just to add a few points, by 1641 the French sold a musket to their first Huron
customer.
long before that, as (Gary?) noted, the French encouraged the fur trade-- possi
bly the first global capitalist business that focused upon North American re-
source extraction. prior businesses of the export of fish, (and furs), naval
stores, tobacco, rice, and foodstuffs (such as sugar) did not reach so far into
the native american hinterland. in fact, when cartier first sailed southwards
down the st. lawrence, he was greeted by algonquins waving their old worn out
furs. however, it was not until @1603, with the champlain expedition, that the
french fully articulated the fur trade.
i could go on...but its all in books and i suspect that this history is 1) fair
ly well known to many people on the net, and 2) i'm more interested in indigen-
ous perespectives of this early fur trade.
anyone have some family history to fill in the gaps left by the jesuit histori-
ans?