An Epic Tale
HOW A DARING ENDEAVOUR TO LAUNCH A FUR-TRADING COMPANY AT HUDSON BAY CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY IN NORTH AMERICA.
How a daring endeavour to launch a fur-trading company at Hudson Bay shaped the fate of North America.
From a fur-trading empire to a leading global fashion retailer, North America’s oldest company has helped to shape the continent. On May 2, 1670, King Charles II granted Hudson’s Bay Company a Royal Charter to exclusively trade in a region known as Rupert’s Land — an immense area stretching from the Arctic Circle to what’s now southern Minnesota and from Alberta in the west to northern Quebec.
For three and a half centuries, the company has influenced the development and growth of Canada. Its impact on the northwest was particularly profound. HBC’s arrival in the New World forever changed the lives of countless Indigenous peoples, and it also resulted in the creation of the Métis Nation.
On May 2, 2020, the company celebrates 350 years of business. The story of Hudson’s Bay Company is a tale of adventure, innovation, and, most of all, survival, forever entwined with the story of Canada.