The fur trade contributed to the development of British and French empires in North America. During the 1600’s, the prospect of wealth from the fur trade attracted many Europeans to the New World. Traders and trappers explored much of North America in search of fur.

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives. Fort Edmonton was selected as the district headquarters for the North Saskatchewan region. Under Chief Factor John Rowand, it became one of the largest and most important posts in what would become Alberta.

In 1609, English sailor Henry Hudson, employed by the Dutch East India Company, claimed the Hudson River valley for the Dutch. Forts Orange (the present site of Albany, New York) and Amsterdam were established as trading posts shortly thereafter.

Euromonitor International estimates the global production of fur and fur products (including faux fur) declined 2.6 percent last year. In Western Europe, the decline was 13.3 percent.

Canada

First Nations people gathered furs and brought them to posts to trade for textiles, tools, guns, and other goods. The exchange benefited both of the trade partners because they each had something that the other valued and did not have. Beaver was so valuable that it became almost like money.

Britain

Causes of the French and Indian War. The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire.

Well they had a lack of a free-standing economy that wasn’t completely independent from British, and mainly, they had no regular army, so they scrambled to form a militia which later evolved into the Continental Army.