Chapter 14 What really interested me in this half of the chapter was the section about the fur trade in global commerce. Here is a little summary. Agricultural expansion diminished furs in the Americas, and the Little Ice Age increased its demand. The French, British and Dutch competed for furs due to its increasing value. Natives worked to obtain the furs in exchange for goods, and represented a cheap labor force. The environmental price for furs was high: depletion of species was eminent. This trade was at first beneficial for Natives. European goods were beneficial for natives who could distribute them as gifts to gain influence locally, and many of the items they received were very useful. However, trade carried diseases, which decimated populations and led to mourning wars, where natives actually started stealing people from other tribes to support their depleting numbers. Another problem was also the dependence on european goods. Traditional crafts wer...

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