Editing New France (section)

===Coureurs des bois and voyageurs===
[[File:Arrival of Radisson in an Indian camp 1660 Charles William Jefferys.jpg|thumb|The arrival of [[Pierre-Esprit Radisson|Radisson]] in an [[Amerindian]] camp in 1660]]
The [[coureurs des bois]] were responsible for starting the flow of trade from [[Montreal]], carrying [[France|French]] goods into upper territories while indigenous people were bringing down their [[furs]]. The coureurs traveled with intermediate trading tribes, and found that they were anxious to prevent French access to the more distant fur-hunting tribes. Still, the coureurs kept thrusting outwards using the [[Ottawa River]] as their initial step upon the journey and keeping Montreal as their starting point.<ref name="Rich, E. E. 1966"/> The Ottawa River was significant because it offered a route that was practical for Europeans, by taking the traders northward out of the territory dominated by the [[Iroquois]]. It was for this reason that Montreal and the Ottawa River was a central location of indigenous warfare and rivalry.

Montreal faced difficulties by having too many coureurs out in the woods. The furs coming down were causing an oversupply on the markets of [[Europe]]. This challenged the coureurs trade because they so easily evaded controls, monopolies, and taxation, and additionally because the coureurs trade was held to debauch both French and various indigenous groups. The coureur debauched Frenchmen by accustoming them to fully live with indigenous, and indigenous by trading on their desire for alcohol.<ref name="Rich, E. E. 1966"/>

The issues caused a great rift in the [[colony]], and in 1678, it was confirmed by a General Assembly that the trade was to be made in public so as to better assure the safety of the indigenous population. It was also forbidden to take spirits inland to trade with indigenous groups. However, these restrictions on the coureurs, for a variety of reasons, never worked. The [[fur trade]] remained dependent on spirits, and increasingly in the hands of the coureurs who journeyed north in search of furs.<ref name="Rich, E. E. 1966"/>

As time passed, the Coureurs des bois were partially replaced by licensed fur trading endeavors, and the main canoe travel workers of those endeavors were called [[voyageurs]].