HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. An English chartered company. It was incorporated in 1670, by Charles H., who granted to a number of 'adventurers,' with Prince Rupert at their head, the sole right to trade with the native tribes on the shores of Hudson Bay. The company had power to establish laws and impose penalties. to erect forts, maintain ships of war, and "make peace and war with any prince or people not Christian." It started with a capital of about £110,000, and for a long time it maintained its monopoly intact. The progress made was not rapid, and by the middle of the eighteenth cen tury the company had no more than 120 people in its employ; but nevertheless three or four ships were sent out annually with a cargo of coarse English goods. which were sold to natives for furs and skins at rates which brought the pro prietors a handsome profit. Conflicts soon arose with the French. who laid claim to the territory on the ground of an expedition made in 1656 by Jean Bourdon, who, according to Charlevoix. His toire do la Nouvelle France, vol. i. (Paris, 1744), traveled from Quebec to Hudson Bay and took formal possession of the country inclosing James Bay. There is no doubt. however, that the Hud son basin had been visited by English navigators long before 1656. In 16R2 a trading post on the coast was surprised by the French. and in 1686 four more of the company's forts were taken. During the war of 1639-97 the same forts changed hands more than once, and by the terms of the Peace of Ryswick some of them were given to the French. It was not until the Treaty of Utrecht. in 1713, that the latter finally resigned all claims to the Hudson Bay territory. From 1713 to 1763 the company enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous, but far from dazzling. career. It imported annually into England about 30.000 skins, and its dividends were S to 10 per cent. The conquest of New France was the turning point in the company's history. When Canada became English, the vast territory of the Hud son's Bay Company became accessible from the south as well as from the sea. Trade increased
tremendously. and in the next French war ( 177S S3), when its factories were surprised by a French squadron under the company was strong enough to bear a loss of £500.000.
So profitable a monopoly could not be long enjoyed. Not only private trappers. but rival companies, entered the field. on the principle of free and open trade guaranteed to all British subjects in the Declaration of Rights. Such a competitor was the famous Northwest Company, which, after years of strife amounting at times to actual war, was merged (1S21) with its op ponent under the name 'Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay,' for a period of twenty-one years. The territories of the com pany had been gradually extended until they readied to the Arctic on the north and the Pacific on the west. In 1359 the trade monopoly was abolished, but the claims of vested interests and property rights remained unsettled until 184;9, when. in return for an indemnity of i300,0o0. together with a land grant of 7,000,000 acres made by the Dominion Government. the gave up all its ancient privileges. and took its place on a footing with other business corpora tions, retaining. however, its forts or trading sta Lions. The company's influence with the Indians has always been very great, and it has been served by a corps of well-trained agents who still in large measure administer justice and preserve order among the native tribes. Informa tion regarding the Hudson's Bay Company may be found in Cawston and Keane, Early Chartered Companies (Loudon, 1896). Consult also: Bryce, list(»T of the Hudson Bay Company (London, 1900) : Willson, The Great Company (London, 1900) ; Bradley, Fight with Prance for North .:Itincriea (New York, 1901). An account of the Northwest Company is given in Washington Ir•ing's Astoria.