172k views
1 vote
Explain how the fur trade related to the imperial rivalry among European powers.

User Fegemo
by
4.7k points

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer:In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, European explorers of North America competed to find a Northwest Passage to the East Indies and precious metals such as gold and silver. They did not succeed, but they did encounter American Indians who traded ample amounts of beaver and other pelts with them. The valuable fur trade thus became part of the search for wealth in the New World and the imperial struggle among the great powers. Over the course of the next century, the fur trade fundamentally reshaped American Indian life, relationships with Europeans, and even the North American ecological landscape.

Explanation:

User Maheep
by
4.8k points