Coureur Des Bois and The Fur Trade
The term “Coureur des Bois” is most strongly associated with those who engaged in the fur trade in ways that were considered to be outside of the mainstream. Early in the fur trade era this meant circumventing the normal channels by going deeper into the wilderness to trade. Later it involved trading without permission from the French authorities during the late 17th century and early 18th century when such permission was required. During the 17th century, the fur trade was very lucrative for New France. Competition was fierce, and many colonists risked the journey west and north through hostile Iroquois territory from the settlements around Montreal to the pays d'en haut, or "upper country" (the area around the Great Lakes) to trade with Native trappers. These Coureur des Bois were not looked upon favorably by Montreal authorities or royal officials. They disapproved of settlers leaving the developing agricultural areas to seek their fortune trading. French authorities preferred that the transportation of furs be handled by the natives (and later the Voyageurs) than have independent unregulated traders. As a way to curb the unregulated trade of independent businessmen and their burgeoning profits, the government of New France instated a permit system (congés). Coureurs de bois were basically unlicensed traders, treated at times as outlaws by New France authorities.
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Famous quotes containing the words coureur, des, bois, fur and/or trade:
“This spirit it was which so early carried the French to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi on the north, and the Spaniard to the same river on the south. It was long before our frontiers reached their settlements in the West, and a voyageur or coureur de bois is still our conductor there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn’t come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously.”
—Bill Bryson (b. 1951)
“This spirit it was which so early carried the French to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi on the north, and the Spaniard to the same river on the south. It was long before our frontiers reached their settlements in the West, and a voyageur or coureur de bois is still our conductor there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Many bits of fox fur will make a fine robe.”
—Chinese proverb.
“And trade is art, and art’s philosophy,
In Paris.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)