Negotiating Contact: Examing the Coastal Trade Network of the Labrador Inuit

Summary

Inuit-European contact in Labrador spans many centuries and a vast expanse of rugged coastline. With such broad temporal and geographic parameters, the complexity of this contact is best understood within the framework of long term history. As a European presence gradually increased along the coast, the Inuit responded by establishing a long-distance trade network where European goods were filtered north in exchange for marine mammal products, furs, and feathers. By the 18th century certain families emerge in the archaeological and documentary records as key entrepreneurs in this trade network. This paper looks at the development of this trade network, and presents the archaeological evidence from the dwelling of a known entrepreneur in comparison to other Inuit households along the coast. What emerges from this analysis are the important economic decisions to participate in trade or not, the results of such decisions add to the complexity of Inuit-European contact along the coast

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Labrador Inuit and Europeans, Contact and Long-term Relations   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-66,04