° Edmonton ° Halifax ° Hudson Bay ° Manitoba
° Montreal ° Ontario ° Ottowa ° Quebec ° Regina
° St. John's ° Toronto ° Vancouver ° Winnipeg
By 1508 Early explorers from northwest Europe were fishing the waters off of Canada for cod.
French, Basque and Spanish
Navigators visited the waters off Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Drying fish took several weeks, during which time they began trading with natives: metal and cloth, copper kettles, blankets and trinkets were given to the natives in exchange for furs and fresh meat.
By the year 1600, the European need for more beaver fur exploded; European fashion caused the over-hunting of beavers for hats and beaver felt. As beavers were plentiful in Canada, trading for pelts became another profitable industry alongside fishing. By 1608, a base was established at Quebec to exploit the fur trade. Permanent residents of the colony were permitted to trade for furs with the Indians but they had to sell the beaver and moose hides to the company at prices fixed by the Ministry of Marine. All other furs were traded on a free market; thus the trade was not a monopoly, but the law of supply and demand had been suspended for beaver and moose hides.
The Seven Years' War
After the Seven Years' War (1756-63), Anglo-Americans (Yankees, or Bastonnais), English and Highland Scots merchants supplanted the Canadian bourgeois and the agents of French merchants at Montréal. The new merchants forged a commercial link with London; the fur trade expanded greatly and served a variety of purposes — economic, political and scientific. The activity from the new merchants garnered the attention of the Hudson Bay Company; the success of its new rivals forced the company to alter its coast-factory trading policy, and in 1774 the Hudson Bay Company penetrated inland from the bay to found Cumberland House, close to the Saskatchewan River. For their part, the new merchants learned that co-operation among themselves, rather than competition, was the road to commercial success. However, by 1810, the Hudson Bay Company had regained its strength and market share, only to face the 20th Century disdain on the killing of animals for their fur.
Germans and Jews in Quebec
Initially, Quebec was made up of French, English and Natives. But starting from around 1896, immigration of people who speak neither French nor English began arriving in substantial numbers: The first groups to have arrived in significant numbers in Quebec were the Germans and Jews who came in late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jews were in majority Yiddish speakers and established themselves in large numbers in Montreal. They were followed by large contingents of Italians, from the early 20th century.
