The Fur Trading Industry

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes how the development of the American Fur Company impacted the fur trade and the American frontier west. The paper discusses how the fur trading industry, via the American Fur Company established by John Jacob Astor, was an important economic way of life and trade opportunity for settlers and fur trappers eager to build settlements in the American west. The paper shows how without the fur trade, the West would not have beheld the profitability incentive for expansion beyond the Appalachian mountain chain.

Outline:
Introduction
The International Fur Trade and the American West
The American Fur Trade
The Expansion and Development of the American Fur Company
Interconnecting Alliances in the Fur Trade
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The economic affect that fur trading had on the American west can be found through supply and demand. The demand for furs in Europe was growing in the early 19th century, since many of the furs were slowly diminishing due to over hunting. John Jacob Astor and his American Fur Company played a major role in determining how fur trade would become an American dominated economy, which helped to propel a massively successful impetus for pioneer settlers to settle on lands in the west. Many of the pioneers that sought to live a new life as settlers in the west, took advantage of this opportunity to make incredible profits from the many beaver found west of the Appalachians. According to Hine (2000), the economic value of the fur trade made it possible for pioneers to develop a strong economy in the wild American frontier."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hine, Robert. The American West: A New Interpretive History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Madsen, Axel. John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire. New York: Wiley, 2001.
• McMurty, Larry. Winning the West: The Epic Saga of the American Frontier: 1800-1899. New Castle: Free Press, 2002.
• Podruchny, Carolyn. Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and traders in the North American Fur Trade. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.
• "The American Fur Trade." 2005. Electric Scotland.com. 17 October, 2006. <http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/american_fur.htm>

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