How did Montreal become a major centre of the fur trade?

Montreal became a major centre of the fur trade primarily due to its strategic geographic location at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River. This position allowed the city to serve as an ideal entrepôt, providing a natural transportation corridor that connected the Great Lakes and the interior of the North American continent to the east.12

While the city was founded as a missionary settlement in 1642, its importance as a fur-trade hub quickly surpassed that of Quebec city. The waterways radiating from Montreal facilitated movement into the west and north, enabling traders to access a vast interior fur empire. Following the British takeover of New France, the trade was managed by British, Scottish, and American merchants, who relied on the expertise of French Canadian voyageurs to navigate the canoe routes. The establishment of the North West Company in 1783 further solidified Montreal's role, organizing regular canoe convoys to the western plains until the company's merger with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821.123