Fur. Fur is still around today, but the fight for it isn't nearly as difficult as it was back in the era this chapter talks about. We are now past discussing the spice trade, and are now talking about some of the difficulties in the fur trade. Of course, fur was seen and a commodity and still is. Fur comes off of animals which are sourced as a population, and when that population is diminished, so too does the demand increase while the supply decreases. It becomes a rarity, and then it becomes a fight for it. It is largely due to the Europeans that these fur bearing animals are becoming rare. Fur trading was almost a sport competed internationally, and each team was most dominant in their own home court. The French were best in the St. Lawrence Valley, the British in the Hudson Bay area, and the Dutch in the Hudson River (Which is now New York.)
The Europeans were definitely cheaters in this sport, since they would merely wait until the Indians would bring them the furs or skins to then trade them for other tools of British making. Native Americans were essentially a cheap labor force for the British.
Even though the Native Americans were protected for some time from slavery from the British because of their important role and their capabilities in hunting fur bearing animals, that didn't protect them from the new diseases that the Europeans brought with them.
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