The Fur Trade Period in the Indian Territory
Images of rough faced, Grizzly Bear fighting, firewater drinking, yarn spinning, frontiersmen form in the minds eye. Wild men for wild times! To a degree this image is true, but the fur trade was more than wild men. The fur trade was a business, conducted by businessmen. The wilder men living on the frontier chose trapping. Fashion created the fur trade as businessmen sought to satisfy the tastes of designers and customers back east and in Europe, where furs and hides were necessities for fashionable clothing and accessories. Fashions also affected the Indians who sought, silver, vermillion, glass beads, and clothe from traders. Each group depended on the other to supply the resources.
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In 1824, due to escalating conflicts between Osages and eastern tribes, the government constructed Ft. Gibson at the mouth of the Neosho on the Arkansas River, thus adding government settlers or merchants to the mix of traders and changing trade practices in the area forever. "Should peace be restored, the different tribes would turn their attention altogether to hunting, consequently the Arkansas River would become as valuable highway as the Mississippi and Missouri for the transportation of furs and other articles of Indian trade," A.P. Chouteau.
As the Civilized Tribes were being relocated, the U.S. army sent expeditions west. While preparing for one such expedition, Washington Irving in his journal "A Tour of the Prairies" recounts the scene at Chouteau's trading post as;" a few log houses on the banks of the river, surrounded by a group of Osages simple in garb and aspect, a party of Creeks quite oriental in their appearance, a sprinkling of trappers, hunters, half-breeds, Creoles, Negroes, and other rabble of nondescript beings between civilized and savage life".
The fur trade also took place along the Red River. Here no one trader dominated like the Chouteau family of the three forks area. Independent traders established posts along the Red River to trade with the Kiowas and Comanches and the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Josiah Doaks began a small post near the junction of the Kiamichi and Red Rivers in 1821.
Over time, the power that Native women held with in their tribe has unfortunately digressed. During the age of exploration Native women have played key roles in the western fur trade. Native women assisted the fur traders by being liaison between the Europeans and Natives. This role was fundamental in strengthening trade increasing the economic stability of the post. They acted as guides for the European traders who often found themselves in dangerous and unfamiliar territory. Finally, they provided an intimate relationship for the European traders, and played a pragmatic role as a domesticated wife. However in order to fully understand the magnitude of the
Aboriginal women had occupied an essential position in the fur trade of the North American region from its birth during the 17th and 18th centuries. Even though this is true, the role of women, especially those of the Native American society, has been ignored a great deal in the entire history of fur trade. Contrary to the belief that the whole fur trade activity was only male-dominated, it very much depended upon Native women and their participation and labor in order to ensure survival as well as economic success. This paper will attempt to illuminate how Native women played the role as important producers when it comes to fur trade of the American Plains and, of course, the Canadian region. This paper will also deal with the two
According to Peggy Baker, of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, the fur trade between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans began sometime around 1625. The Pilgrims were in enormous debt with investors in Europe and needed money to repay this debt. They knew that one of the best ways to make the money was through fur trade and they knew the best furs to trade were beaver furs. However, the beavers were in Maine with the American Indians. Hence, the Pilgrims began the fur trade with the Native Americans. The Native Americans would hunt the beaver and trade the fur with Europeans for goods such as grain, cooking pots, tools, clothing, and blankets. As the fur trade continued throughout America, the impact on the Native Americans began.
The fur trade was a significant part of Canadian history. With the founding of the Hudson's Bay and Northwest Company during the1670's, the fur trade managed growth and development all the way into Western Canada until 1870. The fur trade was unique, for it was the only industry that was based on an exchange of goods between two very different groups of people (namely, the Indians and the Europeans). Although most people think of the fur trade as being a male dominated industry, Indian women also played very important roles in the industry's development. However, the women's experiences differed in relation to
This new trading company was primarily made up of French Canadians and its creation was a direct threat to the Hudson's Bay Company, which held an absolute monopoly on the fur trade. In the middle of this conflict were the Metis, who held important positions as traders, labourers and clerks within both trading companies. By the end of the 18th century, many Metis people had begun to congregate around the trading posts at Red River . Many of the clerks working for either trading company were Metis and so the conflict grew in significance. Eventually the harsh methods of the Hudson's Bay Company caused the Metis to become disillusioned and so many joined with the Northwest Company.
Fur trade between the French and Indians began with the exchange of small items the Indians didn’t have, though it became an important trade source for all of Europe, especially by Samuel de Champlain
The British were interested in the production and circulation of fur as a commodity in the world market and were in need of labor. The Indians were the only available source of skilled labor, so they became part of the production process.
When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.
The Choctaw were the first tribe to be encouraged to located to Indian Territory after the 1820 Treaty of Doak’s Stand. The Choctaw that did decide to move to Indian Territory peacefully found that many white settlers were living on the land that was promised to them. The Choctaw Boundary Treaty helped to get rid of the white settlers and establish a boundary in what is now Oklahoma. The Choctaw that stayed behind in the Mississippi area were starting to realize that removal was the only way to survive, due to the State laws and government favoring the whites. In 1830 The Choctaw gave away all of their land and made their way to Indian Territory. On November 1st 1831, the Choctaw started their journey. Roads became rough due to heavy
“Navajo trading has been a crucial component of that tribe's localized economy for generations and has been the subject of much scholarship over the years (Kiser, 2012).” Trading is what has really distinguished the Navajo from other cultures. They traded with the Spanish at first and then on to other tribes. They were first introduced to a horse from being able to establish trade with the Spanish in the 1620’s. Many other native cultures went
Michael L. Tate’s book Indians and Emigrants looks to the years on the Overland Trails from 1840-1870 and makes a seemingly bold statement. He refutes the old ideal of Indian and White relations and provides a persuasive scholarly work explaining that more often than not whites and Indians interacted peacefully and for each other’s benefit. The thirty years of widespread cooperation can be condensed into three practical realities of emigrant’s time on the Overland Trails. To start, the emigrant’s main goal was to make
In Oregon development was first predicated on trade between Spanish, British, Russian, and American ships and region's Indian peoples for sea otter skins. This period lasted from roughly 1780 to 1810. During this period of frontier inclusion there were many, often sexual contacts between the native inhabitants and the traders (p.360).
Treaty of Fort Gibson - Seminole tribes would be moved into the western part of the creek nation.
During the eighteenth century the fur trade, requiring the natives to seek furs in the hinterland, changed the Anishinabe way of living. Evidence shows that before the trade, small bands net fished along the Georgian Bay islands and coast with some winter hunting and ice fishing along the rivers but not any substantial stays on the inland lakes. After the trade with the Europeans a new Anishinabe way emerged.
Long before European fur traders established their commerce on the North American continent, the fur trade had a long lucrative history that impacted native Americans and their modes of life. As a desirable and profitable good, fur was sought to “be the most valuable single item of trade.” Soon, a competitive market trade ground for fur emerged and the fur trade changed how Indian tribes adapted from their previous habitats: they were the primary manufacturers. Eric Wolf then discusses the consequences of the fur trade for different groups of Native American tribes both on the concepts of dependency and on the levels of how social economic relationships are changed. To support his claims, I will compare and contrast the experiences of the Abenaki