author
Hudson's Bay Company
A company that helped shape the history of northern North America, it began as a fur-trading venture and grew into one of Canada’s best-known retail names. Its story stretches from a 1670 royal charter through centuries of trade, expansion, and change.
3 Audiobooks
Charter and Supplemental Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company
by Hudson's Bay Company
The Beaver, Vol. 1, No. 05, February, 1921
by Hudson's Bay Company
The Beaver, Vol. 1, No. 10, July, 1921
by Hudson's Bay Company
About the author
Founded on May 2, 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was created by royal charter from King Charles II. For much of its early history, it operated as a fur-trading business centered on the vast territory known as Rupert’s Land, building trading posts and becoming a major force in the commercial and colonial history of what is now Canada.
Over time, the company changed with the country around it. It faced fierce competition in the fur trade, eventually merged with the North West Company in 1821, and later shifted more heavily into retail. In the modern era, many readers came to know Hudson’s Bay less for canoes and trading posts than for department stores, iconic stripes, and its long place in Canadian public life.
The company’s legacy is complicated as well as influential. Histories from major reference works note its deep ties to colonization and Indigenous trade networks, making it an important subject not just in business history but in the broader history of Canada and the British Empire.