Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
"Get the furs while they last"
Fur trade during the 1600's - 1800's was driven by fashion to create apparel such as hats, jackets, and sleigh blankets; this lead to a “Hollywood Epic” due to the high cost in fur and other animal skin. During this time tens of millions of Beavers, Sea Otters and Buffalo were slaughtered for their skin but fortunately none of these species became extinct. Boundaries were established in America with the help of the fur trade industry especially in the North West. The trading of fur was abused and mistreated by men which lead to the exploitation of the Swede’s, Dutch and French from the continent. Fur traders were some of the first white men the Indians have ever seen.
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3 comments:
This was a very informative video clip. An excellent source of information about the fur trade. I knew that we hunted Beaver and Buffalo for hats and clothing, but did not know that we also used Otter skins. Thanks for an excellent post.
It’s interesting to see how something such a fur coat was in such high demand, where today you don’t even think about a fur coat. It shows how culture changes with technology and in today’s world the computer age took away things such as the fur coat, but at one point in time it was actually very popular and hard to find. The fur coat of the past is like a jet plane in today’s world.
just to imagine that fur at one time was in high demand. also how far people would have went to get one and the cost for one as well. its just proves a point that that times do change and styles and trends go out of style and become a thing of the past. also the video clip was a great was to show information about the fur trade
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