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sharkjacobs 4 hours ago [-]
It's funny to me, a Canadian,
that this even warrants a did-you-know article because everything about the beaver fur/hat making industry is something I learned extensively about in elementary and high school because it was like, a major driver of the European exploration and colonization and therefore significant to the history of my country.
But outside of here it's just a footnote to a fashion trend.
Rendello 21 minutes ago [-]
In the Canadian bush, you'll run into people still running beaver traplines. From what I hear it's mostly for nuisance control since pelt prices are quite low. When I was talking to trappers, they seemed to imply that the government sets prices and buys them like as a cartel, but I'm not sure what the process is or if I understood correctly.
Indeed, the "beaver as relevant tool as major driver" does actually not exist in schools in EU mainland; the chance is higher you hear about the porks brought by first European-immigrants that they used for food production because of their fast reproduction numbers.
(and porks are easy to deal with, they eat everything; Once I heard someone from crime enforcement saying: "the perfect murdery would be to feed the dead body to a herd of porks because they would even eat the teeth from the body")
We learned about it here in Minnesota, too! But I suppose we are about as close to Canadian as you can get without actually crossing the border.
helterskelter 3 hours ago [-]
Some people speculate that the USA gained control of Oregon country in large part because Canadians/Brits trading in beaver furs had to send all their pelts back to the UK before they could go out to the rest of the world. America just sailed from Boston to the PNW, traded for pelts and went directly to, say, China. Much faster, and cheaper too.
thaumasiotes 3 hours ago [-]
What was stopping the British from taking their pelts directly across the Pacific? It can't have been American control of the region if this is the explanation for how America got control of the region.
Spain certainly wasn't exporting silver from the New World to Europe before shipping it on to China; they shipped it directly there.
Tiktaalik 1 hours ago [-]
That's a good question. The British were definitely engaging in a very, very lucrative trade in sea otter pelts from the NW Coast of British Columbia, trading direct to Macau, and the Boston Men/USA got in on that as well over time.
Plausibly some agency (Hudson Bay company?) had a monopoly on beaver trade and this did not apply to sea otter, or maybe the story isn't quite right or there were other economic reasons why beavers to Asia as a concept wasn't exploited.
CPLX 1 hours ago [-]
I guess it depends on what you call the new world, but for what it's worth that's not quite correct, the main transit point was Manila.
In true pedantic HN fashion I am currently vacationing on the west coast of Mexico and learned this fact yesterday.
Yes, top hats were one (but not the only) use of beaver fur
_whiteCaps_ 2 hours ago [-]
If you're interested in learning more about the ecological impact of beavers, I highly recommend "Three Against The Wilderness" by Eric Collier. He homesteaded in BC in the 1930s-60s and encouraged the re-introduction of beavers after being on the brink of extinction here.
But outside of here it's just a footnote to a fashion trend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapline#Registered_traplines
Indeed, the "beaver as relevant tool as major driver" does actually not exist in schools in EU mainland; the chance is higher you hear about the porks brought by first European-immigrants that they used for food production because of their fast reproduction numbers.
(and porks are easy to deal with, they eat everything; Once I heard someone from crime enforcement saying: "the perfect murdery would be to feed the dead body to a herd of porks because they would even eat the teeth from the body")
https://youtu.be/_Yvmg4wcfzY?is=paeV1wjPaF2c6WZB
Spain certainly wasn't exporting silver from the New World to Europe before shipping it on to China; they shipped it directly there.
Plausibly some agency (Hudson Bay company?) had a monopoly on beaver trade and this did not apply to sea otter, or maybe the story isn't quite right or there were other economic reasons why beavers to Asia as a concept wasn't exploited.
In true pedantic HN fashion I am currently vacationing on the west coast of Mexico and learned this fact yesterday.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_beaver_hat_-_D...
Edit: it's clearer in the seal of the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_New_York_City