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Role of Hudson's Bay Company
on the History of Canada

A headstrong adventurer and explorer, Henry Hudson undertook four major expeditions in his lifetime that would guide his followers through the New World. In his search for passage from Europe to the Orient, Hudson inadvertently drew European attention to the vast resources of North America and helped set the stage for a century of exploration. He was born about 1575, died 1611 and credited the European discoverer of Hudson Bay . He is also remembered for the sad end of his last voyage. Most of his crew mutinied against him, leaving Hudson, his son and several other crew members to die in the bay that is now named after him.
Hudson Bay is a large (1.23 million km square), relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota and Minnesota, and the southeastern area of Nunavut. A smaller offshoot of the bay, James Bay, lies to the south. Hudson Bay was listed as part of the Arctic Ocean. On the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait, and on the north with the rest of the Arctic Ocean by Foxe Basin (which is not considered part of the bay) and Fury and Hecla Strait.
The beginning of the fur trade has been around for so long as people have been wearing clothes. Animals were hunted for food, and their pelts (skin of the animals with the fur still on it) worn for protection. By the year 1600, the need for more beaver fur exploded. European beavers were dying out because of over-hunting, and new fashions, like hats, used lots of beaver felt. Which was why the discovery of the North American beaver was like a miracle to hat-makers.
Long before Europeans discovered North America, Aboriginal peoples were trading everything from coppers tools to pottery. But trade really took off after Europeans made...