Many Tender Ties (Into & CH 1)

The fur trade was the only successful economy in Early Western Canada. Fundamental growth of the fur trade society was widespread intermarriage between the traders and the Indian women. Their marriage helped to advance trade relations with new tribes. The Native women had an important role to the success and functioning of the fur trade. Indian wives were the vogue during the fur trade and the native women brought a sense of nativism to the fur trade however the fur trade society was not Indian but many elements were combined of European and Indian to produce a distinctive community. When the fur trade was broken down into two big companies the economic community was benefited but it did not benefit the Indian women, in times of scarcity, the Indian women were the first to suffer. This reading talked about the marriage between the European fur traders and Native women and the marriage between Native women and men. Both differed in many ways, the marriage between Indian husband and wives was perceived as very unromantic, it was not uncommon for an Indian husband to lend his wife even to a stranger and for many nights at a time. Indian men at times were very abusive towards their wives and the fur traders were so outraged they felt compelled to step in. I think it comes down to different morals in different cultures, when the white men were looking on they saw unusual unromanticism between the Indian husbands and wives and they thought the Indian husbands were abusive which I agree with. I thought it was interesting how the white men thought wrong of some of the Indian morals but when the Indian husband offered their wives to them they were more than happy to take their women for nights at a time.