Book Description

Excerpt from George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782, Vol. 1: The Indian Trader The mainspring which kept the Indian trade in North America in operation during the eighteenth century was the demand for furs and skins in western Europe. The customs and styles of dress among European nobles and courtiers, ecclesiastical and university officials, and wealthy burghers created the demand for furs; the demand for skins rested chiefly upon the needs of the more humble classes of society. A second great market for furs and skins was in China. Until towards the close of the period under consideration this market only indirectly affected the Indian trade by absorbing the cheaper grade of Russian furs and skins and thus decreasing the supply available for western Europe. By the time of the American Revolution, however, a considerable number of American furs and skins were sent from London to China, either through Russia or in the ships of the East India Company, thus foreshadowing the trading ventures of John Jacob Astor and Stephen Girard. From the earliest days of the Greeks and Romans until the sixteenth century the people of central Asia and western Europe were supplied with furs and skins from the great northern plains of Eurasia. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.