Minnesota Fur Trade Research Paper
The Minnesota fur trade was one of the original economic exchanges in the United States with roots as far back as the 1500’s. What would become an influential enterprise that would drive a new wave of settlers and the beginnings of an economic infrastructure in Minnesota, started with very primitive beginnings and included a wide breadth of participants. Thus, this revolutionary enterprise that was mostly over by the 1840’s was paramount to Minnesota’s statehood.
To understand the significance of Minnesota’s fur trade to the development of the state, one must appreciate the various different players involved which commenced with the early explorers. Influential French explorers commenced with Daniel Greysolon who traded French goods for beaver …show more content…
This would set the stage for the British to have a competitive economic advantage over the fur trade enterprise. In 1763, the British had succeeded in dominating almost all of Canada and Louisiana east of the Mississippi following the end of the Seven Years War. (Risjord, 36) This acquisition of land would have a significant impact on the fur trade and its structure and paved the way for new, more organized trading.
The Scottish businessmen would largely control the fur trade and realized that there was a strong need more ordered trade practices. The Montreal merchants would later form the North West Company which essentially was a coalition who sought to break the monopoly the Hudson's Bay Company held on the North American fur trade. The North West Company would establish storehouses for merchandise and furs (Risjord, 38) and a collection of other buildings which would house the traders and clerks. Additional posts were built in Duluth, Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, etc. that would trade mostly with the …show more content…
The women would regularly sell wild rice to the clerks at the trading posts in the fall and in the spring would trade maple sugar for goods and supplies. (Risjord, 40) In hunting of animals for pelts, the women would not only be responsible for preparing the hides by scraping the “meat fragments from the hides, stretched them, and dried them” (Risjord, 40) but they would be the primary face of business with the clerks, negotiating each sale of the pelts. Furthermore, the women who married the European traders or clerks would be pseudo-ambassadors between their tribes and the Europeans which helped facilitate peaceful
To understand the significance of Minnesota’s fur trade to the development of the state, one must appreciate the various different players involved which commenced with the early explorers. Influential French explorers commenced with Daniel Greysolon who traded French goods for beaver …show more content…
This would set the stage for the British to have a competitive economic advantage over the fur trade enterprise. In 1763, the British had succeeded in dominating almost all of Canada and Louisiana east of the Mississippi following the end of the Seven Years War. (Risjord, 36) This acquisition of land would have a significant impact on the fur trade and its structure and paved the way for new, more organized trading.
The Scottish businessmen would largely control the fur trade and realized that there was a strong need more ordered trade practices. The Montreal merchants would later form the North West Company which essentially was a coalition who sought to break the monopoly the Hudson's Bay Company held on the North American fur trade. The North West Company would establish storehouses for merchandise and furs (Risjord, 38) and a collection of other buildings which would house the traders and clerks. Additional posts were built in Duluth, Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, etc. that would trade mostly with the …show more content…
The women would regularly sell wild rice to the clerks at the trading posts in the fall and in the spring would trade maple sugar for goods and supplies. (Risjord, 40) In hunting of animals for pelts, the women would not only be responsible for preparing the hides by scraping the “meat fragments from the hides, stretched them, and dried them” (Risjord, 40) but they would be the primary face of business with the clerks, negotiating each sale of the pelts. Furthermore, the women who married the European traders or clerks would be pseudo-ambassadors between their tribes and the Europeans which helped facilitate peaceful