Corporation prominent in Canadian economic and political history.
It was incorporated in England (May 2, 1670) to seek the Northwest Passage to the Pacific, to occupy lands adjacent to Hudson Bay , and to carry on commerce. The lands granted to the company, known as Rupert's Land , extended from Labrador west to the Rocky Mountains and from the headwaters of the Red River on the southern Canadian border north to Chesterfield Inlet on Hudson Bay. The company first engaged in the fur trade and established trading posts around Hudson Bay. By 1783 competitors had formed the North West Co. , and armed clashes continued until the two companies merged in 1821. The company was given exclusive fur-trade rights until 1858, when the monopoly was not renewed and independent companies entered the fur trade. In 1870 the company sold its territories to the government in exchange for £300,000 and mineral rights to lands around the posts and a fertile portion of western Canada. It remained a large fur-collecting and marketing agency until 1991, with extensive real-estate interests and many department stores.