NRC 225 1st Edition Lecture 6 Outline of Last Lecture I Land Ethic II Why Study the Fur Trade III Who were the real savvy traders IV Where in the World in 1650 V Where in the World in 1810 VI Rivers VII Beavers VIII Trading Companies IX Exploration X Canoes Outline of Current Lecture I Furs from all animals II Course of Events III As we traded with the Indians IV Practicality of the canoe V Trading Currencies VI Ecological Footprint VII Forest Ecosystem Effects Current Lecture These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Key Points from Part 1 Aboriginal lifeway s 1 000 s of year European lifeway s Global in scope ecological and sociopolitical impacts Forest wildlife waterways indigenous people The furs came to be from all different types of animals The more rare the animal the more expensive Some furs became more expensive per weight than gold and became known as soft gold Well organized fur trade business Course of Events Exploration contact and trade from East to West Made possible because of network of rivers and lakes Strategic sites for Trading Posts local economy Geography w r to tribes largely unplanned Often times they couldn t even speak the same languages Cooperation and alliances Traders and native people intermarriage Both sides benefit from the trades Coexistence competition and conflict Loss of traditional skills dependence on traders Displacement by logging farming settlements So efficient that it was the fore runner of the more obvious changes Landscape was forever transformed As we traded with Indians Conflicts with tribes around them Trade them for fur in exchange of weapons The tribe with the modern weapons bigger and more powerful than other tribe Some tribes cease to exist because of these patterns of occurrence Unintended consequence of the efficiencies of fur trade Three tons of cargo could be carried in each Montreal canoe You would have been better off on a ship than a canoe it was risky Very strategic about packing Example Bring pales that stacked on top of each other Brought ax heads and would find wood for the body Trading currency one prime beaver pelt Table of prices based on beaver pelts You would go to a store and pay in beaver pelts Indigenous people also traded helpful survival items to the men working the trading posts Example Guiding a trader to another post 11 beavers Everything based on beaver pelt for example 1 bear pelt 1 beaver pelt Ecological Footprint of Northwest Company in 1790 Beaver 106 000 Musquash 17 000 Total animals 184 300 When we try to pick out anything by itself we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe John Muir Populations all out of whack the effects are felt throughout the ecosystem Forest Ecosystem Effects 1700 present Of the extirpation of beaver On wetlands Streams and rivers Waterfowl Fish communities Of the reduction elimination of predators large and small Prey Population cycles Forest vegetation Forest succession Hudson Bay Company and Northwest Company started using teams of dogs to carry sleds Most food we eat is a combination of native meats and European recipes Fiddle adopted instrument of fur trade London School of Economics founded by fur trade