<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> <P> Starting in the mid-16th century, Europeans traded weapons and household goods in exchange for furs with Native Americans in southeast America . The trade originally tried to mimic the fur trade in the north, with large quantities of wildcats, bears, beavers, and other fur bearing animals being traded . The trade in fur coat animals decreased in the early 18th century, curtailed by the rising popularity of trade in deerskins . The deerskin trade went onto dominate the relationships between the Native Americans of the southeast and the European settlers there . Deerskin was a highly valued commodity due to the deer shortage in Europe, and the British leather industry needed deerskins to produce goods . The bulk of deerskins were exported to Great Britain during the peak of the deerskin trade . </P> <P> Native American--specifically the Creek's--beliefs revolved around respecting the environment . The Creek believed they had a unique relationship with the animals they hunted . The Creek had several rules surround how a hunt could occur, particularly prohibiting needless killing of deer . There were specific taboos against taking the skins of unhealthy deer . However, the lucrative deerskin trade prompted hunters to act past the point of restraint they had operated under before . The hunting economy collapsed due to the scarcity of deer as they were over-hunted and lost their lands to white settlers . Due to the decline of deer populations, and the governmental pressure to switch to the colonists' way of life, animal husbandry replaced deer hunting both as an income and in the diet . </P>

Which two european countries fought for control of north america in the 1600s and 1700s