HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. The Hudson's Bay Company resulted from the western explorations of Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart, Sieur de Groseilliers, in the mid-seventeenth century. On trips into Wisconsin and Minnesota country, they learned from Native Americans of a great fur country northwest of Lake Superior that might be reached via Hudson Bay. This idea, linked with one of a probable northwest passage through Hudson Bay, led the Frenchmen to England in the middle 1660s. There they assembled a sort of syndicate of wealthy and influential men that grew into the Hudson's Bay Company, and received its charter on 2 May 1670, as the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay. Under that charter and supplemental charters the company still operates, making it one of the oldest commercial corporations.

Much of the company's effect on the United States sprang from a bitter struggle that raged between it and the North West Company. During the heyday of the fur trade, the company had posts in most parts of what is now Canada and a few forts on U.S. soil, mostly along the boundary line west from Grand Portage. Near the Red River of the North (now Manitoba), Thomas Douglas, fifth Lord Selkirk—one of the North West Company's largest stock owners—had established a colony on company lands in 1811. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company resolved many of their differences by merging in 1821, but Selkirk died in the same year, leaving the company to administer his colony. Members of Selkirk's colony had contributed to the establishment of Fort Saint Anthony (now Fort Snelling) in 1819, and the misfortunes of the colonists continued to lead many of them to emigrate to Fort Snelling, making them some of Minnesota's earliest European settlers. Red River cart traffic with Minnesota settlements, proximity to U.S. soil, and the colonists' discontent with company rule led to annexation hopes and schemes on both the part of the colonists and the United States between 1849 and the final surrender of the company's territories in 1869.

Missionaries provided the second major effect of the Hudson's Bay Company. Operating under the aegis of the company, they not only attempted to convert Native American and mixed-race groups, they also played an important part in the company's expansion into Oregon country. Company men appeared in Oregon in 1821 to carry on the fur trade begun years earlier by the North West Company. Although a joint occupation agreement existed between the United States and Great Britain from 1818 to 1846, Dr. John McLoughlin, the company's chief factor, helped Oregon become American by welcoming American traders, explorers, missionaries, and settlers. The decline of the fur trade and the threat of war were the final factors that convinced Great Britain in 1846 to abandon its claims south of the forty-ninth parallel. The Hudson's Bay Company continues to operate today, albeit without its monopoly of trade, its territory, and administrative rights in the West that were granted under its first charter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MacKay, Douglas. The Honourable Company: A History of the Hudson's Bay Company. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1936.

Newman, Peter C. Company of Adventurers. New York: Viking, 1985.

Rich, E. E., ed. The History of the Hudson's Bay Company 1670–1870. London: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1958–1959.

Grace LeeNute/f. b.

See alsoCorporations ; Fur Companies ; Fur Trade and Trapping ; North West Company .

Hudson's Bay Company English company chartered in 1670 to promote trade in the Hudson Bay region of North America and to seek a Northwest Passage. The Company had a fur trading monopoly and was virtually a sovereign power in the region. Throughout the 18th century, it fought with France for control of the bay. In 1763, France ceded control of Canada to England and the North West Company was formed. Intense rivalry forced the Hudson's Bay Company into a more active role in w exploration, and in 1771 Samuel Hearne proved the lack of a short Northwest Passage out of the Bay. The companies merged in 1821, with the new company controlling a territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific. After the Confederation of Canada (1867), challenges to its monopoly power increased, and in 1869 it was forced to cede all its territory to Canada for £300,000. As the fur trade declined in the early 20th century, the company diversified, and in 1930 was divided up.

Hudson's Bay Company. The company was founded on 2 May 1670 under the patronage of Prince Rupert after a voyage in 1668 had proved that access to the fur trade could be established through Hudson Bay. The company fought the French for control of the bay until 1713. Reliance on native peoples to supply furs (criticized as ‘sleeping by a frozen sea’) was challenged by long-distance competition from Montreal, forcing the company from 1774 to establish posts inland. In 1821, the company absorbed its Montreal rivals. Its territorial rights were sold to the dominion of Canada in 1869, but the company continued to trade.

Ged Martin

Hudson's Bay Company A company chartered in 1670 to Prince RUPERT and 17 others by Charles II to govern and trade in the vast area of the Canadian north-west, called Rupert's Land, which drained into Hudson Bay. Although huge profits accrued from the fur trade, the company was, until 1763, threatened by competition and military attack from the French. From 1787 there was occasionally murderous conflict with the North-West Company over control of the fur trade until the two companies amalgamated in 1821.

Hudson's Bay Company The company was founded on 2 May 1670 under the patronage of Prince Rupert after a voyage in 1668 had proved that access to the fur trade could be established through Hudson Bay. The company fought the French for control of the bay until 1713. Its territorial rights were sold to the dominion of Canada in 1869, but the company continued to trade.