HOW THE FUR TRADE EFFECTED THE FIRST NATIONS

HOW THE FUR TRADE EFFECTED THE FIRST NATIONS By: Madeleine Dale

HOW THE FUR TRADE STARTED The Fur Trade started when the Europeans offered some goods to the First Nations because they wanted to start a friendly relationship with them. Then in return they gave the Europeans thick furs from the animals they had caught. After this time, they’re were many demands for fur in New France. This is how the Fur Trade started.

THE ITEMS THAT WERE TRADED Some of the items that the Europeans traded were items such as forks, knifes, muskets, alcohol, other tools, and weapons etc. Then the First Nations traded different furs from mink, fox, marten and even otter. This is where things started to go wrong.

WHAT WENT WRONG One of the things that went wrong with the First Nations is that when the Europeans came to trade on their land. They had brought many diseases that the First Nations had never been exposed to before. They had also brought items like alcohol that the Europeans had never encountered either.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE EUROPEANS CAME When the Europeans brought the different diseases all of the First Nations were getting sick and lots of them died because they had never been exposed to them before. Some of the diseases were measles, influenza and smallpox which killed about 1/3 of the population. This event did not help their trading.

HOW THE DISEASES WERE CURED Eventually, the doctors found a cure to the illnesses and everything turned out to be ok. It was a special medicine made from the plants in the First Nations land. Spruce tea helped the illnesses as well.

MY OPINION Overall, I think that the Fur Trade had a negative affect on the First Nations. They had to work a lot more often to get the furs which they traded for interesting items from the Europeans. These items only led to illness and death so it wasn’t to helpful. Also, all of the illnesses they brought killed a ton of the First Nations, so really they’re was no great impact there.

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