Fur Trade Changing the Northwest
The fur trade greatly affected all the peoples in Northwest
The Peoples of the Fur Trade
First Nations Women~The women of the fur trade played important roles they assisted the men in collecting furs, processing furs, and other main jobs. Since the European men started to settle in the country they started marrying the native women and they created a new people called the Metis.
Hudson's Bay Company~The company was founded in 1670 by two explorers convincing England that they needed to get into the fur trade and claimed the land around Hudson Bay. The company grew to one of the two major companies in the fur trade dominating the market.
Northwest Company~Formed by the merging of several merchants in 1783 this French Company went far into the Northwest. It became HBC's main competitor and one of the main companies of the fur trade. They had very different policies than the HBC they went to the Native groups instead of making them come to the trading posts and sometimes settled there even taking wives .