Who were the coureurs des bois?
Answer
Independent French and Canadien fur traders who travelled into the interior to trade directly with Indigenous peoples, generally without official royal authorisation, from the mid-17th century onward.
Explanation
The coureurs des bois (literally 'runners of the woods') were independent French and Canadien fur traders who travelled into the interior to trade directly with Indigenous peoples, generally without official royal authorisation. The coureurs des bois emerged in the 1660s and continued their independent role until Crown licensing systems and the rise of the canoe voyageur (a salaried employee of the major fur companies) gradually displaced them through the late 17th and 18th centuries.
The coureurs des bois system arose because the fur trade in New France depended on Indigenous middlemen (particularly the Wendat-Huron, Algonquin, and Innu) to bring furs to French trading posts at Tadoussac, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal. When the Iroquois Wars disrupted these trade networks (especially after the 1649 destruction of Wendake), French traders began going into the interior to obtain furs directly. Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers (brother-in-law of Radisson) made famous unauthorised trade voyages into the upper Great Lakes in the 1650s and 1660s. After being fined by the colonial authorities, Radisson and Groseilliers defected to England and helped found the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670.
The colonial authorities treated coureurs des bois ambiguously. The Crown issued congés (trading licences) from 1681 to regulate the trade, restricting the number of legitimate traders to about 25 per year. Royal proclamations periodically condemned coureurs des bois for going into the interior without permits, and the colonial Sovereign Council issued multiple ordinances against them. Yet colonial governors often tolerated or even encouraged the trade because of its economic importance, and many leading Canadian families had members who participated in the trade.
Coureurs des bois adopted Indigenous techniques, including the birchbark canoe, snowshoes, pemmican, and Indigenous languages. Many learned to live for extended periods in the interior, often forming marriages 'à la façon du pays' (in the country way) with Indigenous women. These unions produced the founding generation of the Métis people. By the early 18th century the coureurs des bois had largely been succeeded by salaried voyageurs working for the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales and later the North West Company. The coureur des bois remains an iconic figure of Quebec's frontier identity, commemorated in literature, music, and the Quebec Carnival's Bonhomme Carnaval mascot.
Why this matters for your test
The coureurs des bois shaped the fur trade economy and the cultural mixing that produced the Métis people. Recognising their independent trading role and the link to the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company gives candidates two specific anchors.
Source: Library and Archives Canada; Dictionary of Canadian Biography
