Coureur des bois

A coureur des bois (French pronunciation: ​[kuʁœʁ de bwa]) or coureur de bois (French pronunciation: ​[kuʁœʁ də bwa], runner of the woods; plural: coureurs de bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They ventured into the woods usually to trade various European items for furs, and along the way they learned the trades and practices of the Native people. These expeditions were fuelled by the beginning of the fur trade in the North American interior. Trade began with coat beaver, but as the market grew coureurs de bois were trapping and trading prime beavers to be felted in Europe.