Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

As European merchants realized the potential for profits in the fur trade, they began to organize expeditions to southern New England specifically to obtain valuable pelts. The furs brought back by explorers and fishermen from North America in the 16th century suggested to European merchants the possibility of establishing a lucrative transatlantic fur trade. There was a steady market for American pelts in Europe: not only were the luxurious garments of the rich trimmed with fox, marten, otter and other small furs, but toward the end of the 16th century, broad-brimmed felt hats made from beaver furs became the fashion among the middle class.

European Views of Trade with Natives

They are not delighted in baubles, but in usefull things.
Thomas Morton, 1632

I have only 30 pieces of cloth in colors that are in demand, that is, blues and standard gray; the rest which I have are all red, whereof I can hardly sell a yard, because the Indians say it hinders them in hunting, being visible too far off.
Isaak de Rasieres, 1626

They are marvailous subtle in their Bargaines to save a penny: And very suspicious that English men labour to deceive them: Therefore they will beate all markets and try all places, and runne twenty, yea forty mile, and more, and lodge in the Woods, to save six pence.
Roger Williams, 1643

The Dutch appear to have been the first group to engage in systematic, regular fur trade in southern England, but the French and English participated as well. Realizing the potential for trade in southern New England, Dutch voyager Adriean Block explored Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River Valley in the first decades of the 17th century, trading with Pequots and other local Natives. Meetings aboard ships and on the shoreline eventually gave way to permanent trading posts, so that the exchange could take place even after the ships returned to Europe.

Both Europeans and Natives drove the expansion of the fur trade. As southern New England Natives became more familiar with European goods and more experienced in getting what they wanted, they demanded specific items, especially utilitarian goods such as metal tools, brass kettles, and woolen cloth. They learned how to play one group of traders off another, holding out for the best merchandise – in short, they became accustomed to the European way of doing business.