1. Heartland, Hinterland, and the Staple Trade

2. What do those products have in common?
How are they important to Nova Scotia?
What role does each of these items play in its region’s economy?
STAPLE: a product that dominates an economy’s exports
STAPLE THESIS: formulated by Harold Innes, it says that exporting fish, furs, timber, and wheat from Canada to Europe influenced Canada’s economic, social and political development

3. STAPLE THESIS
European expansion and colonization motivated by desire to export products to enrich the homeland.
The production of the products that the homeland desired shaped economic development and settlement patterns in the “New World”
HEARTLAND: a region that is the economic center of a country or empire
HINTERLAND: a region that provides the resources needed by the heartland

4. Harold Innes felt that there were three ways for a staple based economy to develop:
An economy is most successful when in goes beyond staples into manufacturing based on the same staples. i.e. from fishing to processing cod liver oil. When the manufacturing is more important than staple production the economy has moved beyond staple production.
An economy is moderately successful when it can shift from the production of one staple to another
An economy is not successful if it continues to rely on the production of staples, even if it is not enough to produce adequate income. a.k.a “STAPLES TRAP”
WHERE IS NOVA SCOTIA TODAY?
WHERE IS CANADA TODAY?

5. MERCANTILISM
Mercantilism: the economic system in place during the European age of exploration (exploitation)
Acquiring raw materials in colonies, producing manufactured goods in the home country, and selling them back to the colonists was seen as the ideal way for a country to become wealthy.
Its success depended on the value of the staple in the home country. A resource in high demand and abundant supply, which required some processing at the colony brought prosperity to everyone.

6. THE COD FISHERY
John Cabot was the first documented European to report on the abundance of cod off of Canada
By 1615, more than 250 English and between 200 and 400 French ships were fishing off of NFLD.

7. WET FISHING: (aka: green fishing)
Fish caught in nets, brought aboard, cleaned and filleted, preserved in large amounts of salt, transported to Europe.
Used by countries with access to large salt supplies (France, Portugal, Spain)
DRY FISHING:
Fish cleaned, split, and lightly salted onshore, left to dry “naturally” on wooden racks
Because fishers had to get off the boat to process the fish, this practice eventually led to English settlements on the coast of NFLD.

8. DRY FISHERY
A 17th century composite picture of an English dry fishery in Newfoundland giving a compressed version of the process, including the landing stage, cleaning and splitting operations, and the laying-out of split cod.
ID #10065 Credit: National Archives of Canada / C-3686

9. IMPACT OF COD FISHERY
Epitome of Mercantilism: Fish exploited only for home country’s benefits
Did little to contribute to European settlement
Cured fish sold in Europe, no need for business to develop in Canada.
Little need for roads
Food imported from Europe: no reason to develop agriculture

10. THE FUR TRADE
By claiming the land around the St. Lawrence River for France Jacques Cartier acquired access to an important trade good: FUR
Fur, especially beaver fur, could be obtained cheaply in Canada and processed and sold in Europe
The fur trade brought European powers into alliance with Aboriginal peoples.
The European hunger for fur was used by Aboriginal groups to their own advantage. I.e. Champlain and the Huron (Wendat) vs. the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee)

11. Eight beaver hats for Europeans, a lasting market for Canadian fur
Eight beaver hats for Europeans, a lasting market for Canadian fur. ID #10082 Credit: National Archives of Canada / C-17338
Coureur de Bois in typical dress. With a new style, these Frenchman became involved in the 1650s in the fur trade and were as much at home in the bush as the Indians. Woodcut by Arthur Heming. ID #20061 Credit: Heming, National Archives of Canada, C5746

12. Hudson’s Bay Company
Early 19th century photograph of Moose Factory, Ontario, established in 1671 and rebuilt in 1730 and remains as one of the oldest Hudson's Bay trading forts in Ontario. ID #20384 Acc2210, S1951
A Hudson's Bay Company fur pack. ID #21676 Credit: National Archives of Canada, C-4219

13. Created in 1670 by Royal Charter
Set up to compete with French fur traders
After 1763 (the conquest of New France) HBC began to dominate the fur trade
1780’s Montreal merchants set up North West Company
By 1789, there were 100 North West Company trading posts

14. IMPACT OF FUR TRADE 1821, North West and Hudson’s Bay Company merged
Fur Trade created great wealth for those who controlled it
Profits stayed in Europe
Trade goods were manufactured in Europe
Fur Traders were the first Europeans to see North America
Fur Trade was the beginning of business and infrastructure in North America

15. Aboriginal peoples initially prospered
Disease, and increased warfare came with close contact with Europeans
Religious foundations of Aboriginal life attacked by missionaries
As colonial expansion pushed Aboriginal peoples away from their traditional lands, their sense of identity was altered

16. WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN
England had no forests left
The British depended on timber from the 13 colonies, Russia, Sweden, and other northern European countries
American Revolution and Napoleonic wars cut these sources off
By 1811, Canadian timber trade was more important than the fur trade
Trade helped by PREFERENTIAL TRADE STATUS (1825) from Britain (Tariffs placed on timber entering Britain from outside the British empire)

17. Timber raft on the Ottawa River
Timber raft on the Ottawa River. From the 19th century onward, huge rafts of square hewed timber were floated down the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers for export to Britain.
ID #20243 Credit: National Archives of Canada, PA139334
Early photo of sawn lumber at McLachlin Brothers Lumber Company, Ontario, with the main lumber yard in Arnprior shown.
ID #20343 Acc. 3026, S4841

18. Timber slide, Hull, Lower Canada, carrying timber rafts past the rapids. In 1806 the first raft of heavy beams was taken down the Ottawa River by Philemon Wright. Engraving by J.P. Newell (active c ).
ID #20302 Credit: J.P. Newell, National Archives of Canada, C41680

19. Square-hewing the big timbers in the wilds with the broad-axe.
ID #10228 Credit: Archives of Ontario / Acc / S-16944

20. THE IMPACT OF THE TIMBER TRADE
Timber trade provided opportunity for secondary industries
Shipbuilding flourished in the Maritimes
Wooden ships eventually replaced by steel

21. WHEAT Early 1800’s saw Britain seeking reliable wheat supplies
Preferential Trade Status and the 1820 Corn Laws taxed products from outside the empire
For the next 20 years, grain and flour production in Upper Canada flourished

22. THE IMPACT OF THE WHEAT TRADE
Wheat trade became the foundation of the Upper Canadian (Ontario) economy
As wheat flourished, population grew, mills were built and new towns were founded
Roads and Canals were built to get wheat to market
Wheat boom marked the beginning of central Canada as the economic heartland of British North America

23. PREFERENTIAL TRADE AND RECIPROCITY
Since 1796, the British had given special trade status to its empire
English merchants felt this stifled trade with other countries
Preferential trade status was abandoned in favor of free trade
Canadian farmers now had to compete with European farmers on the open market

24. 1854, Britain and the United States negotiated a RECIPROCITY TREATY, which allowed free trade between US and GB
Timber, wheat, fish, and coal all experienced a boom as tariff free trade with the US increased
American Civil War ( ) created many shortages which allowed trade to continue to flourish
When the war was over, these shortages disappeared and the mood in the US turned against free trade.