HUDSONS BAY COMPANY
The Hudson's Bay Company is the one of the oldest merchandising company in the English speaking world, and played a profound role in the development of Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company were the two major fur trading enterprises to open up the wilderness that was later to become the country of Canada.
In 1665, England backed the first trade venture to reach the interior of the North American continent via the Hudson's Bay. In 1668, the first ships were dispatched to the New World, and the company was chartered on May 2, 1670 by the name of the "Governor and Company of Adventurers". The company was given considerable power, and was allowed to be the only company granted the right to trade in what they called "Rupert's Land" - all the land that was traversed by rivers flowing into the Hudson's Bay.
Until 1763, the Hudson's Bay Company struggled in competition with the Montreal based Northwest Company for control of the fur trade of southern Rupert's Land. The North west company employed mostly French Canadian's. It urged its employees to live among the Indians who provided the furs. This racial merging resulted in a people of distinct ethnic identity: the Metis. The Metis language was a combination of French, Cree and several other Indian dialects, and their religion was catholic. A series of naval and land battles took place on the Hudson's and James Bay. The treaty of Utrecht in 1713 acknowledged England's claim to the Hudson Bay, and the Hudson's Bay Company continued to expand its empire, erecting trading posts along major rivers flowing into the Bay, then later expanded inland. In 1821 the London based Hudson's Bay Company absorbed the North West Company, and the British Parliament expanded the company's monopoly rights to include the North West Territories.
Though the companies chief concern was the fur trade, it became increasingly involved in providing government for the settlers in the Red River valley and Vancouver Island, where James Douglas was appointed governor. When a mainland colony of British Columbia was created, Douglas had to give up his HBC commission in order to remain governor. This was the beginning of the HBC removing itself from its colonial responsibilities.
Though no longer the political force it was of the previous century, today the Hudson's Bay Company remains the largest retailer in Canada.
STRUCTURE OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY:
The HBC was organized in a more regimented, military structure than the North West Company was. It had a class structure that was arranged in a military manner. Said James Douglas of the company: "Obedience is the very first and most important of our duties, like the ABC in literature, the groundwork of all our acquisitions and in fact the great principle which all persons entering this service should be taught to revere." (1)
The Hudson's Bay Company was a joint-stock company (a business where the company's capital is owned by its shareholders). Once a year the shareholders would hold a meeting (called a General Court) and elect a governor and a committee to organize fur sales, order goods they could trade, hire men, and arrange for shipping.
GOVERNOR:
A governor was appointed to act on behalf of the shareholders once the company crews reached the bay area. District managers for the various areas of British North America met annually in council meetings presided over by the governor. Governor Sir George Simpson held this post from 1826-60.
CHIEF FACTOR (TRADER):
A chief factor and his group of officers commanded each trading post. The company governor and committee in London would study the company's annual reports; journals kept at the trading posts, and account books given to them by the officials at the Hudson's Bay. From this they would decide all the policies which would be implemented in Rupert's Land by the Chief Factor.
CLERKS:
The Hudson's Bay Company clerks were equivalent to non commissioned officers.
LABORERS AND VOYAGEURS:
The men who worked for the fur trade; conducting trading, fort construction, navigating trade routes.
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