Voyageurs (lit. 'travellers') were 18th- and 19th-century French people and later French Canadians who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the Pays d'en Haut and the Pays des Illinois) and times where that transportation was over long distances, giving rise to folklore and music that celebrated voyageurs' strength and endurance.[1] They traversed and explored many regions in what is now Canada and the United States.
Despite their fame, their lives were arduous and not nearly as glamorous as folk tales made out. For example, they had to be able to carry two 90 lb bundles of fur over portages. Some carried four or five, and there is a report of a voyageur carrying seven bundles for half a mile.[2] Hernias were common and frequently caused death. Most voyageurs started working in their early twenties and continued working until in their sixties. They never made enough money to consider early retirement from a physically grueling lifestyle.[3]
Fur trading was done by canoe and largely by French Canadians. In the fur trade context, the word also applied, to a lesser extent, to other fur trading activities.[4] Voyageurs were part of a licensed, organized effort, a distinction that set them apart from the coureurs des bois. Additionally, they differed from engagés (hired men, actually indentured servants),[5] who were much smaller-scale merchants and general laborers. Mostly immigrants, the engagés were men required to go anywhere and do anything their masters told them as long as their indentureship was still in place. Until their contract expired, engagés were servants of their masters, who were most often voyageurs.[6] Fewer than fifty percent of engagés remained in New France when their contracts ended. The others either returned to France or died while indentured.[7] After the French presence in Canada ended following the British conquest during the Seven Years' War, fur trade was still continued by their descendants.
History
The early European fur trade with Indigenous peoples was not limited to beaver pelts. Beavers were not particularly valued and people preferred "fancy fur" or "fur that is used with or on the pelt". The fur trade was viewed as secondary to fishing during this era.[8] The earliest North American fur trading did not include long-distance transportation of the furs after they were obtained by trade with the First Nations; it started with trading near settlements or along the coast or waterways accessible by ship. Soon, coureurs des bois achieved business advantages by travelling further inland to trade. By 1681, King Louis XIV decided to control the traders by publishing an edict that banned fur and pelt trading in New France.[9]
As the trading process moved deeper into the wilderness, transportation of the furs (and the products to be traded for furs) became a larger part of the fur trading business process. The authorities began a process of issuing permits (congés). Those travellers associated with the canoe transportation part of the licensed endeavour became known as voyageurs, a term which literally means "traveller" in French. The fur trade was thus controlled by a small number of Montreal merchants. New France began a policy of expansion in an attempt to dominate the trade. French influence extended west, north, and south. Forts and trading posts were built with the help of explorers and traders. Treaties were negotiated with native groups, and fur trading became very profitable and organized.
Travels
The voyageur's routes were longer distance fur trade water routes that ships and large boats could not reach or could not travel. The canoes travelled along well-established routes.[30] These routes were explored and used by Europeans early in the history of the settlement of the continent. Most led to Montreal. Later many led to Hudson Bay. Hudson Bay and Montreal routes joined in the interior, particularly at Lake Winnipeg. The 1821 merger of the NWC and HBC resulted in a shift towards using the route with direct access to the ocean, the Hudson's Bay route, away from the Great Lakes route.[27]
Routes
Both shores of Lake Superior had been explored by the 1660s. By the late 17th century Europeans had wintered on Rainy Lake west of Lake Superior, and by the 1730s regular routes led west from Lake Superior.[13] Montreal was a main origination point for voyageur routes into the interior. From Montreal the route divided in two routes. The main trade route from Montreal went up the
Culture and daily life
Voyageurs often rose as early as 2 am or 3 am. Provided that there were no rapids (requiring daylight for navigation) early in the day, they set off very early. They would stop for a few minutes each hour to smoke a pipe. Distance was often measured by "pipes", the interval between these stops. Between eight and ten in the evening, travel stopped and camp was made.[30] Voyageurs were expected to work 14 hours per day and paddle at a rate of 55 strokes per minute.[31] Few could swim. Many drowned in rapids or in storms while crossing lakes. Portages and routes were often indicated by lob trees, or trees that had their branches cut off just below the top of the tree.
Canoe travel included paddling on the water with all personnel and cargo, carrying the canoes and contents over land (this is called portaging). In shallow water where limited water depth prevented paddling with the cargo in the canoe but allowed canoes to be floated, methods that combined these were used, such as pulling by hand, poling, or lining with ropes. Circumstances where only an empty canoe could be floated were called a decharge. Those where the cargo could be floated in the canoe if split into two trips were called a demi-charge.[30] There is a report of a voyageur named La Bonga, a 6 ft freed slave carrying 7 bales (630 lbs.) for one-half mile when applying to become a voyageur, a feat which trumped the usual requirement that voyageurs be short.
Francophone communities across Canada
As French-Canadian voyageurs engaged and brought the fur-trade West, they established multiple settlements in the North-West Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Yukon. These French/Francophone settlements and communities still exist and thrive today. The Métis Nation (Indigenous/Michif), Franco-Manitobans, Fransaskois, Franco-Albertans, Franco-Columbians, Franco-Ténois and Franco-Yukonais all have origins heavily linked to voyageurs. Franco-Manitobans celebrate their history and heritage with the Festival du Voyageur, and Franco-Albertans celebrate with the Festival du Canoe Volant. Additionally, French and Francophone communities across Canada wear the ceinture fléchée as part of their traditional clothing and cultures. The ceinture fléchée or "arrowed sash" was an important part of the voyageur uniform.
See also
External links
- Illinois Brigade, voyageur educators out of the midwest
- Canadian Vignettes: Voyageurs. A Film Board of Canada vignette
- Festival du Voyageur
- US National Park Service page on voyageurs
- Canadian Museum of Civilization: Virtual Museum of New France: Les Coureurs des Bois
- Coppenrath Collection of Voyageur Contracts, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill Library. Contains 52 voyageur contracts between 1800 and 1821.
References
- White Oak - Companies and Organizations www.whiteoak.org^
- Mike Hillman, "La Bonga: The Greatest Voyageur" Boundary Waters Journal Magazine, Summer 2010 Issue, pp 20–25^
- Louise Dechêne, Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal, Montreal: 1992, p. 122^