Interpreting the Past

History in evolution

A century ago, historians approached the fur trade as an industry that played a central role in Canada's development. The history of the country's exploration and colonization focussed on the business of the trading companies and their leaders. Around 1960, a new trend emerged in Canadian studies. Historians broadened the field to include the personal experience of the fur trade. They became interested in the social and cultural lives of the ordinary voyageurs, who left only scarce detail in our written records. This new way of interpreting the past shines light on lesser-known players such as Aboriginal peoples and women. We now have a better picture of their key roles in the history of the period.

A challenging approach

The purpose of this site is not to explain Canada's economic development, but to sketch a portrait of the voyageurs and their world. These pages seek to reconstruct - in words, images and sounds - the daily lives of the peoples of the fur trade. Here you'll find out that their story is not just about First Nations and Europeans. It's especially about the convergence of these cultures that form the basis of the voyageur's legacy.

Our approach poses some major challenges. While the trading companies kept detailed records of their business, we know much less about the voyageurs themselves. Archives linked to the common people of the period are rare. Few voyageurs had education or fame, and little was written about them. With such scarce historical sources, we must be careful in interpreting the voyageur's world.

On the trail of the voyageurs

Despite these difficulties, several types of sources help us recreate the voyageur's life. For example, trading companies kept records containing precious information on daily life of the period. Inventories hint at such things as their diet and what tools they used. Contracts inform us about their origins, their wages and the number of years they served their company.

Other sources are also highly revealing. Letters between company employees inform us about life at the trading post. Journals of travelling bourgeois and missionaries offer their observations during long canoe trips. Engravings and paintings illustrate clothing styles, customs and landscapes of the period. Archaeologists too have dug up useful objects, especially at sites where canoes have capsized. Finally, legends and other folklore from the past have survived into our own day.

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