1670Reputable sourceWell documented
The Hudson's Bay Company
On the timeline · around 1670 ·
What happened
On 2 May 1670 King Charles II granted a royal charter to 'the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay.' The company received a trading monopoly over the entire Hudson Bay watershed — a territory called Rupert's Land covering more than a third of modern Canada — together with the power to govern it. It ran the fur trade there for two centuries.
Why it matters
Like the East India Company, the Hudson's Bay Company showed how a chartered corporation could rule a near-continental territory in the crown's name. Its vast lands would become the heart of modern Canada.
Sources
- The Canadian Encyclopedia. Hudson's Bay Company · Reputable source