French West India Company
Soon after the founding of the Montreal, when the population numbered 8, the Company of One Hundred Associates gave the city's trading rights up to the colonial merchants. The colonial merchants at Montreal formed the "Communaute des Habitants". Both Indians and Coureurs de Bois supplied furs. The company remained profitable until the Iroquois Wars, where it slipped into semi-bankruptcy. In 1664, The Communaute des Habitants" at Montreal was taken over by the French West India Company. The "compagnie de la colonie" (as the French West India Company were referred to) had significant scale of operations and capital. While the Iroquois Wars did limit trade for a time the Natives were still a lot of trade to be had with them. For example, the Island of Montreal did not have a large native population, but 80,000 natives lived within an 800-kilometre radius of Montreal.