European Colonialism Models:  
Boreal Riverine Empire

Boreal refers to the ecosystems in the northern parts of Northern Hemisphere which have subarctic and continental climates (long, cold, snowy winters; short, hot, humid summers) and tundra and taiga vegetation (stunted larch and birch, aspen; needleleaf evergreen trees, such as pine and spruce; and mosses and lichens) in which fur-bearing animals (minks, muskrats, beaver, fox, bear, etc.) and deer live. The boreal forests comprise 1/3 of the earth's wooded lands. Half of the boreal forest is in Russia, while Canada has 1/3, and Alaska and Scandinavia the rest. Examine this map: dark green=existing forests; brown=under threat from logging, mining, road building, hydro-electric projects [Source: NGS, June 2002]. These forests are less diverse than tropical forests: Canada has 3,270 plant species compared with Indonesia's 29,375. Riverine is the adjective for river.
Trading stations were established initially for profitable fur trading; only much later did the control of land became important in the settler empire phase.
Spatial Patterns: colonies were established along river systems; the larger and longer the rivers the more valuable the empire, e.g., the French control of the St. Lawrence River.
Countries: France, Britain, and Russia only created such empires. The U.S. government continued the fur trade for a short time after they seized control of land from the British.
Officers from the Grenadier Guards parade with their colors during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom. A similar parade occurs in the capital of Canada, Ottawa. How are these two countries related to each other? Notice what the soldiers are wearing on their heads. Photo: © Sergeant Ian Liptrot, HQ London District.

Economics: Private European traders and commercial companies served as agents of national governments  who interacted with local people for only a few goods, essentially furs and hides (from deer). For 300 years (1540s-1840s) beavers were used to make felt hats.
Locations: these empires were established only in the northern parts of North America (what is now Canada, and USA) and in western Russia, including across Serbia and northern Asia and across to Alaska and as far south as northern California.
Local population had little initial contact with the few European traders or soldiers; but missionaries soon arrived gradually transforming Indian cultural practices (religion in part) dramatically. Some racial mixing occurred among the French and Indians, who are called Metes.

 
Source: Canada Atlas
The result: spatially contiguous, rather then fragmented, following riverine systems with largely economically monopolistic economies, rather than competitive economies as the sea empires were.
Option reading: Shepard Krech III, The Ecological Indian: Myth and History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999, Chapter 7, Beaver.

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 111/05/08.