We’re wrapping up our local history series on the beginnings of the fur trade in our region with the market for Canadian fur in Europe.
Local historian Karen Bachmann says that in the 17th century, the demand was to make elaborate fur hats, of all things.
“The French were first here, Radisson and Groseilliers, which were two French traders who came in through Hudson’s Bay and really got into the fur trading with the Indigenous communities around here,” she says.
When Radisson and Groseillers brought the furs back to France, the government wasn’t interested. Bachmann says they then went to England.
“They cut a deal with Prince Rupert, who was the cousin of (King) Charles II and he bankrolled them with two ships, the Eaglet and the Nonsuch, and they took off in 1668, came back and then they actually got their charter in 1670 as the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, into Hudson’s Bay.”
That’s when the Hudson’s Bay Company was created, established on May 2nd, 1670.
