Beyond fur trade: The eighteenth century colonial economy of French North America as seen from Fort de Chartres in the Illinois Country

This study challenges the assumption that a fur trade economy structured the colonial empire created by the French in the eighteenth century. Artifact assemblages from Forts de Chartres, Ouiatenon, and Michilimackinac are compared. Fort construction techniques are discussed in reference to the colonial economy and social structure. In addition settlement pattern data from these three forts and from the Fortress of Louisbourg and the settlement of Port Royal in Nova Scotia are compared. Finally, a new model is proposed to explain the variation observed between these settlements.; In this new model, frontier outposts and settlement are seen as part of a system of entrepots. These entrepots are at the center of local economies that can be characterized as either economies of extraction or economies of production. Fur trade, cod fishing, and mining are examples of economies of extraction, whereas farming and animal husbandry are considered economies of production.; The local economic system is reflected in three areas—the artifact assemblage, the architecture of the fort at the center of the entrepot system, and the regional pattern of settlement. Fort de Chartres in the Illinois Country is a classic example of an entrepot in a local economy of production. Forts Michilimackinac and Ouiatenon are examples of entrepots in local economies of extraction. Archaeological data and documentary information supports this conclusion.