American Fur Company

The American Fur Company (AFC) is founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States.

During the eighteenth century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America had become a major supplier.

Several British companies, most notably the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, are eventual competitors against Astor and capitalize on the lucrative trade in furs.

Astor capitalizes on anti-British sentiments and his commercial strategies to become one of the first trusts in American business and a major competitor to the British commercial dominance in North American fur trade.

Expanding into many former British fur-trapping regions and trade routes, the company grows to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and becomse one of the largest and wealthiest businesses in the country.

Astor plans for several companies to function across the Great Lakes, the Great Plains and the Oregon Country to gain control of the North American fur trade.

Comparatively inexpensive manufactured goods are to be shipped to commercial stations for trade with various Indigenous nations for fur pelts.

The sizable number of furs collected are then brought to the port of Guangzhou, as pelts are in high demand in the Qing Empire.

Chinese products are in turn be purchased for resale throughout Europe and the United States.

A beneficial agreement with the Russian-American Company is also planned through the regular supply of provisions for posts in Russian America.

This is planned in part to prevent the rival Montreal based North West Company (NWC) to gain a presence along the Pacific Coast, a prospect neither Russian colonial authorities or Astor favor.

Demand for furs in Europe begins to decline during the early nineteenth century, leading to the stagnation of the fur trade by the mid-nineteenth century.

Astor leaves his company in 1830, the company declares bankruptcy in 1842, and the American Fur Company ultimately ceases trading in 1847.

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