While French settlers had lived and traded alongside Indigenous people since the earliest days of New France, coureurs des bois reached their apex during the second half of the 17th century. After 1681, the independent … See more

Skills
A successful coureur des bois had to possess many skills, including those of businessman and expert canoeist. To survive in the Canadian wilderness, coureurs des bois also had to be competent in a … See more

Most coureurs des bois were primarily or solely fur-trade entrepreneurs and not individually well known. The most prominent coureurs des bois were also explorers and gained fame as such.
Étienne Brûlé was the first European to see the See more

• Brown, Craig, editor. The Illustrated History of Canada. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd., 1987. ISBN 0-88619-147-5.
• Dechêne, L. Habitants and merchants in seventeenth-century Montreal. Montreal, Que: McGill-Queen's University Press, … See more

The role and importance of the coureurs des bois have been exaggerated over the course of history. This figure has achieved mythological status, leading to many false accounts, and to the coureurs des bois being assimilated with "Canadiens" (Canadians). See more

The 1910 Victor Herbert operetta Naughty Marietta featured the male-chorus marching song Tramp Tramp Tramp (Along the … See more

• European colonization of the Americas
• Canadian canoe routes See more