Material Histories: Scots and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade

For some four hundred years, men have left their homes and families in Scotland to work for fur trading businesses operating in North America, such as the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. They spent their daily lives with Aboriginal people and became absorbed in complex social relationships mediated by the exchange of animal pelts for trade goods.

The artefacts they collected that have survived in museums and family homes can be used today to think about the experiences of the many people who were connected to the fur trade. In this website you can use some of these artefacts to explore the fur trade and its legacy.