Prof. Eccles makes the point that the Canadian frontier is conceptionally different from the American frontier. The American frontier was a geographical concept, the line where settlement gave way to wilderness. The Canadian frontier, by contrast, was a series of settled islands in a sea of wilderness at which civilization "did business" with native cultures.

One test of a good historical book is whether it changes the reader's view of history. This one passes that test. I had always viewed the competition between the French, British and Indians in North America as being based on basic nationalistic and tribal rivalries. Prof. Eccles explains the rivalry in terms of an economic competition over the fur trade. The roles of the Indians was to supply the furs. The locations of the trade shifted over time between the eastern settlements, western trading posts and in Indian villages at which traders visited. Traders competed in goods offered, while tribes competed, at times by war, to control access to traders and their goods. Middleman profits were often at stake.

The economy of New France is contrasted with that of the British colonies. The economy of the British colonies was largely based on farming while the economy of New France was, primarily, extractive, based on the fur trade and, to a lesser extent, fishing. Farming in New France was, initially, merely to supply the settlers. As population increased and the fur trade declined, New France evolved from a trading to an agricultural colony.

The trading pattern of New France determined land use practices as well as relations with the Indian tribes. I had always thought of low populations of New France as a reflection of the unwillingness of the French to migrate to North America. From this book I learned that low population density was indispensable to a fur trade based economy.

Like the Spanish to the West, and unlike the English to the south, evangelization was a major part of the interaction on the Canadian Frontier. Much of the exploration and development was instituted or accompanied by missionaries.

Over time, the Canadian Frontier was changed by tribal wars which determined the access of each tribe to western traders and their wares. Although Indians are often portrayed as victims of white aggression, the truth is that they acquired a dependency on European goods which contributed to their own downfall.

The military aspects of the North American wars are interesting in that they relate the relative contributions of the Regular forces, the militia and the Indians. Another of my conceptions which was changed by this book was that the outcome of the French and Indian war was dictated by the colonial population imbalance. Prof. Eccles makes the case that the fighting qualities of the French militia made them dominant over the English militias and that it was only the skills of the British regulars against the bungling of the French regulars which won the war for Britain.

Ultimately, the world in which the Canadian Frontier arose and prospered changed and the Frontier disappeared. The French and Indian War restricted the numbers of voyagers to a handful. The vision of the French habitants changed from that of an open continent in which to trade for furs, to a river valley in which to farm and sell their produce. The leadership of the fur trade changed from French entrepreneurs to British businessmen. The British, who fought to wrest the Ohio Valley from the French, tried to close it to their own colonists. Ultimately, the colonials who fought to take the Ohio Valley from the French took it from the British with French aid. The Indians who had tried to play one power against the other, found that, in contributing to the downfall of the French regime, they had traded a benevolent, cooperative colonial power for one which would take their land and destroy their culture.

Professor Eccles has told the early history of much of our continent with insight and a skilled writing style. The supporting notes and bibliography guide the reader to sources for further research and reading. "The Canadian Frontier" is a must for anyone with an interest in the history of New France.
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The Canadian Frontier   March 27, 2000
 27 out of 28 found this review helpful

W. J. Eccles did a phenomenal job in covering the history of New France. I was expecting a dry history. I didn't get one. What I got was a story of men and a few women.

This book is a facinating account of the settlement of Canada under the French. For a history book, it was hard to put down. Eccles brought the problems of starting and maintaining a colony to life. He presents historical figures like Frontenac and La Salle as real people who made real mistakes without excuses or whitewashing.

I would recommend this book to anyone doing any type of research into New France.