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The voyageurs were French Canadian indentured servants who engaged in the transporting of furs by canoe during the fur trade years. ''Voyageur'' is a French word, meaning "traveler". The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (Canada and the upper Midwest of the United States) and times (primarily in the 18th and early 19th centuries) where transportation of materials was mainly over much longer distances. This major and challenging task of the fur trading business was done by canoe and largely by French Canadians. The term in its fur trade context also applied, at a lesser extent, to other fur trading activities.〔''The Coureur de Bois'' Chronicles of America http://www.chroniclesofamerica.com/french/voyageurs_to_the_back_country.htm Retrieved August 2011〕 Being a voyageur also included being a part of a licensed, organized effort, one of the distinctions that set them apart from the ''coureurs des bois''. Additionally, they were set apart from engagés,〔''Population: Social Groups'' Virtual Museum of New France http://www.historymuseum.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/population/social-groups/ Retrieved February 2015〕 who were much smaller merchants and general laborers. Mostly immigrants, engagés were men who were obliged to go anywhere and do anything their masters told them as long as their indentureship was still in place. Until their contract expired, engagés were at the full servitude of their master, which was most often a voyageur.〔Louise Dechêne, ''Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal'', Montreal: 1992, p. 27〕 Less than fifty percent of engagés whose contracts ended chose to remain in New France (either because the others returned to France or because they died while working and never had a chance to leave).〔Louise Dechêne, ''Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal'', Montreal: 1992, pp. 34-35〕 The voyageurs were regarded as legendary, especially in French Canada.〔http://www.whiteoak.org/learning/voyageur.shtml 〕 They were heroes celebrated in folklore and music. For reasons of promised celebrity status and wealth, this position was very coveted. James H. Baker was once told by an unnamed retired voyageur: I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with any man I ever saw. I have been twenty-four years a canoe man, and forty-one years in service; no portage was ever too long for me, fifty songs could I sing. I have saved the lives of ten voyageurs, have had twelve wives and six running dogs. I spent all of my money in pleasure. Were I young again, I would spend my life the same way over. There is no life so happy as a voyageur's life! 〔''Lake Superior'' by James H. Baker, Minnesota Historical Collections, 3:342〕〔 Despite the fame surrounding the voyageur, their life was one of toil and not nearly as glorious as folk tales make it out to be. For example, they had to be able to carry two bundles of fur over portage. Some carried up to four or five, and there is a report of a voyageur carrying seven for half of a mile.〔Mike Hillman, "La Bonga: The Greatest Voyageur" Boundary Waters Journal Magazine, Summer 2010 Issue, pp 20–25〕 Hernias were common and frequently caused death.〔 Most voyageurs would start working when they were twenty two and they would continue working until they were in their sixties. They never made enough money to consider an early retirement from what was a physically grueling lifestyle.〔Louise Dechêne, ''Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal'', Montreal: 1992, p. 122〕 ==History== Europeans mainly traded alongside the coast of North America with Native Americans. The early fur trade with Native Americans, which developed alongside the coasts of North America, was not limited to the beaver. Beavers were not particularly valued and people preferred “fancy fur” or “fur that is used with or on the pelt”. The fur trade was viewed as secondary to fishing during this era.〔Harold Adam Innis, ''The Fur Trade in Canada'', pg.9-12〕 The earliest North American fur trading did not include long distance transportation of the furs after they were obtained by trade with the First Nations; it started with trading near settlements or along the coast or waterways accessible by ship.〔 Soon, coureurs des bois achieved business advantages by travelling deeper into the wilderness and trading there. By 1681, the King of France decided to control the traders by publishing an edict that banned fur and pelt trading in New France.〔http://www.champlain2004.org/html/09/0924_e.html〕 Also, as the trading process moved deeper into the wilderness, transportation of the furs (and the products to be traded for furs) became a larger part of the fur trading business process. The authorities began a process of issuing permits (''フランス語:congés''). Those travellers associated with the canoe transportation part of the licensed endeavor became known as voyageurs, a term which literally means "traveler" in French. The fur trade was thus controlled by a small number of Montreal merchants. New France also began a policy of expansion in an attempt to dominate the trade. French influence extended west, north, and south. Forts and trading posts were built with the help of explorers and traders. Treaties were negotiated with native groups, and fur trading became very profitable and organized. The system became complex, and the voyageurs, many of whom had been independent traders, slowly became hired laborers.〔''The Canadian Frontier 1534–1760'' by W.J. Eccles University of Toronto ISBN 0-8263-0705-1 Published by University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque 1983 (revised addition) Original edition 1969, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.〕 By the late 1600s, a trade route through and beyond the Great lakes had been opened.〔 The Hudson's Bay Company opened in 1670.〔 The North West Company opened in 1784, exploring as far west and north as Lake Athabasca.〔 The American Fur Company, owned and operated by John Jacob Astor was founded in 1808. This company, by 1830, grew to monopolize and control the North American fur industry. In the late 1700s, demand in Europe grew substantially for marten, otter, lynx, mink and especially beaver furs, expanding the trade, and adding thousands to the ranks of voyageurs.〔 From the beginning of the fur trade in the 1680s until the late 1870s, the voyageurs were the blue-collar workers of the Montreal fur trade. At their height in the 1810s, they numbered as many as three thousand.〔Carolyn Podruchny, ''Making the Voyageur World : Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2006), p.4〕 For the most part, voyageurs were the crews hired to man the canoes that carried trade goods and supplies to trading locations where they were exchanged for furs, and "rendezvous posts" (example: Grand Portage).〔Nute, Grace Lee.''The Voyageur''. Copyright 1931 by D. Appelton and Company First reprinting Minnesota Historical Society 1955, ISBN 978-0-87351-213-8 or 0-87351-213-8〕〔''The Voyageurs Highway'' Nute, Grace Lee. Minnesota Historical Society June, 1941 Standard Book Number 87351-006-2, Library of Congress Card Number 65-63529〕〔 They then transported the furs back to Lachine near Montreal, and later also to points on the route to Hudson Bay. Some voyageurs stayed in the back country over the winter and transported the trade goods from the posts to farther-away French outposts. These men were known as the ''フランス語:hivernants'' (winterers). They also helped negotiate trade in native villages. In the spring they would carry furs from these remote outposts back to the rendezvous posts. Voyageurs also served as guides for explorers (such as Pierre La Vérendrye). The majority of these canoe men were French Canadian; they were usually from Island of Montreal or seigneuries and parishes along or near the St. Lawrence River; many others were from France. Voyageurs were mostly illiterate and therefore did not leave many written documents. The only known document left behind for posterity by a voyageur was penned by John Mongle who belonged to the parish of Maskinonge. He most likely used the services of a clerk to send letters to his wife. These chronicle his voyages into mainland territories in quest of furs.〔Carolyn Podruchny, ''Making the Voyageur World : Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2006), p.6〕 There were three major influences that molded the lives of voyageurs. Firstly, their background of French-Canadian heritage as farmers featured prominently in their jobs as voyageurs. The latter was seen as a temporary means of earning additional income to support their families and expand their farms.〔Carolyn Podruchny, ''Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2006), p.12〕 Most voyageurs were born in New France. However, fur trading was not an everyday experience for most of the colonial population. Roughly two thirds of the population did not have any involvement in the fur trade.〔Louise Dechêne, ''Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal'', Montreal: 1992, p. 120〕 The second influence came from the Native communities. By experiencing the same conditions as the Natives and interacting with them, the voyageurs learned that using the same clothing and tools as them, they could make the most of their environment. Although this influence worked both ways; the Natives coveted certain objects which they received in trade with the voyageurs.〔Carolyn Podruchny, ''Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2006), p.13〕 The final influence was the social structure of the voyageurs life. Since this group included only men, it embodied masculinity itself. These men engaged in activities such as gambling, drinking, fighting; interests which were reserved for men of this trade.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Voyageurs」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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