In the early 1600's, fur trading was carried on mainly by the French and Dutch who used the St. Lawrence, Mississippi and Hudson Rivers to penetrate inland. The Company of One Hundred Associates, or Company of New France, was approved by the King of France to explore, develop and exploit the new territory. Created in 1627 by the Cardinal de Richelieu, it brought together a hundred or so associates who promised to populate New France by sending to North America, over a period of 15 years, 4,000 settlers recruited exclusively from among the French Catholic population in France, marginalized people in France (prostitutes in particular) and slaves acquired by France. (See my page on the Indian Slave Trade in North America.)

The Company of One Hundred Associates, which held the fur-trade monopoly during this period of time found it difficult to accomplish these goals. In 1645, the company transferred its fur-trade monopoly in North America (except for Acadia) to the Communauté (or Compagnie) des Habitants. The Company of One Hundred Associates was dissolved on February 24, 1663.

During the 1600s, colonization began in Canada. France established many colonies along the St.Lawrence River: particularly current day Montreal. King Louis XIV had concerns about the Indian people and signed many decrees and taxes restricting the colonists from venturing out of the colonies and into the Indian way of life. However, the colonists were encouraged to assimilate the Indians INTO the colony as slaves to work on their holdings and to adapt to French ways and Catholicism. Through assimilation France believed it could conquer the Indians. The King decreed that trade with the Indian people must be done within the confines of the French colony and only by the recognized trading company; with heavy fines and taxes levied to restrict and confine the trade.

Many men rejected these restrictions on the fur trade and began traveling out into the new land. They were ostracized from the communities through laws and heavy taxation of the fur goods and equipment they needed. They were also shunned for their carefree spirits and raucous behaviour. These men soon established their own way of life in the new world and became known as the coureur des bois (runners in the woods). The coureur des bois began establishing homes for themselves within or beside the Indian communities and taking Indian women as their spouses. These men would travel into the colonies only to trade their gathered furs, returning to the "wilds" and their chosen way of life.

The coureur des bois had a strong bond with each other as well as a distinctive style of dress for which they became known. A blue capote, a beaded pipe bag hung from a bright red sash, beaded moccasins and the inevitable pipe became standard items for many of them. They travelled to the regions of the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi: named the "Pays d'en Haut" or upper country because to get there one had to navigate upstream from Montreal. Not only was the Michillimakinac drive full of portages, there were also many rapids, named "décharges", that only a light canoe could cross. The stages of the trip were extremely risky. The canoe had to be unloaded, goods and canoe hauled on the ground and reloaded after traversing the rapids. These men readily worked sixteen to eighteen hours a day, paddling the precious loads of trade goods through fast-flowing waterways and turbulent rapids or hauling the canoes and three tons of freight over long, arduous portages. Their day began at 2:00 a.m., with a six hour paddle until breakfast. Lunch at midday consisted of pemmican eaten in the canoe, with no stop made until well after dusk; when camp was made and supper was served. It was a very rough and demanding enterprise!

The courier des bois and the Indian women were the parents of a new nation The Metis that began with the birth of their mixed blood children.

On to the Indian involvement