Paper Example on North American Fur Trade

The Three Most Important Concepts, Ideas or Issues

The first concept is that commercial trade of fur in North Africa emerged as a result of trade relations between Indians and European fishers. Carlos and Hoffman (1986) explain that the Indians would engage in trading pelts of small animals. These animals included mink used in making knives, iron products, and textiles. The French were the leading companies to partake in the trade under French control. The British received a charter in 1670 to operate from posts along Hudson Bay. After the French conquest of 1763, a clear trade border was defined which facilitated the trade between Mississippi to the American fur factory. During this time, the Northern participants merged to form Hudson's Bay Company which engaged in trading furs. The animal rights groups initiated much pressure to Hudson's Bay Company, and it halted the fur section of the company.

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The second concept implies that the fur trade was grounded on hides. The fashion markets were the primary recipients of the pelts. However, it is supposed that the felting industries also provided a ripe market for the industry. The process involved trapping animals and exchanging them for merchandises in North America. The companies transported pelts to Europe majorly for dispensation to obtain the ultimate products (Carlos & Hoffman, 1986).

Also, Carlos and Hoffman (1986) further assert that the demand for furs products existed between these trading continents. It was the Trans-Atlantic trade, and it involved Asia, North America, and Europe. Demand for these products existed in Europe and thus facilitated the supply of the products from North America. North America is the supplier determined prices and volumes of the products. There were also intermediaries who linked these areas geographically. The intermediaries also determined the way the North American Fur trade was conducted.

Difficulty in Understanding Concepts, Ideas or Issues

I experienced difficulties understanding how the charter impacted the North American Fur trade. It took place between the periods of 1804-1810. The fact that The Hudson Bay Company proposed regulation of other companies proved that it wanted the abandonment of the already unprofitable posts during that period. I did not manage to link the theoretical framework discussed and the characteristics of the discussions involving Hudson Bay and The North West Company (Carlos & Hoffman, 1986).

The second issue was concerning an essential fact of the English conquest of New France when the French and Indian confrontations came to an end in 1763, which is missing in the reading. The reading only talks about how the war of 1812 affected the financial position of the Northwest Company. However, the conquest could change the structure of the trade, although Northwest Company initiated a competition with Hudson's company in an economic field that it enjoyed the monopoly (Carlos & Hoffman, 1986).

The Main Economic Story

The story which covers almost the entire reading is about the bargaining between two companies: Hudson's Bay and Northwest Companies. Since the demand for fur existed, it was straightforward for these two companies to engage in trade. However, the growth of British North America is an account of misuse of resource foundation where the fur trade is involved. Fur trade managed to impact the economic growth of various countries that engaged in it. These countries included North America (Canada), Europe (British) and Asia (India). Bargains, competitions, and negotiations which covered specific periods between 1804 and 1821 characterized the trade.

The economic story is also about how it took the two companies discussed seventeen years to agree how to utilize the resources. Each of these companies was unwilling to reveal their financial status, and as a result, it took them a long time to bargain, a fact that dissipated their profits.

References

Carlos, A. M. & Hoffman, E. (1986). The North American Fur Trade: Bargaining to a Joint Profit Maximization under Incomplete Information, 1804 - 1821. The Journal of Economic History, 46(4), 967 - 986. DOI:https://doiorg.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1017/S002205070005066X

Houston, M. I. & Reeves, H. M. (2003). The Nineteenth-Century Trade in Swan Skins and Quills. In Houston, T., Ball, T. & Houston, M., Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay (1st ed., pp. 188 - 199). Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Mackie, R. S. (2011). Trading Beyond the Mountains: the British fur trade on the Pacific, 1793-1843. ubc Press.