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1670 – Founding of Hudson’s Bay Company

The founding of Canada’s oldest company in 1670, the Hudson’s Bay Company, was rooted in the fur trade.

In the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans scrambled for a share of North America’s natural wealth. English, French and Dutch frontiersmen vied for territory and bounty in the New World. French traders Médart Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers and Pierre Radisson spent years travelling into the vast interior west of the shores of Hudson’s Bay in search of furs. They repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to persuade the government of Louis XIV to take an interest in this promising hinterland.

Undaunted by their lack of backing, in 1659 they set off into the region, returning to Québec the following year with about 100 canoes overflowing with furs. However, they had not been issued a license to trade furs before departing. As a result, French colonial authorities seized their canoes and furs, and fined them for breaking the law.

As a result of this treatment, de Groseilliers and Radisson decided to try their luck with the English. In 1665, they received an invitation to meet King Charles II. The English king decided to support their pursuit of furs: they were a precious commodity in this mercantilist era. Departing for North America in 1668, they returned to England in 1669 loaded with a cargo of prize beaver pelts. The success of this expedition prompted Prince Rupert to appeal to the King for a charter. On May 6, 1670, a charter was granted to the “Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay,” thus creating the Hudson’s Bay Company. This charter gave them exclusive control of all the land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson’s Bay. Of course, Europeans had little idea how vast that territory was—about 4 million square kilometers—and would not for some time.

But the charter granted the Hudson’s Bay Company a trading monopoly in this region and bestowed upon them sovereignty rights to the region. The company had the authority to establish and enforce laws, to erect forts and to enter into agreements with the aboriginal people they met. The company was, in effect, a commercial fiefdom, protected by the British Crown but in all other respects an autonomous power.

The Hudson’s Bay Company built several forts and posts around James Bay and Hudson’s Bay. Aboriginal people brought their furs to these locations and bartered for manufactured goods such as cooking utensils, needles and blankets. The company had a commercial advantage over its rivals being on the doorstep of the trade. Being a monopoly, the fur business generated enormous profits.

But as time went by, competition increased and the Hudson’s Bay Company began to explore further west for new sources of fur. In 1820, the Hudson’s Bay Company merged with its largest rival, the North West Company, starting a pattern of growth through acquisition it would continue in its later history.

The land holdings of the company at one time were so vast that it controlled most of what is now Western Canada. This continued until 1870, when the company signed an agreement, the Deed of Surrender, transferring control of almost all its land to the British Crown. The British Crown in turn transferred control of these lands to the newly formed Dominion of Canada. The provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta would eventually be carved out of Hudson’s Bay Company lands.

The Deed of Surrender marks the beginning of the Hudson’s Bay Company as a modern company. No longer was the fur trade its sole line of business. It began to provide supplies to the farmers, settlers and developers in Canada to build new settlements. The Hudson’s Bay Company’s development foreshadowed the fundamental east-west thrust of Canada’s nationhood. Its corporate structure also made it a template for the modern Canadian company: it had a head office, departments, personnel recruitment and a corporate strategy.

Today the Hudson’s Bay Company is still going strong. Now based in Toronto, through the years it has adapted to an ever-changing business climate. From fur trading, the company has diversified into resource development, retailing and real estate. It operates over 500 stores, employing 70,000 associates across the country. Through growth and acquisition, the Hudson’s Bay Company has transformed itself over its 330-year history from a fur-trading organization into Canada's oldest corporation and largest department store.

Links

Our History
Source: Hudson’s Bay Company
http://www.hbc.com/hbcheritage/history/

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives
Source: Government of Manitoba
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/

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