French Trade in North America: The Fur Trade Engine

French colonial commerce in North America revolved around the fur trade, especially beaver pelts for European hat-making. Key elements:

• Early Exploration: Cartier, Champlain, Joliet, Marquette, La Salle pushed deep interior via St. Lawrence, Great Lakes, Mississippi.
• Alliances: Partnered with Algonquian, Huron, Ottawa, and other nations; integrated into Indigenous trade networks.
• Posts: Québec (1608), Montréal (1642), Detroit (1701), New Orleans (1718), Illinois Country forts.
• Coureurs des bois / Voyageurs: Licensed and unlicensed traders living among Native peoples.
• Decline: Over-trapping, British competition (Hudson's Bay Co.), Seven Years' War (1763) → France ceded Canada.

The fur trade shaped French imperial geography, Indigenous relations, and the continental economy for 150 years.