Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870

Beginning with the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670, the fur trade dominated the development of the Canadian west. Although detailed accounts of the fur-trade era have appeared, until recently the rich social history has been ignored. In this book, the fur trade is examined not simply as an economic activity but as a social and cultural complex that was to survive for nearly two centuries.

The author traces the development of a mutual dependency between Indian and European trader...