The story continues with chapter two and examines how contact with European settlers brought dramatic change to Northern Manitoba. Rivers and lakes became fur-trading routes from the 17th through 19th centuries. While the Hudson's Bay Company fur trading was the engine driving the economy, the trappers' skill was the fuel on which it ran. The HBC relied heavily on Aboriginal knowledge of land and water and in turn provided a livelihood for many people. The construction of trading posts and stores across the north also changed the way many First Nations lived. Once nomadic, now the people became more settled in loosely defined communities. But they were still able to thrive culturally and spiritually as they continued their traditional resource-based lifestyle.