The North West Company
By Andréanne Lamonde
The North West Company
The North West company, founded during the 1783-1784 winters in Montreal, was originally established for the fur trade. In 1760, after the conquest of the Province of Quebec, Britain took possession of a huge and lush territory, with a lot of natural ressources to harness and develop. The main one was, of course, the fur, because of the wide variety of species that were occupating the territory of the province.
Before the Seven Years War, the economy of the New France was mainly based on the fur trade. At the end of the war, in 1763, Britain will invest heavily in this very profitable sector. The only difference with the french Regim was that the exchange products and goods with the Native Americans for fur came from Britain, and not from France.
During the conquest, the Hudson Bay Company, founded in 1670, was dominating the fur trade in the Hudson bay region. The British were also making alliances with the Native Americans, because they knew very well the Great Lakes territory and where to find the best fur.
Unfortunatly for them, after 1760, they had a new competitor. A group of British, Scottish and Montreal Canadians tradespeople extends the trading territory to the North West and establishes trading posts in the Great Lakes region. They found an association in 1779 that became, in 1783, the North West Company.
In the beginning of the 19th century, the North West Company instigated the inside land traffic, and so the competition intensifies with the Hudson Bay Company. Each firm is trying to attract the Native Americans to their own trading posts to have the biggest amount of fur to sail to Europe. Both companies were also installing their trading posts next to each other, to emphase the competition, that will sometimes lead to some very violent conflicts.
During the 19th century, the fur trade importance is declining, and is less profitable, because the beaver population decreases in the Great Lakes region. The companies had to quarry new territories in the Western Canada. They made huge investments to transport their ware and workforce in those distant dominions.
The explorer Alexander Mackenzie, who was working for the North West Company, went exploring Western Canada to find some new sourcing fur, and became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean by land in 1793.
In 1821, Britain government incites the North West Company to consolidate with the Hudson Bay Company. This new company kept the Hudson Bay Company’s name, and obtained fur trade’s monopoly from Eastern Canada to the North West territories.
The Hudson Bay Company sold its 185 old
trading posts to some former employees in 1987. In 1990, this group decided to reestablish the North West Company name. The Northern shops, wich are a subsidiary company of the North West Company, are still trafficking in fur and making some Native Americans typical artefacts. Their head office is situated in Winnipeg in the ancient building that was occupied by the Hudson Bay Company.
Sources : Text https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_du_Nord-Ouest
Québec.Docs Cahier d’apprentissage - 2e cycle 2e année - Cahier d’apprentissage - Jessa Boulette, Sylvain Fortin, Maude Ladouceur, avec la collaboration de Stéphanie Béreau - 2013 Chenelière Éducation inc p.112-113-114
