Transcript North America 1825

North America 1825
1.) A population explosion
2.) A thriving timber trade
3.) End of competition in the fur trade
Lower Canada
Population Increase
 1806 250,000
 1841 717,000
 Largely population
increased from the high
birth rate amongst the
French speaking of
Lower Canada
 A small influx of British
and Americans also
helped with the
population boom
Upper Canada
Population Increase
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1806 71,000
1841 432,000
Settled by Loyalists
Americans until the War
of 1812
 Settlers from Great
Britain
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Ireland
Scotland
England
Wales
Upper & Lower Canada
The Great Migration
 To start, most came from the
Highlands of Scotland
 After 1815 they came from all parts of the British Isles but
particularly Ireland
Reason
•Changing circumstances in Great Britain
•Population was increasing
•Less land for agriculture
•Technological improvements
•e.g. Spinning and weaving
Great Britain’s Perspective on Emigration
 Positive
 British goods to be consumed
 Raw materials for British factories
Hardships in Crossing the Atlantic
 Poorly maintained ships
 The passage was often stormy
 11-12 weeks till arrival
 People were crowded into
dark unsanitary conditions
below deck
Cholera Outbreak 1832
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Emigrant ships were stopped at Grosse Isle
Quarantine Regulations went into effect
Disease still reached both Quebec and Montreal
Quarantine sheds were established along the St.
Lawrence
The epidemic ended in September
3500 victims in Quebec
2000 in Montreal
Several Hundred in Upper Canada
Thriving Timber Trade
 Trees now came to be used for more than just housing
 1839, wood made up 80% of all goods exported from Upper
and Lower Canada
Most went to Great Britain
 Some went to the United States
 While the ships building industry
of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
used the remains
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The Ship Building Industry
 Nova Scotia built ships for local use
 New Brunswick built ships to export
• British North America supplied more ships to Britain
than any other country
 Square timber, a bulky commodity, had to be shipped in
relatively large vessels, and as Britain could not meet the need
for such ships during wartime, so the shipbuilding industry in
British North America expanded
 Maritime timber merchants found they could keep
transportation costs low if they owned their own vessels.
When the prices for the vessels rose they made additional
profits by selling the vessel as well as the timber cargo.
End of Competition in the Fur Trade
 1821 the HBC and the NWC merged
 This ended the NWC trade route via Montreal
 The majority of all furs were now shipped through
Hudson Bay
George Simpson
 Became the governor of the
newly-restructured Hudson’s Bay company
 Held this position for 40 years, until his death in 1860
 He had jurisdiction over an area that included Hudson Bay,
the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, and the Missouri River
 Introduced strict conservation measures in areas that had
been over trapped, laid off hundreds of redundant employees,
kept salaries down, and closed unnecessary posts.