The fur trade was a very competitive thing to be apartof. The British and the Dutch were rivals for the fur that was in North America. That being said they didn't actually do the hunting, they would wait for the Indians to bring the furs to the coastal areas or to the established trading posts. This means that the Natives that actually did the hunting, trapping, processing, and transporting benefited. In return they were given valuable trade goods such as firearms, gunpowder and alcohol. This strengthened their relationships with their neighboring peoples. As they made stronger relationships with other people and they secured their role in the fur trade they were better protected from being targeted by the encroaching European colonies. Unfortunately they couldn't have been any better prepared to defend themselves against European disease. Disease, dependence on guns, alcohol and the overall presence of the Europeans decimated the Natives substantially. This resulted in the Native women marrying European traders as that was culturally accepted but they were often abandoned when the men went back to Europe. The fur trade only strengthened the patriarchal dynamic as the women really had no role in the fur process and it was typically a man's job.
The Atlantic slave trade was a huge network that involved many different areas. The slave trade in America was distinct for a few reasons. One of those reasons being the immense amount of traffic between slaves. The European colonial economies had slaveries almost in the center as they were such a big part of how their societies were ran. Another key point was the fact that the status of the slaves was inherited through generations and was almost never shifted.
When North America first leaned about sugar cane, they were quick to realize they couldn't do the intense labor that it required but they wanted the sugar as they had previously relied on honey and fruits as sweetener. This is when they brought in African slaves to do this work. The reason they chose African slaves was because they wee easy to come by, they were skilled farmers, they were pretty much immune to European diseases and they were black. In exchange for slaves, African sellers would ask for both European and Indian textiles, beads, cowrie shells, firearms, tobacco, alcohol and European metal goods. The African slaves that were sold ended up mostly in the Caribbean or Brazil. Besides that, they were in smaller numbers , sold to North America, Spanish America and some in Europe.
Mostly the men were sold as slaves which meant the women were left to take up the intense labor demands in their home country. With the gender ratios being so off, it gave men the option to marry multiple women. But even though it seems like all Africans were hurt in this, the African authorities took advantage of the slave trade for the many commercial opportunities.
It's crazy to think that African authorities didn't protect their own people and gave them away to do intense labor elsewhere. It's was also disappointing to learn that women were left to do the hard labor as men were no longer in the picture. In some places, the status as slaves could be altered at the expense of a culture shift they would be forced to make if they wanted to assimilate. I really liked your analysis on the topic.
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