Frontier Seaport
Detroit’s Transformation into an Atlantic Entrepôt
9780226096704
9780226096841
Frontier Seaport
Detroit’s Transformation into an Atlantic Entrepôt
Detroit’s industrial health has long been crucial to the American economy. Today’s troubles notwithstanding, Detroit has experienced multiple periods of prosperity, particularly in the second half of the eighteenth century, when the city was the center of the thriving fur trade. Its proximity to the West as well as its access to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River positioned this new metropolis at the intersection of the fur-rich frontier and the Atlantic trade routes.
In Frontier Seaport, Catherine Cangany details this seldom-discussed chapter of Detroit’s history. She argues that by the time of the American Revolution, Detroit functioned much like a coastal town as a result of the prosperous fur trade, serving as a critical link in a commercial chain that stretched all the way to Russia and China—thus opening Detroit’s shores for eastern merchants and other transplants. This influx of newcomers brought its own transatlantic networks and fed residents’ desires for popular culture and manufactured merchandise. Detroit began to be both a frontier town and seaport city—a mixed identity, Cangany argues, that hindered it from becoming a thoroughly “American” metropolis.
In Frontier Seaport, Catherine Cangany details this seldom-discussed chapter of Detroit’s history. She argues that by the time of the American Revolution, Detroit functioned much like a coastal town as a result of the prosperous fur trade, serving as a critical link in a commercial chain that stretched all the way to Russia and China—thus opening Detroit’s shores for eastern merchants and other transplants. This influx of newcomers brought its own transatlantic networks and fed residents’ desires for popular culture and manufactured merchandise. Detroit began to be both a frontier town and seaport city—a mixed identity, Cangany argues, that hindered it from becoming a thoroughly “American” metropolis.
288 pages | 19 halftones, 1 map, 2 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2014
American Beginnings, 1500-1900
History: American History, Discoveries and Exploration
Reviews
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: “The Appearance of the Settlement Is Very Smiling”
1. “In Time This City Will Become Conspicuous”: The Development of Non-Fur-Trade Commerce
2. “The Inhabitants Are Well Supplied with Provisions of Every Description”
3. “Altogether Preferable to Shoes”: The Fashioning of Moccasins
4. “Detroit, Politically . . . Remains . . . an Isolated Moral Mass”
5. “Advisable to Improve the Arrangement of the Town”: Rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1805
6. “Sinister Conduct”: The Pervasion of Staples Smuggling
Epilogue: “Exceedingly Well Situated for a Commercial Port”
Notes
Index
Introduction: “The Appearance of the Settlement Is Very Smiling”
1. “In Time This City Will Become Conspicuous”: The Development of Non-Fur-Trade Commerce
2. “The Inhabitants Are Well Supplied with Provisions of Every Description”
3. “Altogether Preferable to Shoes”: The Fashioning of Moccasins
4. “Detroit, Politically . . . Remains . . . an Isolated Moral Mass”
5. “Advisable to Improve the Arrangement of the Town”: Rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1805
6. “Sinister Conduct”: The Pervasion of Staples Smuggling
Epilogue: “Exceedingly Well Situated for a Commercial Port”
Notes
Index
Awards
North American Society for Oceanic History: John Lyman Book Prize
Honorable Mention
Be the first to know
Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!