Coureur des bois

Coureur de bois, a woodcut by Arthur Heming (1870–1940)
A coureur des bois in the painting La Vérendrye at the Lake of the Woods, circa 1900–1930

A coureur des bois (French: [kuʁœʁ de bwɑ]; lit. '"runner of the woods"') or coureur de bois (French: [kuʁœʁ də bwɑ]; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by exchanging various European items for furs. Some learned the trades and practices of the indigenous peoples.

These expeditions were part of the beginning of the fur trade in the North American interior. Initially they traded for beaver coats and furs. However, as the market grew, coureurs de bois were trapping and trading prime beavers whose skins were to be felted in Europe.[1]

  1. ^ Daschuk, James (2013). Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life. University of Regina Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-8897-7296-0.