Hudson's Bay Company
Key Points
- Oldest commercial corporation in North America- Formed in 1670 as a private British Company
- Possessed monopoly of Rupert's Land
- Owned the rights of land to all rivers that flowed to the Hudson's Bay
- Used natives to bring furs to posts and forts in exchange of food, alcohol, weaponry, guns etc..
Summary
The Hudsons Bay company is the oldest commercial corporation in North America, and one of the oldest in the world. It controlled the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America
for several centuries. The traders of HBC started their trade with the Natives of North America, often trading European items such as weaponry and Alcohol in exchange for furs, which were used as items of fashion. The Hudson's Bay Company owned the rights of land to all the rivers that flowed to the Hudson's Bay. It therefore owned monopoly of Rupert's land, which was the Hudsons Bay drainage system.