Greg Evans - Executive Director, Maritime Museum of British Columbia, discussing the role played by the fur trade in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest

The role the fur trade played in the early exploration of the Pacific coast, I think is a rather interesting one. I would think that the Russians probably displayed an interest in the fur trade earlier than say, the Spanish or the English or the other European countries because they had been making great profits off of the sable trade in Siberia and saw North America's coast probably as an extension of their fur trade interest. The Spanish and the English were here originally for other purposes, both were looking for that passage, that shortcut to China and the riches of the far east and when they learned that that was not available to them, I think they then set their sights on other goals and other forms of wealth on the Pacific coast which of course were furs.