 atural
resources were essential to the economic survival of New
France, and the main reason for France’s interest
in its North American possessions. Trade was the lifeblood of
the colony. The rich potential of the colony was expressed by
prominent settler Pierre
Boucher, in 1663.
| “Speaking
of New France in general, I can say it is a good country
that has a lot of what one may wish for (...) The Country
is covered in beautiful, thick woods, where live many animals
of various species (…) People also say that there
are several mines: I know for sure that there are iron and
copper mines in several places; several reliable people
told me that there is a rich lead mine, not far from us.”
Boucher, Pierre. Histoire
véritable et naturelle des mœurs et productions
du pays de la
Nouvelle-France / re-edited by G. Coffin. Reference Code:
Pamph 1882, #53
Archives of Ontario, p. 12-14 |
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Click to see
a larger image (167K)
Boucher monument, Quebec, 1923
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075 H803
Archives of Ontario, I0001289 |
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ew
France’s main export was fur, mainly beaver, from the interior.
At first, trade took place at posts on the St. Lawrence River
(Tadoussac, Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Montreal). This
changed gradually and, by the mid-18th century, merchants from
Montreal took goods to the interior and traded for furs which
they sold to companies (monopolies during most of the French regime)
that would ship them to Europe.
The French controlled most of the fur
trade at that time, with less than 40% of the fur being shipped
through English posts. First Nations exchanged pelts for European
goods such as metal utensils and tools, wool blankets, alcohol
and firearms. |
Click
to see a larger image (116K)
Fur trade artefacts found on Hudson's Bay
Company site at Fort Severn, 1959
John Macfie
Black and white negative
Reference Code: C 330-9-0-0-68
Archives of Ontario, I0000262
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Click
to see a larger image (106K)
Fur trade artefacts found on Hudson's Bay
Company site at Fort Severn, 1959
John Macfie
Black and white negative
Reference Code: C 330-9-0-0-69
Archives of Ontario, I0000263
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The images above show
some of the objects used to trade for furs. The list below, by
the Baron
de Lahontan, lists goods traded by French and First
Nations. |
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This map by Henri
Châtelain showed not only the interior of the continent,
but also listed some of its resources and local populations.
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Click
to see a larger image (1.0 Mb)
Châtelain, Henri. Carte particulière du Fleuve Saint
Louis dressée sur les lieux avec les noms des sauvages
du païs, des marchandises qu'on y porte & qu'on en reçoit
& des animaux, insectes, poissons, oiseaux, arbres & fruits
des parties septentrionales et méridionales de ce païs.
1719.
Archives of Ontario map collection, C 279-0-0-0-10
Reference Code: AO 2419
Archives of Ontario, I004754
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 ringing
European merchandise to the First Nations and taking the furs back
to Montreal was the job of the voyageurs,
men hired for their capacity to travel long distance and carry heavy
loads. Their task was harsh: paddle for twelve hours or more a day
on lakes and rivers leading to the interior and carry the merchandise
on their backs up and down portages (paths between waterways). It
would take them two months to travel from Montreal to the trading
post at Michilimakinac (near Sault Ste. Marie).
|
Click to see a larger image
(241K)
The Short Portage -- The Carrying Place, La Salle on the way over
the Humber
River to the Holland River and on to Lake Simcoe
George A. Reid
Oil on board, 29.8 x 87.6 cm
Government of Ontario Art Collection, 532970 |
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The coureurs
des bois (literally, “wood runners”) were
the adventurers of New France. Their illicit trade with First Nations
and English traders made them outlaws in the eyes of the colonial
government.
|
| “Every
year, the coureurs de bois leave here (Montreal) in canoes
full of merchandises and go to all the Savage Peoples on
this Continent, wherefrom they bring good Beavers. Seven
or eight days ago, I saw 25 or 30 of them return overloaded.
There were only two or three men navigating each Canoe loaded
with 24 hundredweights [about 1100 kilograms], that is,
forty Beaver packages worth 100 crowns each. They had travelled
for a year or 18 months.”
Nouveaux voyages de Mr
Le baron de Lahontan (...).
La Haye, Frères Honoré
1704, p.26.
Archives of Ontario Library, 971.01 LAH |
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Religious authorities condemned
their traffic in alcohol, as well as their living like aboriginals.
Colonial authorities used various methods to solve the problems
created by the coureurs des bois.
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These included granting local trade monopolies to fort commanders,
“congés”,
and punishment ranging from heavy fines or confiscation of traded
goods to jail.
Such measures limited the number of coureurs des bois, but did
not cause their disappearance.
Eventually, the coureur des bois became a symbol of free and
adventurous life. Descendants of coureurs des bois and First Nations
women became a new nation, the Métis.
Janet Woppumnaweskum, Metis woman
Rupert's House, [ca. 1869]
Bernard Rogan Ross
Black and white print
Reference Code: F 2179-1-0-0-12
Archives of Ontario, I0005106
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