A coureur des bois or coureur de bois (, runner of the woods; plural: coureurs de bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They ventured into the woods usually to trade various European items for furs and along the way, learned the trades and practices of the Native people who inhabited there. These expeditions were fuelled by the beginning of the Fur Trade in the North American interior. Trade began with coat beaver, but as the market grew coureur de bois were trapping and trading prime beavers to be felted in Europe. The term is often confused with voyageurs who, rather than being unlicensed entrepreneurs were the canoe travel workers for licensed fur traders. The most prominent Coureur de bois were also explorers and gained fame as such.