ABSTRACT
The literature on the early interactions between North American Aboriginals and Europeans is often dominated by the negative effects the newcomers had on native society. Europeans brought diseases against which the isolated populations had few defences, while in later years, as colonial and later US settlement expanded, conflict and the loss of hunting grounds further reduced their numbers. The earliest interactions between Europeans and the native groups who occupied the northern half of North America had elements that were social, cultural, and religious, but theirs was primarily a commercial relationship. From the isolated exchanges between natives offering pelts to European fishermen, who, in turn, beckoned the same individuals with metal items, there grew a broadly based trade. With the end of Dutch authority on the North American mainland, the European side of the fur trade was carried on exclusively by Britain and France.
