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Hudson's Bay Company

an English company, established for carrying on the fur-trade, to which Charles II. in 1670 granted a charter, empowering it to trade exclusively with the aborigines in and about Hudson Bay. Prince Rupert was at the head of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as the fur-trade was then very lucrative, the association soon rose to prosperity. In the winter of 1783, a new company, calling itself the Northwest Fur Company, was established at Montreal, and actively opposed the Hudson's Bay Company. The Earl of Selkirk was then at the head of the old company, and conceived the plan of establishing a colony on the Red river of Lake Winnipeg. The Northwest Company was jealous of this movement; and a war broke out between the servants of the two companies. The companies HUDSON BAY TERRITORY wearied of the strife at last, and united under the name of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company. The new company established factories and settlements in various parts. The monopoly of this company ceased in 1859.