Trade Your Furs or Die

"Trade your Furs or Die" This was not a threat — it was simply Radisson reminding his Native friends that they could die in war or starvation if they did not trade with him, as their neighboring enemies would have the European guns and knives instead. Radisson was the world’s most successful fur trader because no one understood the Natives better than he did. In 1651 he was captured as a child by the Iroquois and became one of them, even becoming a Native warrior. He left us with a fascinating written insight into what it was like to live in the virgin forests of North America in those adventurous times, giving us a frank description of the Natives as they were before any significant contact with Europeans... In 1665, he moved to England. He used his descriptions of his life with the Fiat Nations to persuade the English King Charles II to become more active in North America, and thus changed the course of history on this continent. He used French vocabulary and expressions extensively. Armed with my own knowledge of the French language and of history, I began translating and editing Radisson’s work for my own use. I soon realized that the results should be published, so over the course of several years I translated and rewrote Radisson’s entire story to modern English. Here, for the first time ever is Radisson’s own story, rewritten in modern understandable language. JAMES ROBINSON