Transcript Heartland, Hinterland, and the Staple Trade PowerPoint

Heartland, Hinterland, and the Staple
Trade
What do those products have in common?
 How are they important to Nova Scotia?
 What role does each of these items play in its
region’s economy?

STAPLE: a product that dominates an economy’s
exports
STAPLE THESIS: formulated by Harold Innes, it says
that exporting fish, furs, timber, and wheat from
Canada to Europe influenced Canada’s economic,
social and political development
STAPLE THESIS
European expansion and colonization motivated
by desire to export products to enrich the
homeland.
 The production of the products that the homeland
desired shaped economic development and
settlement patterns in the “New World”


HEARTLAND: a region that is the economic center
of a country or empire

HINTERLAND: a region that provides the resources
needed by the heartland
Harold Innes felt that there were three ways for a staple
based economy to develop:
1.
2.
3.
An economy is most successful when in goes beyond
staples into manufacturing based on the same staples.
i.e. from fishing to processing cod liver oil. When the
manufacturing is more important than staple production
the economy has moved beyond staple production.
An economy is moderately successful when it can shift
from the production of one staple to another
An economy is not successful if it continues to rely on
the production of staples, even if it is not enough to
produce adequate income. a.k.a “STAPLES TRAP”
WHERE IS NOVA SCOTIA TODAY?
WHERE IS CANADA TODAY?
MERCANTILISM
Mercantilism: the economic system in place during the
European age of exploration (exploitation)
Acquiring raw materials in colonies, producing manufactured
goods in the home country, and selling them back to the
colonists was seen as the ideal way for a country to
become wealthy.
Its success depended on the value of the staple in the home
country. A resource in high demand and abundant supply,
which required some processing at the colony brought
prosperity to everyone.
THE COD FISHERY

John Cabot was the first documented European to report
on the abundance of cod off of Canada

By 1615, more than 250 English and between 200 and
400 French ships were fishing off of NFLD.
WET FISHING: (aka: green fishing)
 Fish caught in nets, brought aboard, cleaned and filleted,
preserved in large amounts of salt, transported to Europe.
 Used by countries with access to large salt supplies
(France, Portugal, Spain)
DRY FISHING:
Fish cleaned, split, and lightly salted onshore, left to dry
“naturally” on wooden racks
Because fishers had to get off the boat to process the fish,
this practice eventually led to English settlements on the
coast of NFLD.
DRY FISHERY
A 17th century
composite picture
of an English dry
fishery in
Newfoundland
giving a
compressed
version of the
process, including
the landing stage,
cleaning and
splitting
operations, and
the laying-out of
split cod.
ID #10065
Credit: National
Archives of
Canada / C-3686
IMPACT OF COD FISHERY

Epitome of Mercantilism: Fish exploited only for home
country’s benefits

Did little to contribute to European settlement

Cured fish sold in Europe, no need for business to develop
in Canada.

Little need for roads

Food imported from Europe: no reason to develop
agriculture
THE FUR TRADE

By claiming the land around the St. Lawrence River for
France Jacques Cartier acquired access to an important
trade good: FUR

Fur, especially beaver fur, could be obtained cheaply in
Canada and processed and sold in Europe

The fur trade brought European powers into alliance with
Aboriginal peoples.

The European hunger for fur was used by Aboriginal groups
to their own advantage. I.e. Champlain and the Huron
(Wendat) vs. the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee)
Eight beaver hats for Europeans, a
lasting market for Canadian fur. ID
#10082
Credit: National Archives of Canada /
C-17338
Coureur de Bois in typical dress. With a new
style, these Frenchman became involved in
the 1650s in the fur trade and were as much
at home in the bush as the Indians. Woodcut
by Arthur Heming. ID #20061
Credit: Heming, National Archives of Canada,
C5746
Hudson’s Bay Company
Early 19th century photograph of Moose
Factory, Ontario, established in 1671 and
rebuilt in 1730 and remains as one of the
oldest Hudson's Bay trading forts in
Ontario. ID #20384
Acc2210, S1951
A Hudson's Bay Company fur pack. ID
#21676
Credit: National Archives of Canada,
C-4219
Created in 1670 by Royal
Charter
Set up to compete with
French fur traders
After 1763 (the conquest
of New France) HBC began
to dominate the fur trade
1780’s Montreal
merchants set up North
West Company
By 1789, there were 100
North West Company
trading posts
IMPACT OF FUR TRADE

1821, North West and Hudson’s Bay Company merged

Fur Trade created great wealth for those who controlled it

Profits stayed in Europe

Trade goods were manufactured in Europe

Fur Traders were the first Europeans to see North America

Fur Trade was the beginning of business and infrastructure
in North America

Aboriginal peoples initially prospered

Disease, and increased warfare came with close contact
with Europeans

Religious foundations of Aboriginal life attacked by
missionaries

As colonial expansion pushed Aboriginal peoples away
from their traditional lands, their sense of identity was
altered
WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN

England had no forests left

The British depended on timber from the 13 colonies,
Russia, Sweden, and other northern European countries

American Revolution and Napoleonic wars cut these
sources off

By 1811, Canadian timber trade was more important than
the fur trade

Trade helped by PREFERENTIAL TRADE STATUS (1825)
from Britain (Tariffs placed on timber entering Britain from
outside the British empire)
Timber raft on the Ottawa River.
From the 19th century onward,
huge rafts of square hewed
timber were floated down the
Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers
for export to Britain.
ID #20243
Credit: National Archives of
Canada, PA139334
Early photo of sawn lumber at
McLachlin Brothers Lumber
Company, Ontario, with the main
lumber yard in Arnprior shown.
ID #20343
Acc. 3026, S4841
Timber slide, Hull, Lower Canada, carrying timber rafts past the rapids.
In 1806 the first raft of heavy beams was taken down the Ottawa
River by Philemon Wright. Engraving by J.P. Newell (active c.18551878).
ID #20302
Credit: J.P. Newell, National Archives of Canada, C41680
Square-hewing the big timbers in the wilds with the broad-axe.
ID #10228
Credit: Archives of Ontario / Acc.11778-4 / S-16944
THE IMPACT OF THE TIMBER TRADE

Timber trade provided opportunity for secondary industries

Shipbuilding flourished in the Maritimes

Wooden ships eventually replaced by steel
WHEAT

Early 1800’s saw Britain seeking reliable wheat supplies

Preferential Trade Status and the 1820 Corn Laws taxed products from
outside the empire

For the next 20 years, grain and flour production in Upper Canada
flourished
THE IMPACT OF THE WHEAT TRADE

Wheat trade became the foundation of the Upper
Canadian (Ontario) economy

As wheat flourished, population grew, mills were built and
new towns were founded

Roads and Canals were built to get wheat to market

Wheat boom marked the beginning of central Canada as
the economic heartland of British North America
PREFERENTIAL TRADE AND RECIPROCITY

Since 1796, the British had given special trade status to its
empire

English merchants felt this stifled trade with other
countries

Preferential trade status was abandoned in favor of free
trade

Canadian farmers now had to compete with European
farmers on the open market

1854, Britain and the United States negotiated a
RECIPROCITY TREATY, which allowed free trade between
US and GB

Timber, wheat, fish, and coal all experienced a boom as
tariff free trade with the US increased

American Civil War (1861-65) created many shortages
which allowed trade to continue to flourish

When the war was over, these shortages disappeared and
the mood in the US turned against free trade.