The Honourable Company: A History Of The Hudson's Bay Company

by Douglas MacKay

First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. xii, 13-396, [6] pages. Cover has some wear and soiling. Bookplate on fep verso. Pencil notation on back of Frontis illustration, which has left a light impression on the title page, Illustrated endpaper. Foreword, Illustrations. Maps. Nineteen chapters. Nine Appendices (including A Selected Bibliography). Index. Key entries from the Index Beaver Skins, Canadian-Pacific Railway, King Charles II, Charter of 1670, Arthur Dobbs, Thomas Douglas, Nicholas Garry, Groseilliers, Henry Kelsey, James Knight, Alexander Mackenzie, North West Company, Pierre Radisson, and George Simpson. The Hudson's Bay Company was a fur trading business for much of its existence. After incorporation by English royal charter in 1670, the company functioned as the de facto government in parts of North America for nearly 200 years until the HBC sold the land it owned (the entire Hudson Bay drainage basin, known as Rupert's Land) to Canada in 1869 as part of the Deed of Surrender, authorized by the Rupert's Land Act 1868. A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay" on 2 May 1670.] The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada. The area was named "Rupert's Land" after Prince Rupert, the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 1,490,900 sq mi, comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-central United States. The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. These posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations in New Netherlands. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the

Genres: History, Nonfiction

383 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970