The Hudson’s Bay Company

During The Canadian Fur Trade

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As hard as one may try, it is indeed difficult to overlook the impact that The

Hudson’s Bay Company has had in this world. Founded on May 2nd 1670, it is not only

one of the oldest surviving companies to this date, but also, in my opinion, the most

impressive. The Company was erected not with the intention of obtaining copper and

other minerals like other chartered companies at the time, but with the sole intention of

securing the trade in furs to themselves, with as little competition as possible. Soon upon

their arrival in The New World, with the vast amounts of terrain available and the skill of

the First Natives, their goal was achieved. The Hudson’s Bay Company became a

monopoly in the fur trade industry.

The discovery of new lands led to the colonization of these new lands which

eventually led to trade between these untouched lands and the motherland. All of this

activity occurred only because of the chartered companies. A chartered company is

essentially the combined efforts and funding of the government and investors to create a

multinational corporation with the sole purpose of exploring new lands and taking full

advantage of the unused resources these lands have to offer. The 16th and 17th centuries

saw a race of these chartered companies trying to discover uninhabited land.

The Fur Trade unquestionably helped establish The Hudson’s Bay Company’s

reputation. If it were not for the success the Company had achieved as a significant trader

in fur, than perhaps the Company would never have had the power, influence, or the

money to diversify itself into other trading markets.

To guarantee it’s permanent position into the New World, the Company first had

to establish its mark onto the land. It was essential for “the Company to take active
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measures in establishing forts in the interior”1. The Company immediately set upon on

acquiring forts and posts to call as their own. Between the years 1672 and 1675, the

Company had already created several posts; all located strategically near a body of water,

which were usually the best fur-producing regions since beavers resided there. Moose

River, Rupert River, and James Bay were the locations where the initial posts were

formed.2 One of the other main intentions of setting up these posts, were to inform the

First Natives that English goods were available in exchange for fur3. These new

settlements were a way of giving the First Natives the choice to choose English goods as

opposed to the French goods. The French nation had landed and secured its trading

position long before the Company had, furthermore giving the Company an extra motive

to explore and accumulate as much property and power as it can in order to overcome any

disputes that the French may cause.

The acquisition of land was not the only thing on the Company’s agenda; When

the Company first started out, its goal was to be the main supplier of fur, in order to

achieve this they first had to eliminate any competition and secondly, they had to

guarantee that it would be only The Hudson’s Bay Company and no other to trade with

the First Natives on territories that the Company had conferred4. Eliminating the

competition was easy when you owned and controlled majority of the land and fur trade,

however the only worthy rival the Company has ever faced was of course the French

Revillon Frères. The competition between these two companies lasted for more than forty
1
Harold A. Innis, Fur Trade In Canada (The Murray Printing Company, Forge Village,
Maa, 1964), pp 151
2
Alan Cooke and Clive Holland, The Exploration of Northern Canada (Toronto: The
Arctic History Press, 1978), pp34
3
E.E Rich, The Fur Trade and The Northwest to 1857 (Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart Limited, 1967), pp36-37
4
Ibid
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years and it only ended when Revillon Frères went bankrupt around 17235, thus

reinforcing The Hudson’s Bay Company’s title as a monopoly.

Usually if a competitor wanted to cause a hindrance in the Company’s growth, it

would interfere directly with the First Natives. In order to prevent this, the Company set

out to establish a unique working relationship with the First Natives. Contrary to the

American and French way of entering the First Native reservations to get fur, the English

depended on the First Natives to come to their posts themselves and sell their fur. There

was no invasion of privacy, no force used, and above all a certain degree of respect was

maintained. This rare reverence for the First Natives encouraged them to consider trading

with the English rather than the French. One would normally assume that when such a

relationship occurs, the English would normally want to take advantage of the Natives

and perhaps introduce them to agriculture or education.6 Unfortunately, such was not the

case. The Company firmly believed that the First Natives use was to only hunt the

beavers and get the fur. The only reason they were needed was for trade. It has been

pointed out that the terms of trade may not have been as fair as they should have been,

“but being exploited was not as bad as being shot”7.

5
Peter C. Newman, Merchant Princes (Viking Adult, 1992), pp208
6
George Bryce, The Remarkable History of The Hudson's Bay Company (London:
Gilbert and Rivington, 1900), pp429
7
Peter C. Newman, Merchant Princes (Viking Adult, 1992).
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The Company’s operation in the Fur trade brought England new lands, unused

resources and a bit of national pride by destroying the French fur traders, but it also

brought more capital and another source of income. However, despite the advantages, the

Fur trade made the First Natives entirely dependent on the Europeans, and once The

Company gave up its territorial claims and sold it to the newly formed Canadian

Government in 18698, the burden to support the Natives fell entirely on this new

government. With the incessant exploration and land distributing, resources were

constantly being used, and some were just being unnecessarily used. The Europeans

thought themselves to be a lot superior to the Natives and as a result they enforced rules

and laws that would obviously place the First Natives in a humiliating state of perpetually

being “inferior” to the Europeans for as long as the Europeans had rule over what was

first their land. And even when the Fur trade diminished and land was returned to them,

and a new government was formed, the laws of inferiority still applied to them.

From 1670 up until 1869, The Hudson’s Bay Company held the world at its will.

They were an unstoppable force, a power to recognize. They promoted exploration and

colonization, governed an unbelievable amount of land, eliminated competition with the

confidence only they can possess, but most importantly of all, they survived.

8
Charles W. McCain, History of the Hudson's Bay Co's SS. Beaver (Vancouver, B.C.:
Evans & Hastings, Printers, 1894), pp13
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Bibliography

Bryce George. The Remarkable History of The Hudson's Bay Company. London:
Gilbert and Rivington, 1900

Cooke, Alan, and Clive Holland. The Exploration of Northern Canada. Toronto: The
Arctic History Press, 1978

Innis A. Harold. Fur Trade In Canada. The Murray Printing Company, Forge Village,
Maa, 1964

McCain, W. Charles. History of the Hudson's Bay Co's SS. Beaver. Vancouver, B.C.:
Evans & Hastings, Printers, 1894

Newman C. Peter. Merchant Princes. Viking Adult, 1992

Rich E.E. The Fur Trade and The Northwest to 1857. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart
Limited, 1967