Summary
During the 1770s there was an influx of traders/settlers of British and French origin moving inland. The movement from the east into the interior made the role of middleman in the fur trade obsolete. The increased population put more stress on the local food supply. As such, buffalo meat emerged as a principal trade commodity on the Plains.
Implications
The arrival of non-Indigenous traders into the Athabasca negated the middleman role in the trade to Churchill leaving the Dene, who controlled the middleman role in the northern trade, in a precarious position. The Cree quickly became key producers in the new economy shifting the economic landscape on the Plains.
Date
1770-00-00