Europeans realized that they could not conquer in Africa or North America; indeed, oftentimes they were not even secure in their fortified outposts. For the company-states and the other Europeans, their toeholds were generally held on the sufferance of local rulers. Commercial exchanges generally favored Africans and American Indians at least as much as Europeans. European company-states and private merchants alike were dependent on local traders and rulers as both the suppliers of key commodities like furs, slaves, gold, and ivory, but also as discerning and assertive consumers of European goods.