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Grade 4 · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 9

The Fur Trade & Natural Resources

Beaver pelts, trading posts and what the land provides

What your child practises

The fur trade connected First Nations, Métis and European traders for hundreds of years. Children learn about beaver pelts, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, Fort Edmonton, pemmican, and Canada's early natural resources such as fish, forests and minerals.

Alberta Curriculum learning outcome: the fur trade and Canada’s natural resources · the fur trade, Indigenous and Métis partners, trading posts, and early natural resources

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why did traders need help from Indigenous people?

    🧭
    • they had no tools
    • they knew no one
    • they knew the land, rivers, animals and routes
    • they could fly
    Show answer

    they knew the land, rivers, animals and routes

    Hint: Indigenous knowledge made the trade possible.

  2. Question 2

    In 1754–55 Anthony Henday travelled for the HBC through what is now…

    🧭
    • Nova Scotia
    • Quebec
    • Newfoundland
    • Alberta
    Show answer

    Alberta

    Hint: He travelled to meet First Nations trading partners.

  3. Question 3

    Fort Edmonton was a fur trade post on which river?

    🏞️
    • the Red River
    • the Peace River
    • the North Saskatchewan River
    • the Fraser River
    Show answer

    the North Saskatchewan River

    Hint: The river was a main route across the Prairies.

  4. Question 4

    Later, silk hats became fashionable. How did that affect the beaver trade?

    🎩
    • it ended in one day
    • demand for beaver fur dropped
    • it increased
    • it did not change
    Show answer

    demand for beaver fur dropped

    Hint: When hats changed, trade changed.

  5. Question 5

    Where does the resource come from? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: 🌲 forests · 🐟 lakes and oceans · ⛏️ the ground

    • 🪙gold
    • 🍁maple syrup
    • ⛏️coal
    • 📄wood for paper
    • 🐟Atlantic cod
    • 🍣Pacific salmon
    Show answer

    🌲 forests: maple syrup, wood for paper · 🐟 lakes and oceans: Atlantic cod, Pacific salmon · ⛏️ the ground: gold, coal

    Hint: Trees give lumber. Lakes and oceans give fish. Mines take minerals from the ground.

  6. Question 6

    Why did Europeans come to the east coast to fish?

    🐟
    • to find gold bars
    • to look for camels
    • to catch cod
    • to catch dinosaurs
    Show answer

    to catch cod

    Hint: The Grand Banks had huge cod stocks.

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