Why did the Voyageurs come to Canada?

Why did the Voyageurs come to Canada?

Voyageurs were young men hired to transport goods to trading posts. Like the Communauté des Habitants, which operated for about 15 years in the mid-17th century, the Compagnie de la Colonie (created in 1699) gave Canadians a monopoly over the fur trade.

What did the coureur de bois do?

coureur de bois, (French: “wood runner”) French Canadian fur trader of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Most of the coureur de bois traded illicitly (i.e., without the license required by the Quebec government).

What was it like being a coureur de bois?

The coureurs de bois were relatively young men, usually between 20 and 30 years of age, and who were not afraid of danger or physical exertion. They usually set off in the spring, travelling in bark canoes filled with goods to the “Upper Country” of the Great Lakes region. They did not return until the fall.

What did the voyageurs live in?

When they were finished all of the work, the voyageurs told stories and sang songs until it was time to sleep. Shelter for the night was an overturned canoe, a bed of moss, and a blanket or furs for warmth. If the weather was bad, they erected a tarp as cover.

Why did the voyageurs come to New France?

The voyageurs were engaged in the transporting of furs during the fur trade years, often over long distances, by foot and canoe. They were normally Canadians, colonists or sons of colonists who were used to the rigours of winter and difficult canoeing from a young age.

What was the lifestyle of Coureur des Bois?

How did the coureurs de bois contribute to the economic success of New France?

How did the coureurs de bois contribute to the economic success of New France? They helped expands the population of New France by marrying Indian women and starting families. What were the consequences of the Dutch alliance with the Iroquois for the Hurons? The Hurons and the Iroquois were enemies.

How do you use coureurs de bois in a sentence?

The coureurs de bois suggested instead that Frenchmen were becoming Indianized, a worrying development for empire builders. Some two hundred coureurs de bois were living in Indian country by the end of the century.

Why did the coureurs des Bois come to Canada?

The Sixties however saw a great increase in Immigration to Canada from France and with that, a great increase in the number of coureurs des bois. Their days as free agents came to an end even before 1700, because the French Government decided to regulate this trade and gave trade concessions to big trading houses.

How many coureurs de Bois lived in the Great Lakes?

In the 1660s, there were between 500 and 800 coureurs de bois in the Great Lakes region. In the early days of colonization, it was the Native people who went to see the French at their trading posts in the St. Lawrence Valley.

What was the population of coureurs des bois in 1680?

In 1680, the intendant Duchesneau estimated there were eight hundred coureurs des bois, or about 40% of the adult male population. Reports like that were wildly exaggerated: in reality, even at their zenith coureurs des bois remained a very small percentage of the population of New France. 1681–1715: decline

How did the Conge system differ from the coureur des Bois?

The congé system, therefore, created the voyageur, the legal and respectable counterpart to the coureur des bois. Under the voyageurs, the fur trade began to favor a more organized business model of the times, including monopolistic ownership and hired labor.