The Chipewyan are one of the twenty six groups that regional speak Athapaskan.
They occupy the thelands extend from the Hudson Bay, north-center Canada, westward into the very interior of Alaska. The Chipewyan people extend their society across the tundra-forest margins and they can be found north of the Churchill River adjacent to the boreal forests (Brumbach & Jarvenpa, 2006). The districts of the Athabasca country included the Peace River, Slave River, Athabasca River, Mackenzie River system (Parker, 1987). The native people of Upper Churchill were impacted by fur trade even 50 years before the Europeans entered and stared settling in the region. This would be because, the French were frontier the land even before the Europeans even started settling in the region (Brumbach & Jarvenpa, 2006). In 1691, Henry Kelsey, an English man, journeyed inland to bring the natives and their furs down to Hudson Bay (Rich’s article, as cited in Brumbach & Jarvenpa, 2006). He wanted to bring theses natives down to Hudson Bay to introduce them into the trading system in the eighteen century. In 1788, the Fort Chipewyan was established by the English that settled in the region and English began controlled the areas where they settled, Kenney’s literature (as cited in Brumbach & Jarvenpa, 2006). The gentlemen that founded the Fort Chipewyan were named Roberdick Mackenzie (Ibid’s article, as cited in parker, 1987). He chose of site for the Chipewyan fort was for three main reasons: the food supply, the proximity of the water root and prospects for trade (Parker, 1987). It was profitable for the Chipewyan to trade their furs with Fort Chipewyan. Fort Chipewyan is settled on the Lake Athabasca, functioning as a trade post for the natives to trade their furs (Tyrrel’s article, as cited in Parker, 1987). For the Chipewyan people, animal furs were not bountiful to access, because of the environment they lived in forest–tundra transition in, Gillepie; Smith’s literature (as cited in Brumbach & Jarvenpa, 2006). Fort Chipewyan became the heart of a new field abundant in fur; it became a place for distribution and communication for the North West Company (Parker, 1987). The Chipewyan Fort used the furs of the Chipewyan people to drive its success of trade (Davidson, as cited in Parker, 1987). The traders had to learn the ways of the natives in their way of living to have success with their trade. The Chipewyan’s original land was a settlement at Churchvill (Jenness’ article, as cited in Parker, 1987), but the Cree drove them to the barren grounds in the eighteenth century (Morton’s article, as cited in Paker, 1987). The Chipewyan people were nomadic, moved from place to place. They followed enormous herd of caribou during the winter and during they seasonal journey across the barren lands. Soon after the establishment of the Fort Chipewyan the Chipewyan established there homes in the country between the Slave lake and Athabasca Lake. They moved there, because there were a lot of furs bearing animals that they could sell to Fort Chipewyan. The traders looked at the cultural aspects of the Chipewyan society and their way of life. They encouraged the Chipewyan people to go hunting for furs if they were lazy and stayed behind at the camps, and they also observed a weakness in the Chipewyan people to use it t their advantage. They noticed that Chipewyan people were more timid, peaceable nature, when faced with a strong opponent and when faced with a weaker opponent they came across more offensive (Grover’s article, as cited in Parker, 1987). The trading company used a method of numbers, because they found it easier to get furs from the Chipewyan people if they made them timid (MUCU, as cited in Parker, 1987). If there was competition for furs than the company would force the Chipewyan people to trade with them by employing superior members (Parker, 1987). The superiors were the key factor for
