HIST113 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Fort Selkirk

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: History
• Course: HIST113
• Professor: Catherine Briggs

Document Summary

Study of the structure and content of the fur trade of the yukon. River basin prior to the klondike gold rush. What was the early economic development of the yukon. Natives even prior to meeting european were already trading amongst themselves (fish for animal hides) Showed regionally understanding between bands to fulfill the needs by interior for coastal products. Understood value and balancing out inequalities by trading surpluses (salmon) for rare product (hides) Tlingit indians first band to get access to reliable european. Hbc moved in, allowed the kutchin and han indians a strong middleman position in exploiting new sources for european commodities. Natives positioned to restrain the access to furs and with the. Tlingits they had another source for goods rather than hbc. Difficult crossing yukon terrain, kutchin/han natives offered no. Mislead and abandoned hbc reps on expeditions to expand assistance. further west. Were able to delay hbc expansion by 7 years.