Hudson Bay Company Native American People

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