Canadian canoe routes

Canadian canoe routes (early): This article covers the water routes used by early explorers of Canada with special emphasis on the fur trade.

Both Canada and Siberia were explored by Europeans mainly by river. Both regions have many navigable rivers with short portages between them. There are no serious barriers to water-borne travel east of the Rockies or from the Urals almost to the Pacific. The fur trade drove and financed both expansions (mostly beaver furs in Canada, sable and many others in Siberia). In both areas incomers obtained furs from the natives and exported them to Europe. In Siberia a band of armed Cossacks would enter a native village and demand yasak or tribute. In Canada furs were obtained by honest trade.

Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. In 1639 they reached the Pacific near Okhotsk. European settlement of Canada began in 1605 and 1608 (Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Quebec City). Canada-based Europeans reached the Arctic Ocean in 1789 and the Pacific in 1793, both expeditions led by Alexander Mackenzie). For details of Siberian travel see Siberian River Routes.

An explorer naturally wishes to travel as far as possible by water. Hudson Bay gets one more than a third of the way across the continent, but it leads to unproductive country and is blocked by ice for most of the year. The Mississippi River is a natural entry point, but it only began to be used in 1718 with the foundation of New Orleans. Early sea ships could follow the Hudson River as far as Albany, but this leads north to the Saint Laurence and westward travel was blocked by the Iroquois league. The Chesapeake and Delaware Bays lead a short way inland and the other east coast rivers are too short or shallow to be of much use. This leaves the St. Lawrence River.

French Era: In the sixteenth century, cod fishermen began trading for furs, especially at Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence River. With the foundation of Quebec in 1608, Coureurs des bois spread out through the many rivers and lakes to trade with the Indians, while Indians would carry canoe-loads of fur down to Montreal. Nearby tribes became middlemen, drawing furs from further inland. Montreal was the main base where furs were stored before transshipment to Europe. By the end of the period, trade and exploration had spread to all the Great Lakes and was extending down the Mississippi. Meanwhile, the British maintained posts on Hudson Bay, ignored the interior and waited for Indians to bring furs to them.

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