Exploration
the Fur Trade and Hudson's Bay Company
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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.

Choose one of the topics below to develop into an essay. Your essay should include:

  • A title page with title, your name, course name, teacher name and date submitted
  • A clear introduction with a thesis statement
  • A body with proper citation (footnotes/endnotes or APA/MLA style, as decided by your teacher)
  • A conclusion that follows logically from the thesis and ideas developed in the body, and makes a thoughtful generalization

Date due:

Length of paper:

Some sources are available after the topics. You may also use other sources. The Early Canadiana Online database contains many early Canadian texts - both primary and secondary sources - on exploration, the fur trade and HBC. Use the organized list on the Exploration, the Fur Trade and Hudson's Bay Company Web site or conduct a search on your own using any of these phrases in the subject search:

  • Exploration
  • Fur trade
  • Hudson's Bay Company
  • North West Company


Topics:

Essay 1:
In the beginning of the 19th century, the fur trade was in crisis. Comment on the causes and reasons for this situation and make a reasoned statement about whether the situation was resolved to the benefit of all the people involved and to future Canadians. If not, how could it have ended differently?

Essay 2:
Statement: Hudson's Bay Company brought peace and stability to the Aboriginal peoples with which it dealt.

  • Agree or disagree with this statement, using evidence from different sources.

Essay 3:
Statement: The fur trade acted as a brake on the westward expansion of European settlement.

  • Agree or disagree with this statement, using evidence from different sources.

Essay 4:
Compare two short documents, both written in the 19th century, about the northwest and Hudson's Bay Company:

Speeches on the Indian difficulties in the North-West
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=42625

Canada West and the Hudson's-Bay Company: a political and humane question…
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=22598

In particular focus and comment on:

  • Similarities/differences in bias
  • Similarities/differences in attitudes toward HBC
  • Similarities/differences in the description of the conditions in the North-West for
    -Settlers
    -Aboriginals
    -Fur Traders
  • Similarities/differences in attitudes toward Aboriginals
  • Similarities/differences in attitudes on westward expansion of European settlement
  • The reasons for these differences/similarities

Essay 5:
Read the biography of one of these people (or another) employed by Hudson's Bay Company:

Robert M. Ballantyne
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=63456
Samuel Hearne
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)
J. Long
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=36367 (English)
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=37543 (français)
John Horden
URL: http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id=62a8e0af15&doc=91125


In particular, comment and focus 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

Essay 6:
Aboriginals and the Fur Trade: Prepare an essay 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?


Some 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/


Essay Writing Sources
About's guide to guides
URL: http://7-12educators.tqn.com/education/7-12educators/msub57litsourcesessays.htm
Bowdoin College History Department
URL: http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/
Capital Community College
URL: http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml
URL: http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

 


 

 
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