Commerce by a Frozen Sea

Native Americans and the European Fur Trade

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775), Native American
Cover of the book Commerce by a Frozen Sea by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis ISBN: 9780812204827
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: June 6, 2011
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
ISBN: 9780812204827
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: June 6, 2011
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

Commerce by a Frozen Sea is a cross-cultural study of a century of contact between North American native peoples and Europeans. During the eighteenth century, the natives of the Hudson Bay lowlands and their European trading partners were brought together by an increasingly popular trade in furs, destined for the hat and fur markets of Europe. Native Americans were the sole trappers of furs, which they traded to English and French merchants. The trade gave Native Americans access to new European technologies that were integrated into Indian lifeways. What emerges from this detailed exploration is a story of two equal partners involved in a mutually beneficial trade.

Drawing on more than seventy years of trade records from the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, economic historians Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis critique and confront many of the myths commonly held about the nature and impact of commercial trade. Extensively documented are the ways in which natives transformed the trading environment and determined the range of goods offered to them. Natives were effective bargainers who demanded practical items such as firearms, kettles, and blankets as well as luxuries like cloth, jewelry, and tobacco—goods similar to those purchased by Europeans. Surprisingly little alcohol was traded. Indeed, Commerce by a Frozen Sea shows that natives were industrious people who achieved a standard of living above that of most workers in Europe. Although they later fell behind, the eighteenth century was, for Native Americans, a golden age.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Commerce by a Frozen Sea is a cross-cultural study of a century of contact between North American native peoples and Europeans. During the eighteenth century, the natives of the Hudson Bay lowlands and their European trading partners were brought together by an increasingly popular trade in furs, destined for the hat and fur markets of Europe. Native Americans were the sole trappers of furs, which they traded to English and French merchants. The trade gave Native Americans access to new European technologies that were integrated into Indian lifeways. What emerges from this detailed exploration is a story of two equal partners involved in a mutually beneficial trade.

Drawing on more than seventy years of trade records from the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, economic historians Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis critique and confront many of the myths commonly held about the nature and impact of commercial trade. Extensively documented are the ways in which natives transformed the trading environment and determined the range of goods offered to them. Natives were effective bargainers who demanded practical items such as firearms, kettles, and blankets as well as luxuries like cloth, jewelry, and tobacco—goods similar to those purchased by Europeans. Surprisingly little alcohol was traded. Indeed, Commerce by a Frozen Sea shows that natives were industrious people who achieved a standard of living above that of most workers in Europe. Although they later fell behind, the eighteenth century was, for Native Americans, a golden age.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book The Language of Fruit by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Policy, Planning, and People by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book When Counterinsurgency Wins by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Florentine Political Writings from Petrarch to Machiavelli by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Imaginary Betrayals by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Human Rights or Global Capitalism by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book As American as Shoofly Pie by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book The Good Women of the Parish by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book American Marriage by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Yigal Allon, Native Son by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book A Patient's Guide to Surgery by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Civitas by Design by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book An Army of Lions by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
Cover of the book Imperial Medicine by Ann M. Carlos, Frank D. Lewis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy