The Fur Trade in British Columbia was a transformative event for both First Nations and Europeans.[1] With both the maritime trade along the coast, and the land-based trade over the Rocky Mountains having an impact on both groups. After years of competition, 1821 saw the merger of the two main trading companies, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company.[2] This merger brought the Hudson’s Bay Company into control over the entire fur trade in British Columbia. Through the exchange of goods between First Nations and Europeans new elements were adopted in their cultures.[3] First Nations traders would provide the Hudson’s Bay Company with animal pelts in exchange for items that were not traditional to their culture.[4] It was not just certain items that were introduced to First Nations, but also new concepts. The idea of trade for economic reasons was something new to First Nations, and something that they adopted which had an impact on their culture. First Nations experience with the fur trade was one of initial unfamiliarity which lead to adaptation.
[1] Patricia E. Roy and John Herd Thompson, British Columbia: Land of Promises, (Canada: Oxford University Press, 2005), 24.
[2] Roy and Thompson, British Columbia, 28.
[3] Roy and Thompson, British Columbia, 26.
[4] Roy and Thompson, British Columbia, 25.