Coureurs de Bois

Coureurs de Bois (French, “woods rangers”), name given to unlicensed traders in Canada during the French regime of the 17th century. The government of New France, in order to control trade, allowed only a few licensed agents to trade in the country. Lured by the desire to explore and to gain wealth, many young men left their families, became trappers, and traded with the indigenous peoples illegally; some married into the tribes. The movement became so general that whole communities in Canada were seriously deprived of male support. Stringent measures to restrain the coureurs de bois were taken without much success by representatives of the French king and the Roman Catholic church. The unlicensed traders, declared outlaws, built palisade forts at Detroit, on the shores of Lake Superior, and at points in western Canada. They played an important role in the development of the fur trade in Canada.