In return, the Huron-Wendat and other First Nations
received goods from Europe. But they also continued
to fall ill from European disease. The French had been
in North America for less than 100 years. In that time,
measles, smallpox, and
influenza had killed
approximately half of
the Aboriginal people in
New France.
Winners and Losers in
the Fur Trade
Long before the French
arrived, beavers and
other mammals had been
important food sources
for First Nations. At first, there were enough beavers to
feed First Nations and satisfy the French desire for fur.
But French traders demanded more and more pelts to
Population Disaster
Today historians still study the
effect of disease on First Nations
communities in New France.
First Nations people did not
have
immunity
from European
diseases. Over time, contact with
European diseases
decimated
the aboriginal population. Some
historians claim they took up to
90 percent of native lives.
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