The women discussed in this book were key players in the fur trade through the entire Great Lakes region. Native women would marry French fur traders and bring them to their tribes and they would establish them into their communities. Fur traders who would marry Indian women with a strong kin network often held a strong advantage over their competition. It would plug the traders into some type of hierarchical trade network with the native tribes.

An example of religious kinship in this book is Marie Madeleine, who played a significant role in the tr

Some topics in this essay:
Susan Sleeper-Smith, Joseph River, William Burnett, Sleeper-Smith Catholicism, Marie Madeleine, fur trade, kin networks, fur traders, trade network, tribes example, native women, kin network, marriages played, produce food, interracial marriages,