Were there any female voyageurs?
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Were there any female voyageurs?
In the 18th century, European women were foreign to the voyageur’s world of the North West. On the other hand, unmarried women from Montreal and Quebec City viewed the well-to-do bourgeois of the NWC as prime marriage prospects. As for Native women, marrying a fur trader or a hired man could mean social advancement.
What ethnicity were most voyageurs?
French Canadian
Who Were the Voyageurs? Most voyageurs were French Canadian, recruited from villages and towns, like Sorel, Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Montreal. Voyageurs could be identified by their distinctive clothing. They often wore a red toque and a sash around their waist.
What does a voyageur do?
Voyageurs were independent contractors, workers or minor partners in companies involved in the fur trade. They were licensed to transport goods to trading posts and were usually forbidden to do any trading of their own. The fur trade changed over the years, as did the groups of men working in it.
What is the difference between a coureur de bois and a voyageur?
The coureurs des bois were active during the French Regime. They were small businessmen trapping fur animals and trading. The voyageurs, for their part, were hired hands. They were a bit like modern-day truckers.
How do I become a voyageur?
When a youth had developed his arm and back strength, he could become a voyageur, about age 16, but some started as early as age 11. Voyageurs had to carry two 90-pound bundles of fur or trade goods over portages (and some carried more — they liked proving themselves). This job was at the lowest level in the fur trade.
What was the relationship really like between voyageurs and aboriginals?
As such, Indigenous women played crucial social and economic roles. They taught French traders how to live off the land, brought them into their kin networks, and by marrying voyageurs, Indigenous women secured diplomatic and trading relationships. Despite this, most cross-cultural relationships were actually brief.
What does a voyageur wear?
Voyageurs could be identified by their distinctive clothing. They often wore a red toque and a sash around their waist. The white cotton shirt was protection from the sun and mosquitoes. They also wore breeches with leggings and moccasins.
How do I become a Voyageur?
What does a voyageur look like?
How should a voyageur dress?
Voyageur attire generally consisted of a linen or cotton shirt, a pair of mitasses , a wool cap, moccasins and a hooded coat for cold weather.
How old do you have to be a voyageur?
What do voyageurs look like?
Are voyageurs Metis?
A generation after the first voyageurs, many of them were Métis, men whose father was European (usually French) and whose mother was First Nations. Many of the oldest family names in Sault Ste. Marie are Métis.
