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Exploration,
the Fur Trade and Hudson's Bay Company
Student Handout
This learning activity will give you the opportunity to view primary
source materials online and learn about aspects of life in early
Canada.
Possible
Sources
Early Canadiana Online: Exploration, the Fur Trade and Hudson's
Bay Company
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/hbc/
Hudson's Bay Company History Page
URL: http://www.hbc.com/hbc/e_hi/default.htm
(English)
URL: http://www.hbc.com/hbcf/f_hi/default.htm
(français)
The National Library of Canada: Pathfinders and Passageways
URL: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/explorers
The Virtual Museum of New France
URL: http://www.civilization.ca/vmnf/explor/explcd_e.html
Musée Virtuel de la Nouvelle-France
URL: http://www.civilization.ca/vmnf/explor/explor_f.html
General Sources
The Canadian Encyclopedia Online
URL: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/
Timeline of Canadian History
URL: http://web.securenet.net/members/chastie/Hisintro.html
Discoverers Web
URL: http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/
Topic 1
The Rise of HBC
Prepare a presentation or report on the origins of Hudson's
Bay Company, beginning with Cartier's first act of trade and ending
with the approval of HBC Charter by British parliament in 1690.
Try to connect
the events in a cause-and-effect chain. For example:
| Cartier
discovered that there were valuable furs in the New World. He
also discovered that it was very cold in the winter. Because
of this, people began to trade furs, but it was not until Champlain
that anyone tried to stay again. |
If you are writing
a report, it should include:
- A title page
with title, your name, course name, teacher name and date submitted
- An interesting
introduction that tells what the report is about
- A body with
proper footnotes or endnotes, as decided by your teacher
- A conclusion
that follows logically ideas developed in the body
Date due:
Length of
report/presentation:
Use sources
available above, and any others you find that you feel are useful.
Topic
2
Aboriginals and the Fur Trade
Prepare a presentation or report on the interaction between Europeans
and Aboriginals in the fur trade. Comment on:
- How contact
with Europeans affected Aboriginals (health, trade)
- How Aboriginals
helped Europeans survive
- How Aboriginals
fit into the fur trade
- How the fur
trade changed the lives of Aboriginal peoples
Try to see good
and bad effects for all these points. For your conclusion, decide
and explain why you think Aboriginal peoples would have been better
or worse off without having met Europeans in the way they did. Consider:
How could it have been different?
If you are writing
a report, it should include:
- A title page
with title, your name, course name, teacher name and date submitted
- An interesting
introduction that tells what the report is about
- A body with
proper footnotes or endnotes, as decided by your teacher
- A conclusion
that follows logically ideas developed in the body
Date due:
Length of
report/presentation:
Use sources
available above, and any others you find that you feel are useful.
Topic 3
Shootout: Rivalry with the North West Company
Prepare a presentation or report on conflict between Hudson's
Bay Company and the North West Company. Comment on:
- How the North
West Company began, and where its people had worked before
- Why the two
companies fought
- The worst
event of the rivalry
- What caused
the North West Company to decide to make peace
- Who were
the winners in the end
For your conclusion,
decide and explain why you think it was a good or bad settlement.
Who deserved to win, and why?
If you are writing
a report, it should include:
- A title page
with title, your name, course name, teacher name and date submitted
- An interesting
introduction that tells what the report is about
- A body with
proper footnotes or endnotes, as decided by your teacher
- A conclusion
that follows logically ideas developed in the body
Date due:
Length of
report/presentation:
Use sources
available above, and any others you find that you feel are useful.
If you wish,
you can also use this source from Early Canadiana Online:
An Act for
regulating the fur trade, and establishing a criminal and civil
jurisdiction within certain parts of North America (9 pages)
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=4c87af4237&doc=47766
This is a copy
of the act that joined HBC and the North West Company.
Topic
4
Exceptional People
Prepare a presentation or report on a person or group involved with
the fur trade or Hudson's Bay Company. Comment on:
- His/her/their
personal information as appropriate (birth date, education, life
before becoming involved in the fur trade, life after becoming
involved in the fur trade)
- What made
them special
- What his/her/their
great contributions were (places discovered, inventions, work
done)
- How those
contributions affected others
For your conclusion,
explain how this person made our world a better or worse place today
because of things he/she/they did.
If you are writing
a report, it should include:
- A title page
with title, your name, course name, teacher name and date submitted
- An interesting
introduction that tells what the report is about
- A body with
proper footnotes or endnotes, as decided by your teacher
- A conclusion
that follows logically ideas developed in the body
Date due:
Length of
report/presentation:
Use sources
available above, and any others you find that you feel are useful.
If you wish,
you can also use sources from Early Canadiana Online. For example,
this is Samuel Hearne's journal:
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=93902
(vol 1) (français)
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=93903
(vol 2) (français)
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=35434
(English)
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