In precontact Canada Amerindian societies were predominantly agrarian and hunter-gatherers. The two economies facilitated extensive trade routes and military alliances that were readily penetrated by European imperial rivals with the introduction of the fur trade.

Although neither Europeans or Amerindians needed lessons in the waging of armed conflict against an enemy, precontact hostilities were largely limited to blood feuds, which resulted in relatively few casualties when compared to European conventional warfare. Trade and alliances with European nations brought access to wealth and firearms that increased hostilities among Amerindian nations to unprecedented levels due to competition for furs and threats to sovereignty.

Trade in Furs and European Imperial Rivalries

Speculation that the Iroquois may have committed genocide against the Huron, who...