At the end of the French and Indian War elements of the British Empire moved quickly into the western Great Lakes and central Canada in an effort to partake in and control the lucrative fur trade. To do this both the British army and fur traders adopted a piece of Native American technology: birch-bark canoes. What may have seemed like just an expedient tool for travelling from one point to another actually had far reaching implications for all parties involved. Archival research, material culture analysis, and geographic information systems data together demonstrate that the birch-bark canoe’s speed and efficiency both facilitated and frustrated fur traders and the army alike. For the army it meant a lack of control over traders looking to skirt imperial oversight. Conversely, the trader’s ability to go far beyond the government’s reach put them under the power of Native communities. Decisions about how much food or trade goods to pack, which waterways to take, where to trade, where to get the canoes, and how to stay alive were all influenced by the unique characteristics of this remarkable craft.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    ‘A Ticklish Craft’: Viewing Britain’s empire from inside a birch-bark canoe in the eighteenth century


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    The Mariner's Mirror ; 108 , 3 ; 286-305


    Publication date :

    2022-07-03


    Size :

    20 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown




    The Pacific migrations by canoe-form craft

    Wharram, J. / Boon, H. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006



    CANOE

    MOCHIZUKI OSAMU / KUBOTA YOSHIHIRO | European Patent Office | 2020

    Free access

    CANOE

    MOCHIZUKI OSAMU / KUBOTA YOSHIHIRO | European Patent Office | 2019

    Free access

    Foldable canoe

    JIN KWANG SUK / JUNG KYUNG IL | European Patent Office | 2017

    Free access