USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Native women were the primary female participants in the fur trade. Plains Indian women married French Canadian, British, American, and Indian employees of the fur companies. As wives and daughters, Native women acted in such important fur trade roles as producers, translators, traders, and guides.

Detailed explanation-2: -They were guides, they were peace makers, they gave advice about the furs, about trapping and about the fur trade. Their traditional job had often been market negotiators and they taught this skill to the traders. They also trapped smaller animals and were excellent fishers.

Detailed explanation-3: -The fur trade was based on good relationships between the First Nations peoples and the European traders. First Nations people gathered furs and brought them to posts to trade for textiles, tools, guns, and other goods. This exchange of goods for other items is called the barter system.

Detailed explanation-4: -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. The fur trade was the most important industry in New France. With the money they made from furs, the French sent settlers to Canada.

Detailed explanation-5: -The earliest fur traders in North America were French explorers and fishermen who arrived in what is now Eastern Canada during the early 1500’s. Trade started after the French offered the Indians kettles, knives, and other gifts as a means to establish friendly relations. The Indians, in turn, gave pelts to the French.