USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Motivations for colonization: The French colonized North America to create trading posts for the fur trade. Some French missionaries eventually made their way to North America in order to convert Native Americans to Catholicism.

Detailed explanation-2: -The fur trade started because of a fashion craze in Europe during the 17th century. Europeans wanted to wear felt hats made of beaver fur. The most important players in the early fur trade were Indigenous peoples and the French. The French gave European goods to Indigenous people in exchange for beaver pelts.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the past, pelts were so important they were used as a trade medium in place of money. Between 1853 and 1877, the Hudson Bay Company sold almost three million beaver pelts to England. In Alaska today, trappers still harvest these furs. They are highly prized for cold weather coats and hats.

Detailed explanation-4: -"Beaver fur was at one time extensively used in the manufacture of hats but has become so rare and valuable that it is now chiefly used for muffs, collars, and trimming.