The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country.
The company was one the first great trusts in American business and one of the first major competitive ventures to challenge British business interests in North America. During the 18th century furs had become a major commodity in Europe and North America become a major supplier. Several British companiess, most notably the Hudson's Bay Company, capitalized on the lucrative trade in furs. When the U.S. gained its independence at the end of the 18th century, it rapidly moved to challenge British business dominance in North America, with the fur trade becoming an especially important issue. Astor's company was able to capitalize on the young nation's anti-British sentiments to take over many formerly British fur-trapping regions and trade routes. It was thus able to expand very rapidly and successfully.
Unfortunately for the company, demand for furs in Europe began to decline during the early 1800s leading to the stagnation of the fur trade by the mid 19th century. Competition among fur suppliers became fierce. The American Fur Company ultimately went out of business in 1842.
Read more about American Fur Company: Influence
Famous quotes containing the words american, fur and/or company:
“Of course I’m a black writer.... I’m not just a black writer, but categories like black writer, woman writer and Latin American writer aren’t marginal anymore. We have to acknowledge that the thing we call “literature” is more pluralistic now, just as society ought to be. The melting pot never worked. We ought to be able to accept on equal terms everybody from the Hassidim to Walter Lippmann, from the Rastafarians to Ralph Bunche.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)
“You may say a cat uses good grammar. Well, a cat does—but you let a cat get excited once; you let a cat get to pulling fur with another cat on a shed, nights, and you’ll hear grammar that will give you the lockjaw. Ignorant people think it’s the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain’t so; it’s the sickening grammar they use.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“... possibly there is no needful occupation which is wholly unbeautiful. The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it—whether we arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us delightful company all day, and who will make us feel, at evening, that the day was well worth its fatigues.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)