<P> When fur traders first contacted the Gwich'in in 1810 when they founded Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie river, accounts describe a more or less egalitarian society, but the impact of the fur trade lowered the status of Gwich'in women . Accounts by the fur traders in the 1860s describe Gwich'in women as essentially slaves, carrying the baggage on their long journeys across the sub-arctic . One fur trader wrote about the Gwich'in women that they were "little better than slaves" while another fur trader wrote about the "brutal treatment" that Gwich'in women suffered at the hands of their men . Gwich'in band leaders who became rich by First Nations standards by engaging in the fur trade tended to have several wives, indeed tended to monopolize the women in their bands, which caused serious social tensions as Gwich'in young men found it impossible to have a mate, as their leaders took all of the women for themselves . Significantly, the establishment of fur trading posts inland by the Hudson's Bay Company in the late 19th century led to an improvement in the status of Gwich'in women as anyone could obtain European goods by trading at the local HBC post, ending the ability of Gwich'in leaders to monopolize the distribution of European goods while the introduction of dogs capable of carrying sleds meant their women no longer had to carry everything on their long trips . </P> <P> Perry argued that the crucial difference between the Northern Athabaskan peoples living in the sub-arctic vs. those living further south like the Cree and Ojibwa was the existence of waterways that canoes could traverse in the case of the latter . In the 18th century, Cree and Ojibwa men could and did travel hundreds of miles to HBC posts on Hudson's Bay via canoe to sell fur and bring back European goods, and in the interim, their women were in largely in charge of their communities . At York Factory in the 18th century, the factors reported that flotillas of up to 200 canoes would arrive at a time bearing Indian men coming to barter their fur for HBC's goods . Normally, the trip to York Factory was made by the Cree and Ojibwa men while their womenfolk stayed behind in their villages . Until 1774, the Hudson's Bay Company was content to operate its posts on the shores of Hudson's Bay, and only competition from the rival North West Company based in Montreal forced the Hudson's Bay Company to assert its claim to Rupert's Land . By contrast, the absence of waterways flowing into Hudson's Bay (the major river in the subarctic, the Mackenzie, flows into the Arctic ocean) forced the Northern Athabaskan peoples to travel by foot with the women as baggage carriers . In this way, the fur trade empowered Cree and Ojibwa women while reducing the Northern Athabaskan women down to a slave - like existence . </P> <P> By the end of the 18th century the four major British fur trading outposts were Fort Niagara in modern New York, Fort Detroit and Fort Michilimackinac in modern Michigan, and Grand Portage in modern Minnesota, all located in the Great Lakes region . The American Revolution and the resulting resolution of national borders forced the British to re-locate their trading centers northward . The newly formed United States began its own attempts to capitalize on the fur trade, initially with some success . However, by the 1830s the fur trade had begun a steep decline . Fur was never again the lucrative enterprise it had once been . </P> <P> On the Pacific Coast of North America, the fur trade mainly pursued seal and sea otter . In northern areas, this trade was established first by the Russian - American Company, with later participation by Spanish / Mexican, British, and U.S. hunters / traders . Non-Russians extended fur - hunting areas south as far as the Baja California Peninsula . </P>

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