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{{Short description|Canadian retail business group and former fur trading business}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2012}} | |||
{{about|the holding company|the department store chain|Hudson's Bay (department store)|other uses|Hudson's Bay}} | |||
{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2020}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} | |||
{{Infobox company | {{Infobox company | ||
|name = Hudson's Bay Company<br /> |
| name = Hudson's Bay Company<br />{{small|{{lang|fr|Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson}}}} | ||
|logo = |
| logo = Hudson's Bay Company Official Logo 2013.svg | ||
| type = ] | |||
|type = ]<ref>"." ] Retrieved on 25 October 2012.</ref> | |||
| industry = ] | |||
|traded_as = {{TSX|HBC}} | |||
| founded = {{start date and age|df=yes|2 May 1670}}<br />], England | |||
|foundation = 2 May 1670 | |||
| location = {{plainlist| | |||
|owner = ] | |||
* 401 Bay Street<br />], Ontario, M5H 2Y4<ref name=HBCHQ>{{cite web|url= https://www.hbc.com/contact-us/|title=HBC Corporate Headquarters|publisher=Hudson's Bay Company|access-date=July 4, 2024}}</ref> | |||
|parent = ] | |||
* 225 ]<br />], New York 10281 | |||
|Chartion = London, England 2 May 1670 | |||
}} | |||
|location = ]<br>], ], Canada | |||
| key_people = ]<br /> (governor, executive chairman and CEO) | |||
|key_people = ],<ref></ref> Governor & CEO<br>], Vice Chairman<ref name="HBC Press Release">{{cite news|title=HBC Press Release|url=http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-1ETYKL/0x0x671433/1a6f854e-4481-4fe8-95d6-7ded76567f8f/HBC_News_2013_6_18_General_Releases.pdf|accessdate=20 August 2013|date=18 June 2013}}</ref> <br> ], President of ]<ref name="HBC Press Release"/><ref name="Hudson's Bay Co. Fetes Liz Rodbell">{{cite web | url=http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/all-for-liz-7417354?src=nl/mornReport/20140207 | title=Hudson's Bay Co. Fetes Liz Rodbell | publisher=WWD | date=7 February 2014 | accessdate=7 February 2014 | author=Palmieri, Jean E.}}</ref> | |||
| revenue = {{increase}} {{CAD|9.4 billion}} (2018) | |||
|num_employees = | |||
| profit = {{decrease}} {{CAD|-631 million}} (2018) | |||
|divisions = ]<br />]<br />]<br />] | |||
| owner = ] (48%) | |||
|revenue = $7.0 billion ] ({{loss}} $59.7 million ] 2009) | |||
| num_employees = 30,000 (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www3.hbc.com/hbc/about-us/ |title=Our Company |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=26 October 2020 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030075055/http://www3.hbc.com/hbc/about-us/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
|homepage = | |||
| divisions = {{plain list| | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
}} | |||
| homepage = {{official URL}} | |||
}} | }} | ||
] of Hudson's Bay Company: ''Argent, a | |||
cross gules between four ]s passant ]''. ]: ''On a ] a squirrel sejant proper''. ]: ''Two bucks proper''. Latin ]: ''pro pelle cutem'' ("skin for leather")<ref>Cassell's Latin Dictionary. The two different Latin words for skin or leather must be translated accordingly in English by the use of two different words of roughly the same meaning, denoting an exchange</ref> apparently a play on ], 2:4: ''Pellem pro pelle''<ref>Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1986 (Latin Vulgate Bible)</ref> "skin for skin".<ref>As translated in King James Bible</ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>]] | |||
The '''Hudson's Bay Company''' ('''HBC'''; {{langx|fr|Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson}}) is a Canadian ] of ]s, and the largest and oldest corporation in Canada. {{As of|2024|12}}, HBC has a Canadian division responsible for the namesake ] department stores (colloquially The Bay; {{lang|fr|La Baie}} in French), and an American division (]) that includes the full-line luxury stores ], ], and ]; the off-price department stores Neiman Marcus Last Call and ]; and the home furnishings website ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaw |first=Hollie |date=6 March 2013 |title=The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years |work=] |url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/06/the-bay-gets-a-new-logo-for-first-time-in-almost-50-years/ |access-date=20 August 2013}}</ref> It also owns or manages approximately {{convert|40|e6ft2|e6m2|order=flip|abbr=off}} of gross leasable real estate through its HBC Properties and Investments business unit.<ref name="PYMNTS">{{cite news |title=HBC Introduces Development Division To Optimize Real Estate |url=https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2020/hbc-introduces-development-division-to-optimize-real-estate/ |publisher=PYMNTS.com |date=21 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="Retail Insider:Hudson's Bay Company announces">{{cite news |last1=Patterson |first1=Craig |title=Hudson's Bay Company Announces Division to Redevelop Real Estate Assets |url=https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2020/10/hudsons-bay-company-announces-division-to-redevelop-real-estate-assets/ |publisher=Retail Insider |date=20 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="Daily Hive:Hudson's Bay Launches">{{cite news |last1=Chan |first1=Kenneth |title=Hudson's Bay launches new real estate division to redevelop its stores |url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/hbc-properties-and-investments-streetworks-development |publisher=Daily Hive |date=21 October 2020}}</ref> | |||
The '''Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)''' ({{lang-fr|link=no|Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson}}), commonly referred to as "The Bay" ("La Baie" in French<ref>{{cite news|last=Shaw|first=Hollie|title=The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years|url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/06/the-bay-gets-a-new-logo-for-first-time-in-almost-50-years/|accessdate=20 August 2013|newspaper=Financial Post|date=6 March 2013}}</ref>), is a ] ] business group. A ] business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada and the United States, including ], ], ], ] and three ] liquidation stores. The company's head office is in the ] in ], ],<ref>"." Hudson's Bay Company. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.</ref> and is owned by the New York-based firm ]. | |||
After incorporation by English ] in 1670, the company was granted a right of "sole trade and commerce" over an expansive area of land known as ], comprising much of the ].<ref name=charter/> This right effectively gave the company a ] over that area. The HBC functioned as the ''de facto'' government in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of the ],<ref name="charter">{{Cite web |title=The Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007100328/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter |archive-date=7 October 2015 |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> authorized by the ]. At its peak, the company controlled the ] throughout much of the English- and later ]. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to fine ] in a small number of sales shops (as opposed to ]s) across Canada.<ref name="HBC Heritage">{{Cite web |title=Our History: Overview |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/overview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001212555/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/overview |archive-date=1 October 2015 |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today.<ref name=":2" /> | |||
The company was incorporated by ] ] in 1670 as '''The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay''' and functioned as the ''de facto'' government in parts of North America before European states and later the United States laid claim to some of those territories. It was at one time the largest landowner in the world, with the area of the ], known as ], having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at ] on ], the company controlled ] throughout much of the English and later British controlled North America for several centuries. Undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged early relationships with many groups of ]. Its network of ] formed the nucleus for later official authority in many areas of ] and the United States. In the late 19th century, with the signing of the Deed of Surrender, its vast territory became the largest component in the newly formed Dominion of Canada, in which the company was the largest private landowner. | |||
In 2006, ], an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired by ], which also owned the upmarket American department store ].<ref name=GT-DEX-2008-19/> From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC, ], which was dissolved in early 2012.<ref name="Hudson's Bay Trading Company dissolved" /> HBC's U.S. headquarters are in ], New York City,<ref name=HBCHQ/> while its Canadian headquarters are in ].<ref name=HBCHQ/> The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in the ], were sold by the end of 2019. The company was listed on the ] under the symbol "HBC.TO" until ] and a group of shareholders took the company private in March 2020.<ref name="Quartz:Saks is turning its back">{{cite news |last1=Bain |first1=Marc |title=Saks is turning its back on department stores |url=https://qz.com/1980578/saks-sees-a-future-for-online-fashion-separate-from-its-stores/ |publisher=Quartz |date=5 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="WWD:Saks Off 5th Splits">{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Evan |title=Saks Off 5th Splits E-commerce and Retail |url=https://wwd.com/business-news/mergers-acquisitions/saks-off-5th-richard-baker-paige-thomas-insight-hbc-1234853229/ |publisher=WWD |date=21 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Bloomberg:Saks Off 5th will become">{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Adam |title=Saks Off 5th Will Become $1 Billion Standalone Online Business |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-21/saks-off-5th-s-online-business-will-become-1-billion-standalone |publisher=Bloomberg |date=21 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="CNBC:Saks Fifth Ave owner spins">{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Lauren |title=Saks Fifth Avenue owner spins e-commerce site into separate business |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/saks-fifth-avenue-owner-spins-e-commerce-site-into-separate-business.html |publisher=CNBC |date=5 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="RetailDive:With $200M">{{cite news |last1=Howland |first1=Daphne |title=With $200M from private equity, Saks Off 5th online will go it alone |url=https://www.retaildive.com/news/with-200m-from-private-equity-saks-off-5th-online-will-go-it-alone/602219/ |publisher=RetailDive |date=22 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="CTV News: Hudson's Bay splitting">{{cite news |title=Hudson's Bay splitting stores from online marketplace to create two businesses |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/hudson-s-bay-splitting-stores-from-online-marketplace-to-create-two-businesses-1.5544453 |publisher=CTV News |date=12 August 2021}}</ref><ref name=SaksToAcquireNeimanMarcus>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/04/saks-fifth-avenue-parent-hbc-to-acquire-neiman-marcus-group.html|title=Saks Fifth Avenue parent HBC to acquire Neiman Marcus Group in $2.65 billion deal|author=Alex Herring|publisher=]|date=July 4, 2024|access-date=July 4, 2024}}</ref> | |||
With the decline of the fur trade, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling vital goods to settlers and prospectors in the Canadian West who "quickly introduced a new type of client to the HBC - one that shopped with cash and not with skins"; the retail era had begun as the HBC began establishing retail stores across cities in the prairies.<ref name="HBC Heritage">{{cite web|title=Our History: Overview|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/overview}}</ref> With the sale of its Northern Stores and Fur Sales Departments in 1987, the HBC completely removed itself from the fur trade.<ref>{{cite book|last=Newman|first=Peter C.|title=Company of Adventurers Vol. III|page=443}}</ref> | |||
The ] (HBCA), a collection of the company's many records and maps, are located in ], Manitoba. Along with company records, the HBCA also manages collections of private records which includes the records of "related and/or subsidiary companies and individuals."<ref>{{cite web|title=Homepage|url=http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/|publisher=HBCA|accessdate=20 August 2013}}</ref> The HBCA is a division of the ]. | |||
In July 2008, the company, after a series of change of ownership, was eventually acquired by the American private equity firm, ], which also owned department store chain Lord & Taylor.<ref name=GT-DEX-2008-19/> From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC, ], which was dissolved on 23 January 2012.<ref name="Hudson’s Bay Trading Company dissolved"/> Since 2012, The HBC directly oversees the operations of Lord & Taylor in the United States in addition to its Canadian subsidiaries Hudson's Bay (formerly The Bay) and Home Outfitters.<ref name="Hudson’s Bay Trading Company dissolved"/> On 29 July 2013, the HBC announced a friendly takeover of ], operator of the ] department store chain, which was completed on November 3, 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23491574|title=Saks snapped up by Canada's Hudson's Bay in $2.9bn deal|accessdate=29 July 2013 |publisher=BBC News|date=29 July 2013}}</ref><ref></ref> | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
{{Refimprove section|date=June 2009}} | |||
===17th century=== | ===17th century=== | ||
] |
], an area that encompasses the drainage basin of the ]]] | ||
For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based in ], operated a ''de facto'' ] in the North American ]. Two ] traders, ] and ] (Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from the ] that the best fur country lay north and west of ], and that there was a "frozen sea" still further north.<ref name="Newman 64">{{harvnb |Newman |1985 |page= }}</ref> Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According to ], "concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from the ], the French governor", ] (in office 1658–61), "refused to grant the ] permission to scout the distant territory".<ref name="Newman 64" /> Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government.<ref name="Radisson">{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Explorers: Radisson and des Groseilliers |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/radisson.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016215139/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/radisson.asp |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of |
Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants in ] to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into ] in ]. Boston-based English commissioner ] learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing.<ref name="Newman 64" /> Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of the ]. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship of ]. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king – ].{{sfn|Newman|1985|page= 65}} In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, the ] and the ''Eaglet'', to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on the ''Nonsuch'', commanded by Captain ], while the ''Eaglet'' was commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port at ], England, but the ''Eaglet'' was forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland.<ref name=Radisson/>{{sfn|Rich|1958|pages= 36, 38, 42}} | ||
The ''Nonsuch'' continued to ], the southern portion of Hudson Bay where its explorers founded the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fort |
The ''Nonsuch'' continued to ], the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fort<ref>{{Cite web |title=1668: Des Groseilliers aboard the 12-metre ship Nonsuch travels to James Bay |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/content/timeline |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage – Timeline |archive-date=1 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001221218/http://hbcheritage.ca/content/timeline |url-status=dead }}</ref> at the mouth of the ]. It later became known as "Rupert House", and developed as the community of present-day ], Quebec. Both the ] and the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69, ''Nonsuch'' returned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay.<ref name=Radisson/> The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay.{{sfn|Rich|1958|pages = 38, 42}} | ||
{{anchor|Hudson's Bay Company Act 1689}} | |||
] of Hudson Bay, the company's grant.]] | |||
{{Infobox UK legislation | |||
| short_title = Hudson's Bay Company Act 1689 | |||
'''The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay''' was incorporated on 2 May 1670, with a royal charter from King Charles II.<ref></ref> The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern Canada. The area was called Rupert's Land after Prince Rupert, the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This region, the drainage basin of Hudson Bay, constitutes {{convert|1.5|e6sqmi}}, comprises over one-third the area of modern day Canada and stretches into the north central United States. The specific boundaries were unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually be Canada's largest land purchase in the 1800s. | |||
| type = Act | |||
| parliament = Parliament of England | |||
| long_title = An Act for confirming to the Governor and Company trading to Hudson's Bay, their Privileges and Trade. | |||
| year = 1689 | |||
| citation = ] c. ''15'' | |||
| introduced_commons = | |||
| introduced_lords = | |||
| territorial_extent = | |||
| royal_assent = 20 May 1690 | |||
| commencement = | |||
| expiry_date = | |||
| repeal_date = | |||
| amends = | |||
| replaces = | |||
| amendments = | |||
| repealing_legislation = | |||
| related_legislation = | |||
| status = | |||
| legislation_history = | |||
| theyworkforyou = | |||
| millbankhansard = | |||
| original_text = | |||
| revised_text = | |||
| use_new_UK-LEG = | |||
| UK-LEG_title = | |||
| collapsed = yes | |||
}} | |||
] in London, 1671]] | |||
The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House (1668, southeast), ] (1673, south) and ] (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper: ] (1689), York Factory (1684) and ] (1717). Inland posts ] until 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway systems of the ] and ] rivers. Called "factories" (because the "]," i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent did business from there), these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur trading operations in ]s. | |||
A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay" on 2 May 1670.<ref name=charter/> The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named "]"<ref>{{Cite web |year=2015 |orig-year=1670 |title=Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter |access-date=3 December 2020 |website=HBC Heritage |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007100328/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter |archive-date=7 October 2015 |quote= the said Land be from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our Plantations or Colonies in America, called Rupert's Land.}}</ref> after Prince Rupert,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faxMAAAAMAAJ |title=Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature |publisher=Rivingtons |edition=2nd |location=London |publication-date=1898 |page=240 |chapter=Rupert's land |year=1898 |quote=Rupert's Land, an immense territory on ], south-west of Hudson's Bay, was discovered in 1668 by Captain ], and named after Prince Rupert, the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, constituted in 1670 by Charles II, who granted Rupert's Land to Prince Rupert and other noblemen.|author-link=Isaac Taylor (priest) |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> | |||
the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans {{convert|3861400|km2|sqmi}},<ref name="atlas">{{Cite web |year=1985 |title=Canada Drainage Basins |url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/water/mcr4055 |access-date=24 November 2010 |website=The National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition |publisher=Natural Resources Canada |archive-date=4 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304184849/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/water/mcr4055 |url-status=dead }}</ref> comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-central ]. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land ] in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rupert's Land |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ruperts-land/ |access-date=3 May 2017 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada}}</ref> | |||
The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House<ref>{{Cite web |last=Voorhis |first=Ernest |year=1930 |title=Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French Regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies |url=http://www.enhaut.ca/voor1/voorhis.html#f488 |access-date=24 April 2016 |website=enhaut.ca/voor1 |publisher=Government of Canada}}</ref> (1668, southeast), ]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ernest |first=Voorhis |date=24 April 2016 |title=Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French Regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies |url=http://www.enhaut.ca/voor1/voorhis.html#f368 |access-date=24 April 2016 |website=enhaut.ca/voor1 |publisher=Government of Canada (orig.)}}</ref> (1673, south) and Fort Albany,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Voorhis |first=Ernest |year=1930 |title=Historic Forts of the French Regime and of the English Trading Companies |url=http://www.enhaut.ca/voor1/voorhis.html#f8 |access-date=24 April 2016 |website=enhaut.ca/voor1 |publisher=Government of Canada}}</ref> Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper: ] (1685),<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Christianson |first=David J. |date=1980 |title=New Severn or Nieu Savanne: The Identification of an Early Hudson Bay Fur Trade Post |type=Master's thesis |publisher=McMaster University |pages=16, 28 |url=https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/10364/1/fulltext.pdf}}</ref> ] (1684), and ] (1717). Inland posts ] until 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of the ] and ] rivers. Originally called "factories" because the ], i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations in ]. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the "]" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: "the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hbc Heritage {{!}} The Standard of Trade |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/standardtrade |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416172949/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/standardtrade |archive-date=16 April 2016 |access-date=24 April 2016 |website=hbcheritage.ca}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
During the fall and winter, ] men and European ] accomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled by ] and on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and the ]. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized "Trading Ceremony" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Business: Fur Trade: Trading Ceremony at York Factory, 1780s |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/tradingceremony |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313232933/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/tradingceremony |archive-date=13 March 2016 |publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Business: Fur Trade: Standard of Trade |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/standardtrade |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416172949/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/standardtrade |archive-date=16 April 2016 |publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
The early coastal factory model contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region. In March 1686 |
The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent a ] under the ] more than {{convert|1300|km|abbr= on}} to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointed ], who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt to ] failed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and France ], and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBC ]; d'Iberville ] in 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.<ref name="Company of Adventurers">{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |title=Company of Adventurers |date=1986 |publisher=Penguin Books Canada |isbn=978-0140067200 |edition=New |location=Markham, Ont.}}</ref>{{rp|151–158}} | ||
] by French forces in 1694]] | |||
In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in the ] (5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany again ] during ] but was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. See ].<ref name="Company of Adventurers" />{{rp|160–164}} | |||
===18th century=== | ===18th century=== | ||
With the ending of the ] in 1697, and the ] in 1713 with the signing of the ], France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.{{Sfn|Newman|1985|page=352}} (The ] had been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707). | |||
] | |||
After the treaty, the HBC built ], a stone ] at the mouth of the nearby ].<ref name="Company of Adventurers" />{{rp|202–206}}In 1782, during the ], a French squadron under ] ] York Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.<ref name="Company of Adventurers" />{{rp|366–371}} | |||
], {{circa|1850}}]] | |||
In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called ]s, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for over 60% of the trade.<ref>{{cite news|title=Canadian Museum of Civilization Display}}</ref> The number of ] stripes (aka points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes is related to its value in beaver pelts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hbc.com/hbcheritage/history/blanket/history/ |title=Hudson's Bay Company website |publisher=Hbc.com |accessdate=28 February 2011}}</ref> | |||
In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Canadian Museum of Civilization Display}}</ref> The number of ] stripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: The Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket: FAQs |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/faq/pointblanketfaq/default#1 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=5 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005233044/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/faq/pointblanketfaq/default#1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by the ] over India during roughly the same period. |
A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by the ] over India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major competitor.{{sfn|Rich|1958|pages=38, 42, 491}} | ||
Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established by ] in 1774 |
Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established by ] in 1774 with ].<ref name="DNB_Hearne">{{cite DNB |wstitle=Hearne, Samuel |last=Chichester |first=Henry Manners |author-link=Henry Manners Chichester |volume=25 |page=335}}</ref><ref name="Hearne">{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Explorers: Samuel Hearne |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/samuelhearne.asp |access-date=14 November 2007 |website=Hudson's Bay Company |archive-date=9 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109220909/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/samuelhearne.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> | ||
Conversely, a number of inland HBC "houses" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not "finished" until 1768.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Henley House |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613084/1/2/12?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref> Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a "New Discovery" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Richmond |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613105/1/1/20?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref> Additional inland posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brunswick House post journals |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613139/1/1/7?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. New Brunswick |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613139/1/3/56?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Gloucester House |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613154/1/2/11?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Upper Hudson House |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613165/1/16/1578?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Lower Hudson House |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613165/1/17/1579?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref> These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Mesackamee |url=https://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/121613196/1/1?RECLIST&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company. Sturgeon Lake (Ont.) |url=http://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/121613212/1/1/17?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTHORITY_WEB_INT |website=Archives of Manitoba |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |access-date=10 September 2021}}</ref> | |||
In 1779, the ] (NWC) was founded in ] as a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the first joint stock company in Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.<ref>{{cite book|last=Newman|first=Peter C.|title=Company of Adventurers, Vol. 1|page=354|url=http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/nwc/toolbar_1.htm}}</ref> By 1784, the NWC had begun to have a serious impact on the HBC's profits.<ref>{{cite web|last=HBC Heritage|title=Our History: Acquisitions: Fur Trade: The North West Company|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/furtrade/nwc.asp}}</ref> | |||
In 1779, other traders founded the ] (NWC) in ] as a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the first ] in Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.{{sfn|Newman|1985|page=354}} By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Acquisitions: Fur Trade: The North West Company |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/furtrade/nwc.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113095508/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/furtrade/nwc.asp |archive-date=13 January 2016}}</ref> | |||
===19th century=== | ===19th century=== | ||
], a violent confrontation between HBC and the ] during the ]]] | |||
In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. A total of 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.<ref></ref> Their combined territory was extended by a licence to the ], which reached to the ] in the north and, with the creation of the ] in the ], to the ] in the west. The NWC's regional headquarters at ] (Fort Astoria) was relocated to ], which became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope. | |||
The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the small ] in 1816. The ] on 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute.<ref>Lyle Dick, "The Seven Oaks Incident and the Construction of a Historical Tradition, 1816 to 1970." ''Journal of the Canadian Historical Association/Revue de la Société historique du Canada'' 2.1 (1991): 91–113. </ref> In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early Trading Networks |url=http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/themes.aspx?id=earlytrade&sub=earlytrade_east_hudsons&lang=En |access-date=6 October 2015 |publisher=Canadian Geographic magazine |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007150457/http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/themes.aspx?id=earlytrade&sub=earlytrade_east_hudsons&lang=En |url-status=dead }}</ref> Their combined territory was extended by a licence to the ], which reached to the ] in the north and, with the creation of the ] in the ], to the ] in the west. The NWC's regional headquarters at ] (Fort Astoria) was relocated to ] by 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.<ref name="Caesars of the Wilderness">{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |title=Caesars of the wilderness |date=1988 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0140086300 |location=Markham, Ont.}}</ref>{{rp|369–370}} | |||
Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management of Sir ] (1826–1860), the company had a corps of commissioned officers, 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the profits of the company during the monopoly years. Its trade covered {{convert|7,770,000|km2|abbr=on}}, and it had 1,500 contract employees.<ref name=galbraith>{{cite book |last=Galbraith |first=John S. |title=Hudson's Bay Company As an Imperial Factor 1821–1869 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1957 |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles}}</ref>{{Rp|8–23}} | |||
Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management of ] (1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered {{convert|7770000|km2|abbr=on}}, and it had 1,500 contract employees.{{sfn|Galbraith |1957 |pp=}} | |||
The progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the profits of the company. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the profits or the losses of the company. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720.<ref name=Morton>{{cite book |last=Morton |first=Arthur S |coauthors=(Lewis G Thomas) |title=A History of the Canadian West to 1870–71 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1973 |origyear=1939 |location=Toronto |edition=2nd ed |isbn=0-8020-4033-0}}</ref>{{Rp|690}} | |||
] | |||
Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its own ]. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in the ].<ref>Ryan, Michael H. (2022), Paper Money of a 'Peculiar Character': The Notes of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1820–1870, https://ssrn.com/author=1846992. Retrieved 6 December 2022. McCullough, A.B. (1996). Money and Exchange in Canada to 1900. Dundurn. pp. 230–232. {{ISBN|978-1-5548-8228-1}}. Retrieved 6 October 2015.</ref> | |||
====Competition and exploration==== | |||
], ]1884.]] | |||
Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair and ] (Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by the ] to ],{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=60–72}} a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled the ] on the Northwest Coast until the 1830s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=James R. |url={{google books||plainurl=yes|page=60}} |title=Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-7735-2028-8 |location=Montreal, Quebec |pages=60–61 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> | |||
Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on the ].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zeller |first=Suzanne |date=1 Jul 2006 |title=Humboldt and the Habitability of Canada's Great Northwest |journal=Geographical Review |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=382–398 |doi=10.1111/j.1931-0846.2006.tb00257.x |bibcode=2006GeoRv..96..382Z |s2cid=159102947 }}</ref> Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through the ], but company policy, enforced via Chief Factor ] of the company's ], was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.<ref name="Caesars of the Wilderness" />{{rp|370}} | |||
Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century there was competition from James Sinclair and ] (Dermott), independent traders in the ]. They shipped furs by the ] to ]<ref name=galbraith/>{{Rp|60–72}} a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled the ] on the Northwest Coast until the 1830s.<ref>{{cite book |last= Gibson |first= James R. | title= Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841 |year= 1992 |publisher= McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn= 0-7735-2028-7 |pages=60–61}}</ref> | |||
====Additional early presence in present-day United States==== | |||
Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the ], based at the company headquarters at ] on the ]. Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through the ], company policy, enforced via Chief Factor ] of the company's ], was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region. It established ] in 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the American ], {{convert|483|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of the ], where the outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. | |||
Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites: ], ] and ]. ] located further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825. | |||
] | |||
The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by the ], led by ]. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into the ]. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the ]; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the ] in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would be settlers as company director, then welcomed them from his general store at ] and was later proclaimed the "Father of ]". The company retains no presence today in what is now the United States portion of the Pacific Northwest. | |||
] was established in 1832 in present-day southern ] after the ] had been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State of ], resulting in ] a few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites. | |||
During the 1820s and 1830s, HBC trappers were deeply involved in the early exploration and development of ]. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as the ], into Northern California as far south as the ] where the company operated a trading post at ] (San Francisco). These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory.<!--selection of examples would be useful; Peter Skene Ogden, Samuel Black, others of the lesser known but important HBC explorers--> | |||
The HBC established ] in 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the American ], {{convert|483|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of the ]. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail.<ref name="Mackie">{{Cite book |last=Mackie |first=Richard Somerset |title=Trading beyond the mountains : the British fur trade on the Pacific ; 1793–1843 |date=1998 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-0613-8 |edition=Repr |location=Vancouver |pages=106–107}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its own ]. The notes, denominated in ], were printed in London and issued at the York Factory, ] and the Red River Colony. | |||
HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development of ]. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as the ], into Northern California as far south as the ], where the company operated a trading post at ] (]). The southern-most camp of the company was ], east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city of ]. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser known ] and ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 September 2019 |title=T.W. Paterson column: Peter Skene Ogden the latest victim of map mending |url=https://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/t-w-paterson-column-peter-skene-ogden-the-latest-victim-of-map-mending/ |access-date=17 December 2020 |website=BC Local News |language=en-US |archive-date=16 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916011255/https://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/t-w-paterson-column-peter-skene-ogden-the-latest-victim-of-map-mending/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maloney |first=Alice B. |date=March 1936 |title=] |work=]}}</ref> | |||
The ] Trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly. Sayer, a ] trapper and trader, was accused of the illegal trading of furs. The Court of ] brought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led by ] gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, Judge ] did not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, ''Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!'' ("Trade is free! Trade is free!"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. | |||
The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now the ]), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859.<ref>Spoehr, A. "A 19th Century Chapter in Hawaii's maritime history" ''Hawaiian Journal of History'' 1988 (vol 22)</ref> | |||
Another factor was the findings of the ] of 1857 to 1860, led by Captain ]. Although he recommended against settlement of the region the report sparked a debate. That ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement. In 1863, the International Financial Society became the majority shareholders of the HBC. | |||
] | |||
In 1869, after rejecting the ] offer of {{CAD|10,000,000}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/Politics/pm/johnmacdonald.htm|title=John A Macdonald|publisher=Access HT|accessdate=2013-11-17}}</ref> the company approved the return of Rupert’s Land to Britain which in turn gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses. The deal, known as The Deed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, now known as the ], was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of the ], enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province, ], to the ] on 15 July 1870, the very same day that the deed itself came into force.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Business: Fur Trade: The Deed of Surrender|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/week/the-deed-of-surrender|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North as ] in the ] by present-day ]. The ] (1839) with the ] (RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. The ] subsidiary was created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually, ] and ] in present-day southern British Columbia. | |||
===Rent obligation under charter=== | |||
Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give two ] skins and two black ] pelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads: | |||
The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by the ], led by ]. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into the ] of Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the ]; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store at ]. He later became known as the "Father of Oregon".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Voorhies Holman |first=Frederick |title=Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon |publisher=Nabu Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1279056677}}</ref> | |||
"...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted."<ref>{{cite web|title=Corporate Collections: Reference: The Charter: Text of Royal Charter|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
====Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia)==== | |||
The ceremony was first conducted with the ] (the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with King ] in 1939, and last with his daughter, Queen ] in 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo in ]. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four "rent ceremonies" took place in or around Winnipeg.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Business : Fur Trade : The Rent Ceremony|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/rentceremony}}</ref> | |||
The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northern ] with noteworthy sites: ], ], ], ] and ]. | |||
Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as the ], the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from the ] regional headquarter on the southern shore of the ] all the way to the ]. The three boats 40some crew led by the ] were first to officially ever make it to ] from the continent, to reach its northern end into ] and to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The first ] was subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity. | |||
===Notable HBC explorers, builders, and associates=== | |||
* ] (ca. 1640 – ca. 1721) was a director of Hudson's Bay Company and an explorer who died in an expedition to the Northwest Passage. | |||
* ] (c. 1667 – 1 November 1724), aka the Boy Kelsey, was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. In 1690, Henry Kelsey embarked on a 2-year exploration journey that made him the first white man to see buffalo. | |||
* ] (c. 1697—5 February 1717) was a woman of the Chipewyan nation who served as a guide and interpreter for Hudson's Bay Company. | |||
* ] (1745 – 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson’s Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan. | |||
* ] (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader that worked for both the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Trading Company. He is best known for his extensive explorations and map-making activities. He mapped almost half of North America between the 46th and 60th parallels, from the St.Lawrence and Great Lakes all the way to the Pacific. | |||
* ] (20 June 1771 — 8 April 1820) was a Scottish peer. He was a Scottish philanthropist who, as HBC’s majority shareholder, arranged to purchase land at Red River to establish a colony for dispossessed Scottish immigrants. | |||
* ] or Isabella Gunn (c. 1780? – 7 November 1861), also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), noted for having passed herself as a man, thereby becoming, not just a pioneer of feminism, but the first European woman to travel to Rupert's Land, now part of Western Canada. | |||
* ] (1787 – 7 September 1860) was the Canadian governor of Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power, a period which began in 1821 following the company’s merger with the North West Trading Company. | |||
* ] (Inuktitut Aglooka ᐊᒡᓘᑲ English: "long strider") (30 September 1813 – 22 July 1893) was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition. | |||
The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline with ] (1831) on the ], ] (1833) and the ] (1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: "By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over".<ref name="Mackie" />{{rp|126}} | |||
===HBC sternwheelers and steamships=== | |||
The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur rich ] in current day northern British Columbia: "monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains".<ref name="Mackie" />{{rp|133}} | |||
* '']'' (1835–1874) | |||
* ''Otter'' (1852-1895<ref>{{cite book|last=Hacking, Lamb|first=Norman R., W. Kaye|title=The Princess Story: A Century and A Half of West Coast Shipping|year=1976|publisher=Mitchell Press Ltd|location=Vancouver}}</ref> ) | |||
* ''Anson Northup'' (1859-1860<ref>{{cite book|last=Watson|first=Robert|title=The Anson Northup, First Steamboat on the Red River|year=March 1928|publisher=The Beaver|pages=162, 163}}</ref> ) | |||
* ''Caledonia'' (1891–1898) -- She ran aground on rocks at Port Simpson during a storm and her hull was destroyed. Her engines were put into the Caledonia 2 | |||
* ''Caledonia (2)'' (1898–1909) -- Her machinery was from the Caledonia 1. | |||
* '']'' (1902–1907) | |||
* '']'' (1878–1883) | |||
* '']'' (1900) | |||
* '']'' (1907–1912) | |||
* '']'' (1907–1912) | |||
* ''Distributor'' (1920-1948<ref>{{cite book|title=The Beaver|year=June 1925|page=121}}</ref> ) | |||
By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the looming ] border negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC built ] at the southern end of present-day ] in southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. The ] (1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland, ] and ] (1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on the ] as far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuilt ] (1840) on the Lower Fraser to ] by 1850 and the rest of the transportation network to ] on the ] along with the ] fur returns. | |||
===Rivals=== | |||
====End of monopoly==== | |||
The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived and outlived all its rivals. | |||
]]] | |||
The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly. ], a ] trapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The Court of ] brought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led by ] gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, Judge ] did not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, "{{lang|fr|Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!}}" ("Trade is free! Trade is free!"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%; line-height:1.4em;" | |||
|- | |||
! Years !! Company !! Fate | |||
|- | |||
| 1551–1917 || ] || taken over by the ] | |||
|- | |||
| 1581–1825 || ] || dissolved | |||
|- | |||
| 1600–1858 || {{nowrap|]}} || dissolved, except for retail shops in the UK | |||
|- | |||
| 1602–1800 || ] || went bankrupt | |||
|- | |||
| 1621–1791 || ] || bought by the Dutch government | |||
|- | |||
| 1672–1752 || ] || replaced by the ] | |||
|- | |||
| {{nowrap|1711–1850s}} || ] || abolished | |||
|- | |||
| 1779–1821 || ] || merged with the HBC | |||
|- | |||
| 1799–1867 || ] || folded with the sale of ] to the U.S. and commercial assets in North America sold to Hutchinson, Kohl & Company (now as the ]) | |||
|- | |||
| 1808–1842 || ] || folded | |||
|} | |||
Another factor was the findings of the ] of 1857 to 1860, led by Captain ]. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} | |||
==Store operations== | |||
], headquarters]] | |||
In 1863, the ] bought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather the ] which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Records of the International Finance Society |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb50-udfs |access-date=16 November 2018 |website=Archives Hub |publisher=]}}</ref> | |||
===Department stores and diversification=== | |||
{{See also|Hudson's Bay (retailer)}} | |||
By the late 18th century, the HBC expanded into the interior and set-up posts along the river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg, ] and ]. In 1857, the first sales shop was established in ]. This was followed by other sales shops in ], Winnipeg, Calgary, ], ], Edmonton, ], and ]. The first of the grand "original six" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, ], and Winnipeg.<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
] in 1870, prior to HBC ceding ] and the ] to Canada]] | |||
The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Overview|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/overview|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: People: Builders: Burbidge|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/burbidge|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer of {{CAD|10}}{{nbsp}}million,<ref>{{Cite web |title=John A. Macdonald |url=http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/Politics/pm/johnmacdonald.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405101925/http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/Politics/pm/johnmacdonald.htm |archive-date=5 April 2007 |access-date=17 November 2013 |website=Canada History |publisher=Access HT}}</ref> the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses.<ref name=":0" /> HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hudson's Bay Company |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hudsons-bay-company |access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> The deal, known as the ], came into force the following year. The resulting territory, the ], was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of the ], enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province, ], to the ] on 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Our History: Business: Fur Trade: The Deed of Surrender |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/week/the-deed-of-surrender |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007091750/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/week/the-deed-of-surrender |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Owram |first=Doug |url={{google books|IHZhBKRH080C|plainurl=yes|page=3}} |title=The Promise of the West as Settlement Frontier |date=2007 |work=The Prairie West as Promised Land |publisher=University of Calgary Press |editor-last=Francis |editor-first=R. Douglas |location=Calgary, Alberta |pages=3–28 |access-date=2 February 2015 |editor-last2=Kitzan |editor-first2=C.}}</ref> | |||
During the early years of the 20th century, demand for general merchandise increased, and stores were first operated from the trading posts that were established across northern Canada. Many HBC stores were the only stores in remote Canadian towns. Today, the department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.<ref name=GT-DEX-1670-01>{{cite web|title=Funding Universe - Hudson's Bay Company|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hudson-s-bay-company-history/|accessdate=2 September 2012}}</ref> The company exited the fur trade and retail in northern and remote communities in 1987.<ref>{{cite book|last=Newman|first=Peter C.|title=Company of Adventurers Vol. III,|page=443}}</ref> | |||
=== |
====Shift to department stores==== | ||
{{See also|Hudson's Bay (department store)}} | |||
] in ], {{circa|1890s}}]] | |||
The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg, ] and ]. In 1857, the first sales shop was established in ]. This was followed by other sales shops in ] (1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884), ] (1887), ] (1887), Edmonton (1890), ] (1898), and ] (1902). The first of the grand "original six" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, ], and Winnipeg.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Our History: Timelines: Early Stores |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/early/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927094024/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/early/ |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www2.hbc.com/hbc/history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531192023/http://www2.hbc.com/hbc/history/ |archive-date=31 May 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company}}</ref> | |||
The company co-founded Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company (HBOG) in 1926 with ] (which merged with ] in 1929). HBOG expanded during the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1960 began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967.<ref name=GT-DEX-1929-09>{{cite web|title=History of ConocoPhillips Canada|url=http://www.conocophillips.ca/EN/about/history/Pages/index.aspx|publisher=ConocoPhilips Canada|accessdate=2 September 2012}}</ref> In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35% stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest.<ref name="The Canadian Encyclopedia">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002341 |title=Dome Petroleum Limited |publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia |accessdate=17 June 2010}}</ref> In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 52.9% stake in HBOG to ] in 1981. | |||
=== |
===20th century=== | ||
The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.<ref name="HBC Heritage" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Builders: Burbidge |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/burbidge |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926115645/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/burbidge |archive-date=26 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> During the ], the company briefly operated in the ], even obtaining an agreement with the ] until departing in 1924.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Declerq |first=Robrecht |date=January 2019 |title=Far Eastern Promises: The Failed Expedition of the Hudson's Bay Company in Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia (1919–1915) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334077224 |journal=Quaestio Rossica |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=571–586 |doi=10.15826/qr.2019.2.394 |via=ResearchGate|hdl=10995/74663 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The company co-founded ] (HBOG) in 1926 with ] (which merged with ] in 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company History |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hudson-s-bay-company-history/ |access-date=2 September 2012 |website=Funding Universe}}</ref> The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic. | |||
] | |||
In 1960, the company acquired ] allowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded all its department stores as The Bay. The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. But by 1972 the last of the former Morgan’s stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Acquisitions: Retail: Morgan’s|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/morgans|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
==== Indigenous health ==== | |||
In 1970, on the 300th anniversary of the company, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Timelines: HBC: 1970|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. | |||
The medical scientist ] was travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheeler ] were responsible for spreading the influenza virus down the ] and ]. Less than a decade after ], a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Alexander Young |date=15 May 1965 |title=Men and books: Memories of a fellow artist, Frederick Grant Banting |url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AT10193 |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=92 |pages=1077–1084 |via=University of Toronto Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1925–1949, Historical Timeline of the Northwest Territories |url=https://www.nwttimeline.ca/1925/1928JacksonBanting.htm |access-date=13 March 2019 |website=Historical Timeline of the Northwest Territories |archive-date=5 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205154729/http://nwttimeline.ca/1925/1928JacksonBanting.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with a '']'' reporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.<ref name=":42" /> The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":52">{{Cite journal |last1=Tester |first1=Frank James |last2=McNicoll |first2=Paule |date=Nov 2008 |title=A Voice of Presence: Inuit Contributions toward the Public Provision of Health Care in Canada, 1900–1930 |journal=Social History/Histoire Sociale |volume=41 |issue=82 |pages=535–561 |doi=10.1353/his.0.0034 |s2cid=144773818}}</ref> Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them.<ref name=":52" /> | |||
The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: "For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods."<ref name=":52" /> He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that "the result was a diet of 'flour, ], tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.{{'"}}<ref name=":52" /> | |||
In 1972, the company acquired the four-store ] chain of ]. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.<ref> "600 to lose jobs as Bay closes Shop-Rite stores"</ref> In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquired ] department stores in Ottawa and converted them to the Bay.<ref></ref> | |||
The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks "false and slanderous", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at the ] to demand a retraction.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":52" /> Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.<ref name=":42" /> As ], the ] painter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: "He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes."<ref name=":42" /> | |||
In 1978, the Zellers discount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers instead. Also in 1978, ] department stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991. (The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but became ] in 1978.) By 1991, Simpsons, originally operated as a stand-alone premium retail banned, had disappeared, having been folded into the Bay. | |||
Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior:<ref name=":52" /><blockquote>He noted that "infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth"; that "white man's food leads to decay of native teeth"; that "tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay"; that "an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell"; and that "the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The "proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer.</blockquote> | |||
In 1979, Canadian billionaire ] won control of the company in a battle with ], and acquired a 75% stake for $400 million.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.com"></ref> Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.com"/> | |||
====Latter 20th century==== | |||
Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada. (This company is now known as ].) The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adopted ] name three years later.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage"></ref> | |||
]. Originally the flagship store for ], the department store chain was acquired by HBC in 1960.]] | |||
In 1960, the company acquired ] allowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Infantry |first=Ashante |date=2013-03-06 |title=The Hudson's Bay Company unveils new logo for Canada's oldest department store |language=en-CA |work=The Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/03/06/the_hudsons_bay_company_unveils_new_logo_for_canadas_oldest_department_store.html |access-date=2022-03-14 |issn=0319-0781}}</ref> The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Acquisitions: Retail: Morgan's |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/morgans |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006202035/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/morgans |archive-date=6 October 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www.conocophillips.ca/who-we-are/our-history/Pages/1900s.aspx |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=ConocoPhilips Canada}}</ref> | |||
The HBC acquired ] in 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, and ] stores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores. ] was acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage"/> | |||
In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Timelines: HBC: 1970 |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/ |website=HBC Heritage |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123055342/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. | |||
In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailing ] in response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose. In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers. ] groups, such as ] (PETA) and Freedom for Animals, continue to try and induce retailers like HBC to stop selling furs, with varying success. | |||
] | |||
In 1972, the company acquired the four-store ] chain of ]. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Sweetman |first1=Keri |last2=Harrington |first2=Denise |date=18 November 1981 |title=600 to lose jobs as Bay closes Shop-Rite stores |work=Ottawa Citizen |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19811118&id=2a4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=1164,5107737 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquired ] department stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Timelines: Acquisitions |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/acquisitions/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927122300/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/acquisitions/ |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores called ]. Similar to the ] and ] retail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=428721 |title=Hudson's Bay Eager to Log Onto New Era |accessdate=8 April 2008 |publisher=Financial Post/National Post}}</ref> Another HBC chain, ], was sold to a private firm in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/964933/fields-stores-to-flourish-again-in-western-canada |title=Fields Stores to Flourish Again in Western Canada |date=1 May 2012 |publisher=Canada Newswire |accessdate=1 June 2012}}</ref> Established in 1950, Fields acquired Zellers in 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History: Acquisitions: Retail: Fields|url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/fields|publisher=HBC Heritage}}</ref> Zellers is still owned by HBC but as been reduced to a chain of two liquidation stores following the successful sale of its lease portfolio to ] in 2011.<ref name="HBC store locator">{{cite web| title = HBC store locator| url=http://www.hbc.com/storelocator/?langid=en&src=hbc| accessdate =March 2, 2014}}</ref> | |||
In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. | |||
On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buy Saks Incorporated for ] 2.9 billion.<ref></ref> | |||
] in Toronto. It was formerly the flagship store for ] before HBC converted it to Hudson Bay in 1991.]] | |||
===Purchase by American interests, 2003=== | |||
In 1978, the ] discount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC Heritage – Zellers |url=https://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/zellers |access-date=27 July 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727155532/https://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/zellers |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also in 1978, ] department stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC Heritage – The Robert Simpson Company |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/robert-simpson-company |access-date=11 December 2018 |website=hbcheritage.ca |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017225005/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/robert-simpson-company |url-status=dead }}</ref> (The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but became ] in 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Robert Simpson Company Limited |url=http://www2.hbc.com/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/simpsons.asp |access-date=22 August 2017 |website=HBC |archive-date=23 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823025906/http://www2.hbc.com/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/simpsons.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, a ]-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.<ref name=GT-DEX-2003-67></ref> Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswoman, Anita Zucker, widow of ]. Zucker had previously been the head of the ], which acquired another Canadian institution, the ]. | |||
In 1979, Canadian billionaire ] won control of the company in a battle with ], and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million.<ref name="CanEncycl_HBC">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hudson's Bay Company |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hudsons-bay-company |access-date=6 October 2015 |last=Ray |first=Arthur J. |date=2 April 2009}}</ref> Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG to ] in 1981.<ref name="The Canadian Encyclopedia">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Dome Petroleum Limited |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dome-petroleum-limited |access-date=17 June 2010 |last=Sawyer |first=Deborah C. |date=2 February 2006 |edition=online |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007004645/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/dome-petroleum-limited/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares.<ref name="CanEncycl_HBC" /> | |||
On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board unanimously agreed to a bid of $15.25 CAD/share from Jerry Zucker whose original bid was $14.75 CAD/share, ending a prolonged fight between the HBC and Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,<ref>{{dead link|date=September 2013}}</ref> the HBC announced that Zucker would replace ] as Governor and ] as CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death the board named his widow, ], as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor ] as CEO.<ref name=GT-DEX-2003-67/><ref>CBC Newsworld, 14 April 2008</ref> | |||
Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (now ]). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adopted ] name three years later.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage">{{Cite web |title=Hbc Heritage – Timeline |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/home |website=hbcheritage.ca |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=2 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102011936/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/home |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
] | |||
The HBC acquired ] in 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, and ] stores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores. ] was acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage" /> | |||
On 16 July 2008, the company was sold to NRDC Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in ] which already owned Lord & Taylor, the oldest department store chain in the United States.<ref name=GT-DEX-2008-19>{{cite news |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=canada&sid=aycn1XaTmvXI |title=NRDC Buys Hudson's Bay, Says Lord & Taylor to Expand (Update2)|accessdate=16 July 2008 |publisher=Bloomberg | date=1 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/461506 |title=New owner to spruce up Bay |accessdate=16 July 2008 |publisher=The Toronto Star | first=David | last=Friend | date=16 July 2008}}</ref> The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of the fall of 2008. | |||
In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailing ] in response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.<ref name="cbc.ca">{{Cite web |title=1991: Hudson's Bay Company ends its fur trade – CBC Archives |url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1991-hudsons-bay-company-ends-its-fur-trade |access-date=10 January 2018 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers.<ref name="cbc.ca" /> | |||
In September 2011, the HBC began downsizing the Zellers chain with the announcement that it would sell the majority of the leases for its locations to the U.S.-based retailer ] and close all of their remaining locations by early 2013. Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used the proceeds to allow it to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that only three of the remaining Zellers locations would remain open.<ref name="three Zellers stores">{{cite web| title =Zellers will stick around Canada's three biggest cities after Target arrives| url=http://o.canada.com/2013/01/08/zellers-will-stick-around-canadas-three-biggest-cities-after-target-arrives/| accessdate =14 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Target Finalizes Real Estate Transaction with Selection of 84 Additional Zellers Leases|url=http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-finalizes-real-estate-transaction-215949.aspx|publisher=Target Pressroom|accessdate=26 September 2011|date=23 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1232336--retailer-hudson-s-bay-co-to-close-most-of-its-remaining-64-zellers-stores |title=Zellers to close last 64 stores as Target moves into Canada| work=The Star | location=Toronto| date=26 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="gandm-ipo"/> | |||
===21st century=== | |||
On 24 January 2012, the '']'' reported that ] (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolved Hudson's Bay Trading Company and that the HBC would now also operate the Lord & Taylor chain. This new structure would be run by the then Bay CEO ].<ref></ref> Baker remained governor and CEO of the business and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer.<ref name="Hudson’s Bay Trading Company dissolved"></ref> | |||
In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, a ]-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.<ref name="Privco">{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://www.privco.com/private-company/hudson-bay-company |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Privco.com}}</ref> Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswoman ], widow of ]. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution, ]. | |||
It had been a member of the ] from 2001 to 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|title=List of members|url=https://www.iads.org/web/home-public/2285-list-of-members.php|access-date=2021-06-20|website=www.iads.org}}</ref> On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Hudson's Bay Company Announces Realignment of Senior Management Team and Appoints New Board of Directors |date=9 March 2006 |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://www.hbc.com/hbc/mediacentre/press/hbc/press.asp?prId=214 |last1=Stauth |first1=Hillary |access-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316021530/http://www.hbc.com/hbc/mediacentre/press/hbc/press.asp?prId=214 |archive-date=16 March 2006}}</ref> the HBC announced that Zucker would replace ] as governor and ] as CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO.<ref name=Privco/> | |||
===Public offering, 2012 to present=== | |||
On 16 July 2008, the company was sold to ] for just over $1.1 billion,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wong |first1=Tony |title=The Bay sold to U.S. retailer |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2008/07/17/the_bay_sold_to_us_retailer.html |website=Toronto Star |date=17 July 2008 |access-date=2 February 2022 |archive-date=29 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029193452/https://www.thestar.com/news/2008/07/17/the_bay_sold_to_us_retailer.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> a private equity firm based in ], which already owned ], the oldest department store in the United States.<ref name="GT-DEX-2008-19">{{Cite news |last=Bell |first=Kevin |date=1 September 2012 |title=NRDC Buys Hudson's Bay, Says Lord & Taylor to Expand (Update2) |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=canada&sid=aycn1XaTmvXI |access-date=16 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Friend |first=David |date=16 July 2008 |title=New owner to spruce up Bay |work=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/Business/article/461506 |access-date=16 July 2008 |archive-date=22 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022181607/http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/461506 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company, ], as of late 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2008 |title=NRDC Equity snaps up Hudson's Bay Co |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hudsonsbay-idUSN1639158120080716 |work=Reuters}}</ref> | |||
In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billion ] (IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as 'Hudson's Bay'.<ref name="gandm-ipo">{{cite news|last=Strauss|first=Marina|title=HBC launches IPO as new rivals loom|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/hbc-launches-ipo-as-new-rivals-loom/article4618187/|accessdate=24 October 2012|newspaper=]|date=17 October 2012|location=Toronto}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013; incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Company ], designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving a ] from the original ]), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand.<ref name=gandm-hbcnewlogo>{{cite news|title=New logo, old name: The Bay returns to its roots|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/new-logo-old-name-the-bay-returns-to-its-roots/article9356220/|publisher=The Globe and Mail|accessdate=12 March 2013|location=Toronto|date=11 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="name change">{{cite web|title=Hudson's Bay Celebrates Its Past, Present and Future with Modern New Logo|url=http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/hudsons-bay-celebrates-its-past-present-and-future-with-modern-new-logo-tsx-hbc-1765078.htm|publisher=Hudson's Bay Company|accessdate=6 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/06/the-bay-gets-a-new-logo-for-first-time-in-almost-50-years/ | title=The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years | publisher=National Post | date=13 March 2013 | accessdate=7 March 2013 | author=Hollie Shaw}}</ref> | |||
In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billion ] (IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as "Hudson's Bay".<ref name="gandm-ipo">{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Marina |date=17 October 2012 |title=HBC launches IPO as new rivals loom |work=] |location=Toronto |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/hbc-launches-ipo-as-new-rivals-loom/article4618187/ |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Company ], designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving a ] from the original ]), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand.<ref name="gandm-hbcnewlogo">{{Cite news |last=Krashinsky |first=Susan |date=11 March 2013 |title=New logo, old name: The Bay returns to its roots |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/new-logo-old-name-the-bay-returns-to-its-roots/article9356220/ |access-date=12 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="name change">{{Cite press release |title=Hudson's Bay Celebrates Its Past, Present and Future with Modern New Logo |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/hudsons-bay-celebrates-its-past-present-and-future-with-modern-new-logo-tsx-hbc-1765078.htm |access-date=6 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaw |first=Hollie |date=13 March 2013 |title=The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years |work=National Post |url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/06/the-bay-gets-a-new-logo-for-first-time-in-almost-50-years/ |access-date=7 March 2013}}</ref> | |||
In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of an ] flash sales site, the ], for US$250 million.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=7 January 2016 |title=Saks Owner Clinches Deal for Gilt Groupe |publisher=] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/business/dealbook/saks-owner-clinches-deal-for-gilt-groupe.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/business/dealbook/saks-owner-clinches-deal-for-gilt-groupe.html |archive-date=2022-01-02 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=23 October 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite news |title=Rue La La Buys Gilt Groupe, Combining Two Popular Flash Sale Sites |work=] |url=http://fortune.com/2018/06/04/rue-la-la-buys-gilt-groupe-combining-two-popular-flash-sale-sites/ |access-date=6 June 2018}}</ref> HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 former ] (V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gone ] and shut down in early 2016.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |date=17 May 2016 |title=HBC to expand to the Netherlands |publisher=] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hbc-bay-saks-netherlands-1.3585549 |access-date=17 May 2016}}</ref> As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany.<ref name="financialpost.com">{{Cite news |date=1 November 2017 |title=HBC mulls reported 3 billion euro offer for lagging European business |url=http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/hbc-mulls-reported-3-billion-euro-offer-for-lagging-european-business |access-date=10 January 2018 |newspaper=Financial Post}}</ref> | |||
In July 2013, the HBC announced its intent to purchase New York's Saks, Inc. for $2.9 billion (USD), or $16 per share. The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.<ref></ref> After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions.<ref name="HBC's Net loss Grows to $124.2M">{{cite web | url=http://www.wwd.com/business-news/financial/hbcs-net-loss-grows-to-1242m-7307704?src=n/newsAlert/20131211-2 | title=HBC's Net loss Grows to $124.2M | publisher=WWD | date=11 December 2013 | accessdate=11 December 2013 | author=Moin, David}}</ref> | |||
On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach "amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wattles |first=Jackie |year=2018 |title=Saks, Lord & Taylor breach: Data stolen on 5 million cards |work=CNNMoney |url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/01/technology/saks-hack-credit-debit-card/index.html |access-date=6 April 2018}}</ref> A July 2019 hack of ], which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/capital-one-data-breach-1.5230287 |title=Everything Canadians need to know about the Capital One data breach |work=CBC News |last=Bennardo |first=Melissa |date=30 July 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
===Current operations=== | |||
The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has other ] corporate partners such as: ]/], ], ]/] Books, ]/] Restaurants, ], ] Theatres, etc. HBC Rewards points can be redeemed in house or into corporate partners' gift cards and certificates. Points can also be converted to ]. | |||
In June 2019, a consortium including chairman ], ], ], Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/10/chairman-of-saks-owner-hudsons-bay-company-bids-to-buy-retailer.html |title=Chairman of Saks-owner Hudson's Bay Co. puts in bid to take retailer private |work=CNBC |last=Hirsch |first=Lauren |date=10 June 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firm ] said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/saks-owner-hudsons-bay-co-mulls-privatisation-proposal |title=Can Going Private Save Hudson's Bay Company? |work=Business of Fashion |last=Chen |first=Cathaleen |date=10 June 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hbc-catalyst-1.5251855 |title=Catalyst buys 18M HBC shares in move to block privatization plan |work=CBC News |date=19 August 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/catalyst-adds-to-stake-in-hbc-as-battle-over-retailers-fate-heats-up |title=Catalyst adds to stake in HBC as battle over retailer's fate heats up |work=Financial Post |last1=Schechter |first1=Barbara |last2=Edmiston |first2=Jake |date=19 August 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private.<ref name="Baker">{{cite news |last1=Shecter |first1=Barbara |title=Baker's HBC privatization bid approved after plenty of 'noise and aggravation' |url=https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/hudsons-bay-co-shareholders-vote-overwhelmingly-to-take-canadas-oldest-retailer-private |website=Financial Post |date=27 February 2020 |access-date=2 February 2022}}</ref> | |||
The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009.<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2012}}</ref> | |||
Aside from ], ], and ], HBC sold ], ], ], and ] by August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firm ]. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold to ] for $75 million.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hirsch |first1=Lauren |last2=Wu |first2=Jasmine |title=Hudson's Bay to sell Lord & Taylor for $100 million to clothing rental service Le Tote |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/hudsons-bay-to-sell-lord-taylor-for-100-million-to-le-tote.html |publisher=CNBC |date=28 August 2019}}</ref> The remaining stores in the ] were sold by the end of 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Valinsky |first1=Jordan |title=The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue is going private |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/21/business/hudsons-bay-company-private/index.html |publisher=CNN Business |date=21 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hudson's Bay to close Dutch stores|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/hudsons-bay-netherlands/hudsons-bay-to-close-dutch-stores-newspaper-idUSL5N25R0CT |publisher=Reuters|date=31 August 2019}}</ref> | |||
By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales of ], ], ], and ] as the most recent steps. A feature article by ] mentioned that CEO ], recruited in 2018, "had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay". She was selling assets "to put the company on more solid financial footing" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC "has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into irrelevance".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-05/hudson-s-bay-millennial-shoppers-are-shunning-department-stores |title=Founded in 1670 to Trade Furs, Hudson's Bay Chases Relevance |work=Bloomberg |last1=Rastello |first1=Sandrine |last2=Robinson |first2=Ashley |date=5 September 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | |||
In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company Shareholders Approve Privatization Transaction |url=https://www.oaoa.com/news/business/article_c796ca8d-b2f3-554c-982a-868f5c2d6093.html |access-date=28 February 2020 |website=Odessa American |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=28 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228084123/https://www.oaoa.com/news/business/article_c796ca8d-b2f3-554c-982a-868f5c2d6093.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from the ], with ] replacing Foulkes as CEO.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 2020 |title=Hudson's Bay Company Announces Court Approval of Privatization Transaction |work=National Post |url=https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/hudsons-bay-company-announces-court-approval-of-privatization-transaction}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=3 March 2020 |title=HBC chairman Richard Baker replacing Helena Foulkes as CEO |work=] |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-helena-foulkes-to-step-down-as-hudsons-bay-ceo-chairman-richard/}}</ref> | |||
In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products.<ref>Rosemary Feitelberg, "," WWD.com, 23 March 2023.</ref> | |||
====Acquisition and sale of other chains==== | |||
From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores called ]. Similar to the ] and ] retail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Eager to Log Onto New Era |url=http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=428721 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516083404/http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=428721 |archive-date=16 May 2008 |access-date=8 April 2008 |website=Financial Post/National Post}}</ref> Another HBC chain, ], was sold to a private firm in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 May 2012 |title=Fields Stores to Flourish Again in Western Canada |url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/964933/fields-stores-to-flourish-again-in-western-canada |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606230619/http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/964933/fields-stores-to-flourish-again-in-western-canada |archive-date=6 June 2012 |access-date=1 June 2012 |publisher=Canada Newswire}}</ref> Established in 1950, Fields was acquired by ] in 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Acquisitions: Retail: Fields |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/fields |website=HBC Heritage |access-date=16 September 2013 |archive-date=1 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901003241/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/fields |url-status=dead }}</ref> In early 2019, HBC announced that all 37 ] stores would be phased out by year end.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hbc-home-outfitters-1.5028740 |title=HBC shutting all 37 Home Outfitters stores across Canada |work=CBC News |last=Evans |first=Pete |date=21 February 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture to ] for a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase of ] Inc. It did not proceed with either deal.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 June 2017 |title=No timeline for turnaround as HBC cuts deep |url=https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/hbc-cuts-2000-jobs-in-face-of-retail-headwinds/article35263541/ |access-date=10 January 2018 |website=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> | |||
On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC and ] were preparing bids to buy ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Lauren |date=2022-03-16 |title=Kohl's shares jump 17% after reports say Hudson's Bay, Sycamore are preparing bids |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/16/kohls-shares-jump-after-report-says-hudsons-bay-is-considering-buyout-bid.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=CNBC |language=en}}</ref> | |||
====Zellers==== | |||
] discount department store operating in ] in 2014]] | |||
In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailer ] and shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013.<ref name="target-reuters">John Tilak, , ] January 13, 2011.</ref> Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open.<ref name="three Zellers stores">{{Cite news |last=Weisblott |first=Marc |title=Zellers will stick around Canada's three biggest cities after Target arrives |work=O.Canada.com |publisher=Postmedia Network |url=http://o.canada.com/2013/01/08/zellers-will-stick-around-canadas-three-biggest-cities-after-target-arrives/ |access-date=14 January 2013 |archive-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114212716/http://o.canada.com/2013/01/08/zellers-will-stick-around-canadas-three-biggest-cities-after-target-arrives/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=Target Finalizes Real Estate Transaction with Selection of 84 Additional Zellers Leases |date=23 September 2011 |publisher=Target Corporation |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |url=http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-finalizes-real-estate-transaction-215949.aspx |access-date=26 September 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927021723/http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-finalizes-real-estate-transaction-215949.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 2012 |title=Zellers to close last 64 stores as Target moves into Canada |work=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/article/1232336--retailer-hudson-s-bay-co-to-close-most-of-its-remaining-64-zellers-stores}}</ref><ref name="gandm-ipo" /> The Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers.<ref name="cbc-targetauction">{{Cite news |title=Target returns, auctions off leases on most Canadian properties |publisher=] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-returns-auctions-off-leases-on-most-canadian-properties-1.3057433 |access-date=8 May 2015}}</ref> Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio to ] in 2011.<ref name="three Zellers stores" /><ref name="HBC store locator">{{Cite web |title=HBC store locator |url=http://www.hbc.com/storelocator/?langid=en&src=hbc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311201749/http://www.hbc.com/storelocator/?langid=en&src=hbc |archive-date=11 March 2014 |access-date=2 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="Surrey Now">{{Cite web |title=Zellers store to stay open at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre |url=http://www.thenownewspaper.com/business/Zellers+store+stay+open+Semiahmoo+Shopping+Centre/7800250/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130013814/http://www.thenownewspaper.com/business/Zellers+store+stay+open+Semiahmoo+Shopping+Centre/7800250/story.html#ixzz2Hz7zrhhS |archive-date=30 January 2013 |access-date=14 January 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores. | |||
In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canadian press |first=The |date=August 17, 2022 |title=Hudson's Bay to resurrect discount retail chain Zellers |pages=1 |work=Canadian broadcasting corporation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hbc-resurrects-zellers-1.6553473 |access-date=August 17, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/5866980/hudsons-bay-to-shutter-last-2-zellers-stores-in-toronto-ottawa/ |title=Hudson's Bay to shutter last 2 Zellers stores in Toronto, Ottawa |work=Global News |last=Sagan |first=Aleksandra |date=6 September 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
====Lord & Taylor==== | |||
] in ]]] | |||
On 24 January 2012, the '']'' reported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolved ] and that the HBC would now also operate the ] chain. At the time, the company was run by president ].<ref>{{Cite news |title=America's Lord & Taylor gets some family help |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/americas-lord-taylor-gets-some-family-help/article2311540/}}{{dead link|date=October 2015}}</ref> Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer.<ref name="Hudson's Bay Trading Company dissolved">{{Cite news |last=Shaw |first=Hollie |date=23 January 2012 |title=Hudson's Bay Co. completes purchase of Lord & Taylor: report |work=Financial Post |url=http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/23/hudsons-bay-co-completes-purchase-of-lord-taylor-report/ |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | |||
In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagship ] store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to ] Property Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 October 2017 |title=HBC and WeWork Enter into Global, Multi-Faceted Strategic Relationship |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171024005878/en/HBC-WeWork-Enter-Global-Multi-Faceted-Strategic-Relationship |access-date=10 January 2018 |website=businesswire.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hodges |first=David |date=1 November 2017 |title=HBC should accept unsolicited $4.5B offer for German real estate: investor |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/hbc-should-accept-unsolicited-4-5b-offer-for-german-real-estate-investor-1.3658919 |access-date=10 January 2018 |website=ctvnews.ca}}</ref> The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces.<ref name="financialpost.com" /><ref>{{Cite press release |date=2 November 2017 |title=Hudson's Bay Company Responds to Land & Buildings Press Release |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171102005748/en/Hudson%E2%80%99s-Bay-Company-Responds-Land-Buildings-Press |access-date=10 January 2018 |website=businesswire.com}}</ref> | |||
In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business to ] Inc., which was to pay {{CAD|99.5 million}} in cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additional {{CAD|33.2 million}} two years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote.<ref> Hudson's Bay to sell Lord + Taylor for $100 million</ref> The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value of {{CAD|284.2 million}}. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as "Not a clean exit". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated at {{CAD|77 million}} cash per year.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190828005408/en/HBC-Le-Tote-Enter-Agreement-Acquisition-Lord |title=HBC and Le Tote Enter Into Agreement for Acquisition of Lord + Taylor |via=Businesswire |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |date=28 August 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/not-a-clean-exit-hudsons-bay-sells-lord-taylor-for-133-million |title=Not a 'clean exit': Hudson's Bay sells historic Lord & Taylor for $133 million |work=Financial Post |last=Edmiston |first=Jake |date=28 August 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
====Saks, Inc.==== | |||
]. ] is a chain owned by HBC since 2013.]] | |||
On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buy ], operator of the U.S. ] brand, for ]2.9 billion, or $16 per share.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=29 July 2013 |title=Saks snapped up by Canada's Hudson's Bay in $2.9bn deal |work=] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23491574 |access-date=29 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Pete |date=29 July 2013 |title=Hudson's Bay to bring Saks to Canada in $2.9B takeover |publisher=] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hudson-s-bay-to-bring-saks-to-canada-in-2-9b-takeover-1.1408868 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> The merger was completed on 3 November 2013.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=4 November 2013 |title=Hudson's Bay completes acquisition of Saks |work=Yahoo Finance |agency=Associated Press |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hudsons-bay-completes-acquisition-saks-193823259.html |access-date=5 October 2015}}</ref> The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2013 |title=Hudson's Bay to buy Saks, bring stores to Canada |work=Financial Post |agency=Reuters |url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/07/29/hudsons-bay-to-buy-saks-bring-stores-to-canada/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 October 2015}}</ref> After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moin |first=David |date=11 December 2013 |title=HBC's Net loss Grows to $124.2M |work=Women's Wear Daily |publisher=Fairchild Publishing |url=http://www.wwd.com/business-news/financial/hbcs-net-loss-grows-to-1242m-7307704?src=n/newsAlert/20131211-2 |url-access=subscription |access-date=11 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2019/02/22/hbc-closing-home-outfitters-20-saks-off-fifth-stores-as-its-teardown-continues/#45f1a68366c0 |title=Hudson's Bay Company Teardown Continues With Closing of Home Outfitters, 20 Saks Off Fifth Stores |work=Forbes |last=Shoulberg |first=Warren |date=22 February 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
==== Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno ==== | |||
] in ]. The chain was owned by HBC from 2015 to 2019.]] | |||
HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary, ], from ] in September 2015 for {{USD|3.2 billion}}.<ref name=":5">{{Cite press release |title=Hudson's Bay Company to Acquire Galeria Holding, Parent of Kaufhof, #1 Department Store in Germany |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |url=http://investor.hbc.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=917844 |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927153037/http://investor.hbc.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=917844 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=30 September 2015 |title=Hudson's Bay Company Completes Acquisition of GALERIA Holding |url=http://investor.hbc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=934427 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625171818/http://investor.hbc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=934427 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |access-date=4 June 2016 |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company}}</ref> | |||
On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firm ] for Kaufhof and other real estate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hodges |first=David |date=1 November 2017 |title=HBC should accept unsolicited $4.5B offer for German real estate: investor |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/trading-of-hudson-s-bay-shares-halted-on-toronto-stock-exchange-1.3658919 |access-date=10 January 2018 |website=ctvnews.ca}}</ref> An unnamed source told ] that the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hirsch |first=Lauren |date=1 November 2017 |title=Saks Fifth Avenue owner continues to face pressure, amid a bid for its European department store |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/01/saks-fifth-avenue-owner-under-pressure-amid-galeria-kaufhof-bid-talk.html |access-date=10 January 2018 |publisher=CNBC}}</ref> This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kopun |first=Francine |date=1 November 2017 |title=Hudson's Bay urged to accept bid for German assets |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/11/01/competitor-offers-to-buy-hudsons-bays-german-assets.html |access-date=10 January 2018 |newspaper=Toronto Star}}</ref> In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof and ] merged as part of a spin off.<ref name="merger"> Reuters on 11 September</ref> | |||
HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firm ] in June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC.<ref> Hudson's Bay to sell Lord + Taylor for $100 million</ref> At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2019/06/10/hudsons-bay-sells-european-stake-plans-to-go-private/#36664e3e1dc0 |title=Hudson's Bay Sells European Stake, Might Go Private |last=Loeb |first=Walter |work=Forbes |date=10 June 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-31/hudson-s-bay-to-close-dutch-unit-dismiss-1-400-workers-fd-says |title=Hudson's Bay to Close Dutch Unit and Dismiss 1,400 Workers: Report |work=Bloomberg |last=Munsterman |first=Ruben |date=31 August 2019 |access-date=22 March 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | |||
==== Neiman Marcus ==== | |||
On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquire ] for $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Peiser |first=Jaclyn |date=2024-07-04 |title=Saks parent company will acquire Neiman Marcus in $2.65 billion deal |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/07/04/saks-neiman-marcus-merger/ |access-date=2024-07-05 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> | |||
==Operations== | |||
The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has an ] program, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house. | |||
The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=HBC Run for Canada |url=http://www.hbcrunforcanada.ca/2008/index.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421224554/http://www.hbcrunforcanada.ca/2008/index.php |archive-date=21 April 2008}}</ref> | |||
<!-- what does this mean? can you write this clearly without using jargon? "Position" has several meanings -- which do you intend to use here? | <!-- what does this mean? can you write this clearly without using jargon? "Position" has several meanings -- which do you intend to use here? | ||
HBC offers a wide variety of positions across multiple brands throughout Canada and the US.<ref>http://www.hbc.monstermediaworks.ca/2012/ </ref> | HBC offers a wide variety of positions across multiple brands throughout Canada and the US.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC Career Portal – HBC Enterprise |url=http://www.hbc.monstermediaworks.ca/2012/ |website=monstermediaworks.ca}}</ref> | ||
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===Olympic outfitter=== | ===Olympic outfitter=== | ||
], a winter Olympian for Canada, wearing HBC apparel made officially for the Canadian Olympic team]] | |||
The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and |
The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Marina |date=28 November 2013 |title=Meet the man trying to shake up luxury retail in Canada |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/saks-appeal-hbc-head-richard-baker-bets-canadians-are-dying-to-go-deluxe/article15633445/?page=all |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> | ||
On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier, ], which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 April 2008 |title=Roots no longer outfitting Olympic teams, co-founder says |work=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2008/04/07/roots_no_longer_outfitting_olympic_teams_cofounder_says.html |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Canadian Olympic Gear, courtesy of The Bay & Zellers |url=http://www.stylish.ca/canadian-olympic-gear-courtesy-of-the-bay-zellers-020854.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409231429/http://www.stylish.ca/canadian-olympic-gear-courtesy-of-the-bay-zellers-020854.php |archive-date=9 April 2016 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Stylish.ca}}</ref> The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold to ]). | |||
] | |||
On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier, ], which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004. The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through HBC'ss store chains, The Bay and Zellers (until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold to ]). | |||
HBC's 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics uniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their |
HBC's ]s and ] uniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy red ]s and Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Canadian Olympic gear made in China, MPs cry foul |work=CTV News |publisher=Bell Media Television |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/canadian-olympic-gear-made-in-china-mps-cry-foul-1.293170 |access-date=2 May 2008}}</ref> | ||
HBC's apparel for the ] held in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The "Red Mittens" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold for |
HBC's apparel for the ] held in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The "Red Mittens" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold for {{CAD|10}}, with one-third of the proceeds going to the ], proved very popular, as were the "Canada" hoodies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dheensaw |first=Cleve |date=21 February 2010 |title=Amid glitches, Canadians making these Games a winner |work=Times Colonist |location=Victoria, British Columbia}}</ref> | ||
The HBC's ] apparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like a ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2009 |title=First Nation alleges Olympic ripoff |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/first-nation-alleges-olympic-ripoff-1.829857 |access-date=11 December 2015 |publisher=]}}</ref> After a meeting between HBC representatives and ], a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2009 |title=Cowichan Tribes reach Olympic sweater deal |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cowichan-tribes-reach-olympic-sweater-deal-1.830116 |access-date=11 December 2015 |publisher=]}}</ref> | |||
] in Vancouver]] | |||
Lord ], chairman of the ], who attended the ], noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing the Games with their "Canada" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year).<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 February 2010 |title=Sebastian Coe defends Vancouver Winter Olympics from critics |work=] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/feb/18/sebastian-coe-winter-olympics |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Coe |first=Sebastian |author-link=Sebastian Coe |date=23 February 2010 |title=Winter Olympics 2010: Vancouver so passionate to embrace Games, says Seb Coe |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/7293583/Winter-Olympics-2010-Vancouver-so-passionate-to-embrace-Games-says-Seb-Coe.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/7293583/Winter-Olympics-2010-Vancouver-so-passionate-to-embrace-Games-says-Seb-Coe.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=6 October 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Putin in Canada House: 'Good luck, except in hockey' |work=CTV News |publisher=Bell Media Television |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/putin-in-canada-house-good-luck-except-in-hockey-1.1686560 |url-status=dead |access-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015232302/http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/putin-in-canada-house-good-luck-except-in-hockey-1.1686560 |archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref> | |||
In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the ], ] would replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter. | |||
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadian-tuxedo-no-more-lululemon-replaces-hudson-s-bay-as-canada-s-olympic-clothier-1.5597313 | title='Canadian tuxedo' no more: Lululemon replaces Hudson's Bay as Canada's Olympic clothier | date=23 September 2021 }}</ref> | |||
==Archives== | ==Archives== | ||
{{See also|Hudson's Bay Company Archives}} | {{See also|Hudson's Bay Company Archives}} | ||
The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an Archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year. | |||
The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About HBCA {{!}} Hudson's Bay Company Archives Archives of Manitoba |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/about/index.html |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref> | |||
On 27 January 1994, the company’s archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba.<ref>{{cite web|title=HBCA History|url=http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/about/hbca_history.html|publisher=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBCA History |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/about/hbca_history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925004135/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/about/hbca_history.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives |publisher=Government of Manitoba}}</ref> | |||
At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation,<ref>{{cite web|title=HBC History Foundation|url=http://www3.hbc.com/hbc/social-responsibility/hbc-history-foundation/}}</ref> funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs. More than two kilometers of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building. | |||
At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC History Foundation |url=http://www3.hbc.com/hbc/socialresponsibility/hbc-history-foundation/ |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company |archive-date=4 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004015400/http://www3.hbc.com/hbc/socialresponsibility/hbc-history-foundation/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> More than {{convert|2|km|spell=in}} of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} | |||
In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations "]" project, under ]. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc. | |||
In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations "]" project, under ]. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company Archival records {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-4/hudsons-bay-company-archival-records/ |access-date=31 January 2018 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref> | |||
]]] | |||
==Corporate governance== | ==Corporate governance== | ||
] of Hudson's Bay Company:<ref name="Coat of Arms">{{Cite web |title=HBC Heritage – Coat of Arms |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/company-stories/coat-of-arms |access-date=3 May 2020 |website=Hudson's Bay Company}}</ref> ''Argent, a cross gules between four ]s passant ]''. ]: ''On a ] a fox sejant proper''. ]: ''Two bucks proper''. Latin ]: {{langx|la|pro pelle cutem|lit=skin for leather}}<ref>''Cassell's Latin Dictionary.'' The two different Latin words for skin or leather must be translated accordingly in English by the use of two different words of roughly the same meaning, denoting an exchange</ref> apparently a play on ], 2:4: {{lang|la|Pellem pro pelle}}<ref>{{lang|la|Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio|italic=yes}}, {{lang|it|Libreria Editrice Vaticana|italic=no}}, 1986 (Latin Vulgate Bible)</ref> "skin for skin".<ref>As translated in the King James Bible</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What does your motto 'Pro Pelle Cutem' mean? |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/faq/default#4 |access-date=5 October 2015 |publisher=Hudson's Bay Company |department=HBC Heritage FAQ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rich |first=E. E. |date=April 1961 |title=Manitoba Pageant: Pro Pelle Cutem, The Hudson's Bay Company Motto |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/pageant/06/propellecutem.shtml |journal=Manitoba Pageant |volume=6 |issue=3 |access-date=5 October 2015}}</ref>]] | |||
Current members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are:<ref name="HBC">{{cite web |url=http://investor.hbc.com/directors.cfm |title=Board of Directors |deadurl=no |accessdate=28 January 2013}}</ref> | |||
*] | |||
{{Multiple image | |||
*Robert C. Baker | |||
| direction = vertical | |||
*David G. Leith | |||
| image3 = Hudson's Bay Company Flag.svg | |||
*William L. Mack | |||
| caption3 = ] from 1801 to 1965 | |||
*Lee S. Neibart | |||
| image2 = Hudson's Bay Company Flag (1707-1801).svg | |||
*Denise Pickett | |||
| caption2 = The Company's flag from 1707 to 1801 | |||
*Wayne Pommen | |||
| image1 = Hudson's Bay Company Flag (1682-1707).svg | |||
*Earl Rotman | |||
| caption1 = The Company's flag from 1682 to 1707 | |||
*Matthew Rubel | |||
}} | |||
{{As of|2018|1}}, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are:<ref name="BofD">{{Cite web |title=Board of Directors |url=http://investor.hbc.com/directors.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120094814/http://investor.hbc.com/directors.cfm |archive-date=20 January 2018 |access-date=7 January 2018 |website=Hudson's Bay Company}}</ref> | |||
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}} | |||
* ] | |||
* Robert C. Baker | |||
* Eric Gross | |||
* Steven Langman | |||
* David G. Leith | |||
* William L. Mack | |||
* Lee S. Neibart | |||
* Denise Pickett | |||
* Wayne Pommen | |||
* Earl Rotman | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
===Corporate hierarchy=== | ===Corporate hierarchy=== | ||
Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid |
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carlos |first1=Ann M. |last2=Lewis |first2=Frank D. |date=September 1993 |title=Indians, the Beaver, and the Bay: The Economics of Depletion in the Lands of Hudson's Bay Company, 1700–1763 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=465–494 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700013450 |jstor=2122402|s2cid=154869132 }}</ref><ref name="Judd">{{Cite journal |last=Judd |first=Carol |date=November 1980 |title=Native labour and social stratification in Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, 1770–1870 |journal=Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=305–314 |doi=10.1111/j.1755-618X.1980.tb00707.x}}</ref> | ||
;Hierarchichal order pre-1821<ref name="Judd" /> | |||
===Governors=== | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! align="center" width="50" | # | |||
! align="center" width="360" | Job Title | |||
|- | |||
|||''' ''OFFICERS'' ''' | |||
|- | |||
| 1 || ''Chief Factor'' | |||
|- | |||
| 2|| ''Second'' | |||
|- | |||
| 3 || ''Master'' | |||
|- | |||
| 4|| ''Sloopmaster'' <br /> ''Surgeon'' | |||
|- | |||
| 5|| ''Writer'' | |||
|- | |||
| 6|| ''Apprentice'' | |||
|- | |||
|||''' ''SERVANTS'' ''' | |||
|- | |||
|1|| ''Tradesman'' <br /> ''Steersman'' | |||
|- | |||
|2|| ''Canoeman'' <br /> ''Bowsman'' | |||
|- | |||
|3|| ''Middleman'' | |||
|- | |||
|4|| ''Labourer'' | |||
|} | |||
;Hierarchical order 1821–1871<ref name="Judd" /><ref>Taché, Alexandre Antonin & Cameron, Donald Roderick (1870). ''Sketch of the North-west of America''. Montreal: John Lovell, p. 72.</ref> | |||
# 1670–1682 ] | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
# 1683–1685 ] | |||
! align="center" width="50" | # | |||
# 1685–1692 ] | |||
! align="center" width="260" | Job Title | |||
# 1692–1696 Sir Stephen Evans | |||
! align="left" width="180" | Pay per year | |||
# 1696–1700 Sir ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1700–1712 ] | |||
|||colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" |'''COMMISSIONED OFFICERS''' | |||
# 1712–1743 Sir ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1744–1746 ] | |||
|1 || ''Governor of Rupert's Land'' || ] | |||
# 1746–1750 Thomas Knapp | |||
|- | |||
# 1750–1760 Sir ] | |||
| 2 || ''Chief Factor'' || Two shares | |||
# 1760–1770 Sir ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1770–1782 Sir ] | |||
|3 || ''Chief Trader'' || One share | |||
# 1782–1799 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1799–1807 Sir ] | |||
| || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" | '''GENTLEMEN''' | |||
# 1807–1812 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1812–1822 ] | |||
|4 || ''Clerk'' || £75–100 | |||
# 1822–1852 ] in 1826, Simpson becomes governor of the HBC | |||
|- | |||
# 1852–1856 ] | |||
| 5 ||''Apprenticed Clerk'' || £25–27 | |||
# 1856–1858 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1858–1863 ] | |||
| || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" | '''NON-GENTLEMEN''' | |||
# 1863–1868 Sir ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1868–1869 ] | |||
| 6 || ''Postmaster'' || £40–75 | |||
# 1869–1874 Sir ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1874–1880 ] | |||
|7 || ''Guide'' <br /> ''Interpreter'' <br /> ''Sloopmaster'' ||£30–45 | |||
# 1880–1889 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1889–1914 ] | |||
| 8 || ''Apprentice postmaster'' || | |||
# 1914–1915 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1916–1925 Sir ] | |||
| ||colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" | '''SERVANTS''' | |||
# 1925–1931 ] | |||
|- | |||
# 1931–1952 Sir ] | |||
| 9 || ''Tradesman'' <br /> ''Steersman'' <br />''Boatman'' <br /> ''Bowsman'' <br /> ''Middleman'' <br /> ''Labourer''|| £16–40 | |||
# 1952–1965 William Keswick | |||
|} | |||
# 1965–1970 ] | |||
# 1970–1982 ] | |||
====Progression==== | |||
# 1982–1994 ] | |||
In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720.<!-- convert to contemporary equivalents --><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Morton |first1=Arthur S. |title=A History of the Canadian West to 1870–71 |last2=Thomas |first2=Lewis G. |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-8020-4033-6 |edition=2nd |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=690 |orig-year=1939}}</ref> | |||
# 1994–1997 ] | |||
===Governors=== | |||
{{anchor|List of Governors}} | |||
Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Governors |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927115548/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/ |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
{{Div col|colwidth=27em}} | |||
# 1670–82 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Governors: His Highness Prince Rupert of the Rhine |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/princerupert.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928173106/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/princerupert.asp |archive-date=28 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rupert, Prince |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/r/rupert_prince.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924114648/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/r/rupert_prince.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1683–85 ] – resigned as governor to become James II, King of England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=John |url={{google books|w5bGqCEp5n8C|plainurl=yes|page=44}} |title=James II |date=2000 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3000-8728-4 |edition=revised, 3rd |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=44 |access-date=7 October 2015 |orig-year=1978}}</ref> | |||
# 1685–92 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Governors: John, Lord Churchill (later 1st Duke of Marlborough) |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/johnchurchill |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928171553/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/johnchurchill |archive-date=28 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Churchill, John |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/c/churchill_john_malborough.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113543/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/c/churchill_john_malborough.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1692–96 Sir ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Evance, Stephen (c.1655–1712), of the 'Black Boy', Lombard Street, London |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/evance-stephen-1655-1712 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=History of Parliament Online}}</ref> | |||
# 1696–1700 Sir ]<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Trumbull, William (1639-1716) |last=Courtney |first=William Prideaux |volume=57 |pages=265–267}}</ref> | |||
# 1700–12 Sir Stephen Evance | |||
# 1712–43 Sir ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake, Bibye (Sir) |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/_docs/hbca/biographical/l/lake_bibye1712-1743.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304212125/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_bibye1712-1743.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1744–46 Benjamin Pitt<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pitt, Benjamin |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/p/pitt_benjamin.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224722/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/p/pitt_benjamin.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1746–50 Thomas Knapp<ref>{{Cite web |title=Knapp, Thomas |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/k/knapp_thomas.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305031420/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/k/knapp_thomas.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1750–60 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake, Atwell (Sir) |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_atwell.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305031358/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_atwell.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1760–70 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Baker, William (Sir) |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/baker_william.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822175927/http://gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/baker_william.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1770–82 Sir Bibye Lake Jr.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake, Bibye |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_bibye1770-1782.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822182735/http://gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_bibye1770-1782.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1782–99 Samuel Wegg<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wegg, Samuel |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/w/wegg_samuel.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822185433/http://gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/w/wegg_samuel.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1799–1807 Sir James Winter Lake<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake, James Winter (Sir) |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_james-winter.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210548/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lake_james-winter.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1807–12 William Mainwaring<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mainwaring, William |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/m/mainwaring_william.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822183104/http://gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/m/mainwaring_william.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref><!-- HBC Archives specifically state he is not ] --> | |||
# 1812–22 Joseph Berens<ref>{{Cite web |title=Berens, Joseph |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/berens_joseph.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010344/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/berens_joseph.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1822–52 ] in 1826, Simpson becomes governor of the Canadian region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Governors: Sir John Henry Pelly, Bart. |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/johnhenrypelly |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=1 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001162059/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/johnhenrypelly |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
# 1852–56 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colville, Andrew |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/c/colville_andrew.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518103527/https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/c/colville_andrew.pdf |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1856–58 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shepherd, John |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/shepherd_john.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304203256/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/shepherd_john.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1858–63 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Berens, Henry Hulse |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/berens_henry.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822180132/http://gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/b/berens_henry.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1863–68 Sir ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Head, Edmund Walker |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/h/head_edmund-walker.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924040430/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/h/head_edmund-walker.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1868–69 ] | |||
# 1869–74 Sir ]<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Northcote, Stafford Henry |last=Sanders |first=Lloyd Charles |author-link=Lloyd Charles Sanders |volume=41 |pages=194–199}}</ref> | |||
# 1874–80 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Goschen, George Joachim |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/g/goschen_george-joachim.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923232231/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/g/goschen_george-joachim.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1880–89 ]<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Colvile, Eden |first=J.E. |last=Rea |volume=12 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/colvile_eden_12E.html |access-date=9 October 2015}}</ref> | |||
# 1889–1914 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Governors: Donald A. Smith |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928171433/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith |archive-date=28 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Smith, Donald Alexander |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/smith_donald-alexander.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233939/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/smith_donald-alexander.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1914–15 ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Skinner, Thomas |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/skinner_thomas1914-1915.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923235629/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/skinner_thomas1914-1915.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=Hudson's Bay Company Archives}}</ref> | |||
# 1916–25 ] | |||
# 1925–31 Charles Vincent Sale | |||
# 1931–52 Sir ] – first governor to visit HBC operations in Canada.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url={{google books||plainurl=yes|page=591}} |title=Here Be Dragons: Telling Tales of People, Passion and Power |date=2004 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-6792-1 |location=Toronto |page=591 |access-date=9 October 2015}}</ref> | |||
# 1952–65 ] | |||
# 1965–70 ] | |||
# 1970–82 George T. Richardson | |||
# 1982–94 Donald S. McGiverin | |||
# 1994–97 David E. Mitchell | |||
# 1997–2006 ] | # 1997–2006 ] | ||
# |
# 2006–08 ] | ||
# 2008 ] | # 2008 ] – first female governor. | ||
# 2008–present ] | # 2008–present ] | ||
{{div col end}} | |||
<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/ | title=HBC Heritage/Governors}}</ref> | |||
==Miscellany== | |||
===Rent obligation under charter=== | |||
Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give two ] skins and two black ] pelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads:{{blockquote|...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted.<ref name=charter/>}} | |||
The ceremony was first conducted with the ] (the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with King ] in 1939, and last with his daughter, Queen ] in 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo in ]. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four "rent ceremonies" took place in or around Winnipeg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Business: Fur Trade: The Rent Ceremony |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/rentceremony |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006193440/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/business/fur/rentceremony |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
===HBC explorers, builders, and associates=== | |||
* ] ({{Circa|1640|1721}}) was a director of Hudson's Bay Company and an explorer who died in an expedition to the Northwest Passage.<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Knight, James |first=Ernest S. |last=Dodge |volume=2 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/knight_james_2E.html |access-date=7 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Associates: James Knight |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/associates/knight |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006075119/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/associates/knight |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Knight, James |last=Laughton |first=John Knox |author-link=John Knox Laughton |volume=31 |page=254}}</ref> | |||
* ] ({{Circa|1667}} – 1 November 1724), a.k.a. the Boy Kelsey, was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. In 1690, Henry Kelsey embarked on a 2-year exploration journey that made him the first white man to see buffalo.<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Kelsey, Henry |volume=2 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kelsey_henry_2E.html |access-date=7 October 2015}}</ref> | |||
* ] ({{Circa|1697}} – 5 February 1717) was a woman of the Chipewyan nation who was a guide and interpreter for Hudson's Bay Company.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Women: Thanadelthur |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/women/thanadelthur.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222105152/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/women/thanadelthur.asp |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
* ] (1745–92) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson's Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan.<ref name=DNB_Hearne/><ref name=Hearne/> | |||
* ] (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader that worked for both the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Trading Company. He is best known for his extensive explorations and map-making activities. He mapped almost half of North America between the 46th and 60th parallels, from the St.Lawrence and Great Lakes all the way to the Pacific.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Explorers: David Thompson |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/david-thompson |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007053041/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/david-thompson |archive-date=7 October 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
* ] (20 June 1771 – 8 April 1820) was a Scottish peer. He was a Scottish philanthropist who, as HBC's majority shareholder, arranged to purchase land at Red River to establish a colony for dispossessed Scottish immigrants.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Douglas, Thomas (1771-1820) |last=Christy |first=Miller |author-link=Miller Christy |volume=15 |pages=350–353}}</ref> | |||
* ] or Isabella Gunn ({{Circa|1780}} – 7 November 1861), also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), noted for having passed herself as a man, thereby becoming the first European woman to travel to Rupert's Land, now part of Western Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Women: Isobel Gunn |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/women/isobelgunn.asp |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222104409/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/women/isobelgunn.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
* ] (1787 – 7 September 1860) was the Canadian governor of Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power, a period which began in 1821 following the company's merger with the North West Trading Company.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Simpson, George |last=Harris |first=Charles Alexander |author-link=Charles Alexander Harris |volume=52 |pages=269–270}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Builders: Sir George Simpson |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/simpson.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222114551/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/simpson.asp |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
* ] (c. 1799{{nbsp}}– 8 September 1890), a Scoto-Canadian trapper and trader who successfully crossed the entire ], opening up an overland route between ] on ] and ] on ]; first European to discover ] on the ].<ref>{{Citation |last=Wells |first=Garron |title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |year=1982 |url=http://www.biographi.ca |volume=XI |contribution=John McLean |contribution-url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mclean_john_1890_11E.html |place=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto}}.</ref> | |||
* ] (6 August 1820 – 21 January 1914), at various times Chief Factor of the ] district, Commissioner of the Montreal district, and President of the Council of the Northern Department, who pacified ] during the ] of 1870, thus enabling the transfer of ] from the HBC to the fledgling government of Canada. Later, he became Governor of the HBC.<ref name="martin">{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Joseph E. |year=2017 |title=Titans |journal=Canada's History |volume=97 |issue=5 |pages=47–53 |issn=1920-9894}}</ref> | |||
* ] (Inuktitut Aglooka ᐊᒡᓘᑲ English: "long strider") (30 September 1813 – 22 July 1893) was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Rae, John |last=Rix |first=Herbert |author-link=Herbert Rix |volume=47 |pages=151–153}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Explorers: Dr. John Rae |url=http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/johnrae.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009114937/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/explorers/johnrae.asp |archive-date=9 October 2015 |access-date=7 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> | |||
* ] (15 April 1834 – 9 March 1912) and grandson ] (1903–90) served at HBC; the former as a director and later as governor from 1952 to 1965. The Keswick family are the Scottish business dynasty that controls ]-based ], one of the original British trading houses or Hongs in ]. | |||
===HBC sternwheelers and steamships=== | |||
{{main|Hudson's Bay Company vessels}} | |||
{{col div}} | |||
* '']'' (1835–74) | |||
* ''Otter'' (1852–95)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hacking |first1=Norman R. |last2=Lamb |first2=W. Kaye |title=The Princess Story: A Century and A Half of West Coast Shipping |publisher=Mitchell Press Ltd |year=1976 |location=Vancouver}}</ref> | |||
* '']'' (1859–60)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=Robert |title=The Anson Northup, First Steamboat on the Red River |date=March 1928 |publisher=The Beaver |pages=162, 163}}</ref> | |||
* ''Caledonia'' (1891–98) – She ran aground on rocks at Port Simpson during a storm and her hull was destroyed. Her engines were put into the ''Caledonia 2'' | |||
* ''Caledonia (2)'' (1898–1909) – Her machinery was from the ''Caledonia 1'' | |||
* '']'' (1902–07) | |||
* '']'' (1878–83) | |||
* '']'' (1900) | |||
* ''Port Simpson'' (1907–12) | |||
* '']'' (1907–12) | |||
* ''Distributor'' (1920–48)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Beaver |date=June 1925 |page=121}}</ref> | |||
{{col div end}} | |||
===Rivals=== | |||
The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horner |first=Russ |date=23 June 2016 |title=HBC: Supply Chain Department at N.A.'s Oldest Firm is a Modern Day Leader |url=https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2016/06/hbc-supply-chain-department-at-n-a-s-oldest-firm-is-a-modern-day-leader/ |website=Social Media for Business Performance |publisher=University of Waterloo Centre for Extended Learning |access-date=22 March 2018 |archive-date=23 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323032422/https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2016/06/hbc-supply-chain-department-at-n-a-s-oldest-firm-is-a-modern-day-leader/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! Years !! Company !! Fate | |||
|- | |||
| 1551–1917 || ] || Taken over by ] and now operates as charity. | |||
|- | |||
| 1581–1825 || ] || Dissolved | |||
|- | |||
| 1600–1874 || {{nowrap|]}} || Dissolved | |||
|- | |||
| 1602–1800 || ] || Went bankrupt and assets taken over by Dutch government | |||
|- | |||
| 1621–1791 || ] || Bought by the Dutch government | |||
|- | |||
| 1672–1752 || ] || Replaced by the ], which folded in 1821. | |||
|- | |||
| {{nowrap|1711–1850s}} || ] || Abolished by bankruptcy and the ] | |||
|- | |||
| 1779–1821 || ] || Merged with the HBC | |||
|- | |||
| 1799–1867 || ] || Folded with the sale of ] to the U.S. and commercial assets in North America sold to Hutchinson, Kohl & Company (now as the ]) | |||
|- | |||
| 1808–1842 || ] || Folded | |||
|} | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
{{Portal| |
{{Portal|Canada}} | ||
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* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* '']'' | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | * {{lang|fr|]}} | ||
{{div col end}} | {{div col end}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist| |
{{Reflist|30em|refs=}} | ||
==Bibliography== | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=John S. |url={{google books|fOscZfLNOQkC|plainurl=yes}} |title=Hudson's Bay Company As an Imperial Factor 1821–1869 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1957 |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |author-link=John Semple Galbraith |access-date=6 October 2015}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url=https://archive.org/details/companyofadventu0000newm_w0f1 |title=Company of Adventurers |volume=I |date=1985 |publisher=Viking, Penguin Books of Canada |isbn=978-0-6708-0379-8 |location=Markham, Ontario |author-link=Peter C. Newman |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Rich |first=Edwin Ernest |title=The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 – 1870 |date=1958 |publisher=Hudson's Bay Record Society |volume=I}} | |||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
{{refbegin}} | {{refbegin}} | ||
* {{ |
* {{Cite book |last=Bryce |first=George |url={{google books|Imc5lXU3KrkC|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Remarkable History of Hudson's Bay Company |date=1968 |publisher=B. Franklin |location=New York |author-link=George Bryce}} | ||
* {{Citation |last=Buss |first=Helen M |title=Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast |url={{google books|N4QKXOOjv_cC|plainurl=yes}} |year=2003 |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |isbn=978-0-7748-0973-3}} | |||
*Strong-Boag, Veronica and Anita Clair Fellman, ed. Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women’s History. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd., 1991. | |||
* {{Cite journal |year=1920 |title=The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History |journal=Periodical. An Illustrated Canadian History Magazine Published by the HBC 1920 – 1994. By CNHS Since 1994 |place=Winnipeg}} | |||
* Bryce, George. ''''. New York: B. Franklin, 1968. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Cowie |first=Isaac |url=https://archive.org/details/companyofadventu00cowiuoft |title=The Company of Adventurers: a Narrative of Seven Years in the Service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867–1874, on the Great Buffalo Plains |date=1913 |publisher=William Briggs |location=Toronto |author-link=Isaac Cowie}} | |||
* Canada's National History Society, ''The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History,'' Winnipeg: Canada's National History Society, 1920. Periodical. An illustrated Canadian history magazine published by the HBC 1920 - 1994. by CNHS since 1994 | |||
* Dillon |
* {{Cite book |last=Dillon |first=Richard H. |title=Siskiyou Trail: Hudson's Bay Company Route to California |date=2012 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-1-6180-9063-8 |location=New York |orig-year=1975}} | ||
* {{ |
* {{Citation |last=Elle |first=Andra-Warner |title=Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada's Fur Traders |url={{google books|3iXIqHDnIs4C|plainurl=yes}} |year=2009 |publisher=Heritage House |isbn=978-1-894974-68-4}} | ||
* {{Cite book |title="Opposition on the Coast": The Hudson's Bay Company, American Coasters, the Russian-American Company, and Native Traders on the Northwest Coast, 1825-1846 |date=2019 |publisher=The Champlain Society |isbn=978-0-7727-6441-6 |editor-last=Gibson |editor-first=James R. |language=en |doi=10.3138/9780772764430|s2cid=231624945 }} | |||
* {{citation |last =Elle |first = Andra-Warner |year =2009 |title =Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada's Fur Traders |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=3iXIqHDnIs4C&lpg=PP1&dq=Hudson's%20Bay%20Company&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=Heritage House Pub. Co |isbn=978-1-894974-68-4 |accessdate = }} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Hearne |first=Samuel |url={{google books|V5NcAAAAcAAJ|plainurl=yes}} |title=A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay, to the Northern Ocean |date=1795 |publisher=A. Strahan and T. Cadell Publishers |location=London |author-link=Samuel Hearne}} – 2011 reprint: {{google books|sR2aHj3eJUwC|A Journey to the Northern Ocean: The Adventures of Samuel Hearne}} | |||
* Hearne, Samuel. . Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2007. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Laut |first=Agnes C. |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestofgreatn01lautuoft |title=The Conquest of the Great Northwest |date=1908 |publisher=Outing Publishing |location=New York}} | |||
* Hudson's Bay Company Archives, ''A Brief History of the Hudson's Bay Company,'' http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/about/hbc_history.html, 2006 | |||
* MacKay |
* {{Cite book |last=MacKay |first=Douglas |title=The Honourable Company: A History of the Hudson's Bay Company |date=1936 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |location=Indianapolis}} | ||
* Maurice |
* {{Cite book |last=Maurice |first=Edward Beauclerk |url={{google books|FIcGxHHfsAkC|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers |date=2006 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co |isbn=978-0-5477-5432-1 |location=Boston |orig-year=2004}} | ||
* Murray |
* {{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Alexander Hunter |title=Expedition to Build a Hudson's Bay Company Post on the Yukon, 1847–48 |date=1848 |author-link=Alexander Hunter Murray}} | ||
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url=https://archive.org/details/caesarsofwildern00newm |title=Caesars of the Wilderness: Company of Adventurers|volume=II |date=1987 |publisher=Viking, Penguin Books of Canada |isbn=978-0-6708-0967-7 |location=Markham, Ontario}} | |||
* Newman, Peter C., An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Company, Toronto: Penguin Canada/Madison Press. 2002. Book. Previously published as Empire of the Bay ISBN 0-670-82969-2 | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofbayillus00pete |title=Empire of the Bay: An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Company |date=1989 |publisher=Viking, Penguin Books of Canada |isbn=978-0-6708-2969-9 |location=Markham, Ontario}} | |||
* Newman, Peter C., ''Company of Adventurers: How the Hudson's Bay Empire Deteremined the Destinay of a Continent''. Toronto: Penguin Canada. 2005. | |||
* Newman |
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url=https://archive.org/details/merchantprinces00newm |title=Merchant Princes: Company of Adventurers|volume=III |date=1991 |publisher=Viking, Penguin Books of Canada |isbn=978-0-6708-4098-4 |location=Markham, Ontario}} | ||
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofbayillus00pete |title=An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Company (Previously published as Empire of the Bay) |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin Canada/Madison Press |isbn=978-0-6708-2969-9 |location=Toronto}} | |||
* Newman, Peter C., ''Caesars of the Wilderness: Company of Adventurers, Vol. II.'' Markham, Ont.: Viking, Penguin Books of Canada, 1987. | |||
* Newman |
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Peter C. |title=Company of Adventurers: How the Hudson's Bay Empire Determined the Destiny of a Continent |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin Canada |isbn=978-0-1430-5147-3 |location=Toronto}} | ||
* {{Cite journal |last=Opp |first=James |year=2015 |title=Branding 'the Bay/la Baie': Corporate Identity, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Burden of History in the 1960s. |journal=Canadian Historical Review |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=223–256 |doi=10.3138/chr.2675 |s2cid=160967383}} | |||
* Rich, Edwin Ernest, ''Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 - 1870. 3 Volumes,'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1960. Book | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Reed |first=Charles B. |url=https://archive.org/details/mastersofwilder00reed |title=Masters of the Wilderness |date=1914 |publisher=Chicago Historical Society, University of Chicago Press}} | |||
* Rich, Edwin Ernest, ''Montreal and the Fur Trade,'' Montreal: McGill University, 1966. Book | |||
* Rich |
* {{Cite book |last=Rich |first=Edwin Ernest |title=The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 – 1870 |date=1959 |publisher=Hudson's Bay Record Society |volume=II}} | ||
* {{Cite book |last=Rich |first=Edwin Ernest |title=Montreal and the Fur Trade |date=1966 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-9431-9 |edition=reprint |series=Beatty Memorial Lectures |location=Montreal}} | |||
* Rich, Edwin Ernest, ''Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 - 1870. 3 Volumes,'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1960. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Rich |first=Edwin Ernest |url=https://archive.org/details/furtradenorthwes0000rich |title=The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857 |date=1967 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |location=Toronto |url-access=registration}} | |||
* Simmons, Deidre. ''''. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7735-3291-5 | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=Deidre |url={{google books|y7pT8yTwbnsC|plainurl=yes}} |title=Keepers of the Record: The History of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives |date=2007 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-3291-5 |location=Montreal}} | |||
* Tichenor, Harold, ''The Blanket: An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Point Blanket,'' Toronto: Quantum Books for Hudson's Bay Company, 2002. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Tichenor |first=Harold |title=The Blanket: An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Point Blanket |date=2002 |publisher=Quantum Books for Hudson's Bay Company |isbn=978-1-8958-9220-8 |location=Toronto}} | |||
* Van Kirk, Sylvia. ''''. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Pub., 1980. | |||
*Van Kirk |
* {{Cite book |last=Van Kirk |first=Sylvia |title=Many Tender Ties: Women in the Fur- Trade Society, 1670–1870 |date=1999 |publisher=Watson & Dwyer |isbn=978-1-8962-3951-4 |location=Winnipeg |orig-year=1980}} – 1983 edition: {{google books|JBAp4KhDrdUC|Many Tender Ties: Women in the Fur- Trade Society, 1670–1870}} | ||
* {{Cite journal |last=Van Kirk |first=Sylvia |year=1984 |title=The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670–1830 |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.2307/3346234 |jstor=3346234}} | |||
* Willson, Beckles. ''The Great Company (1667–1871): A History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-adventurers Trading Into Hudson's Bay''. London:Smith, Elder and Company, 1900. | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Van Kirk |first=Sylvia |url=https://archive.org/details/rethinkingcanada00stro_0 |title=Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History |date=1991 |publisher=Copp Clark Pitman |isbn=978-0-7730-5097-6 |editor-last=Strong-Boag |editor-first=Veronica |edition=2nd |location=Toronto |chapter=The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670–1830 |editor-last2=Fellman |editor-first2=Anita Clair}} | |||
*White, Bruce. M. "." Ethnohistory 46, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 109–147. | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=White |first=Bruce. M. |date=Winter 1999 |title=The Woman who Married a Beaver: Trade Patterns and Gender Roles in the Ojibwa Fur Trade |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=109–147 |jstor=483430}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Willson |first=Beckles |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42279/42279-h/42279-h.htm |title=The Great Company (1667–1871): A History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay |date=1900 |publisher=Smith, Elder and Company |location=London |author-link=Henry Beckles Willson}} – Also: {{google books|HwsqAAAAYAAJ|The Great Company, 1667–1871: Being a History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay }} | |||
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507152714/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/home |date=7 May 2017 }} | |||
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* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Hudson's Bay Company")}} | |||
* 1823–1862. 0.42 cubic feet (1 box). At the Contains records from Work's service as an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company at various company settlements, including Fort Vancouver, Fort Colvile, Spokane House, Fort Simpson, Fort Nisqually, and Fort Victoria. | |||
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* | * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016171225/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/hudsons-bay-company |date=16 October 2013 }} | ||
* – An artistic rendition of the Canadian fur trade, from the UBC Library Digital Collections, depicting social life, activities and customs in Hudson's Bay Company posts in the 19th |
* – An artistic rendition of the Canadian fur trade, from the UBC Library Digital Collections, depicting social life, activities and customs in Hudson's Bay Company posts in the 19th century | ||
* at Dartmouth College Library | |||
* {{PM20|FID=co/059846|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}} | |||
===Archives=== | |||
* 1823-1862. 0.42 cubic feet (1 box). At the Contains records from Work's service as an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company at various company settlements including Fort Vancouver, Fort Colvile, Spokane House, Fort Simpson, Fort Nisqually, and Fort Victoria. | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:15, 26 December 2024
Canadian retail business group and former fur trading business This article is about the holding company. For the department store chain, see Hudson's Bay (department store). For other uses, see Hudson's Bay.
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 2 May 1670; 354 years ago (2 May 1670) London, England |
Headquarters |
|
Key people | Richard Baker (governor, executive chairman and CEO) |
Revenue | CA$9.4 billion (2018) |
Net income | CA$−631 million (2018) |
Owner | NRDC Equity Partners (48%) |
Number of employees | 30,000 (2017) |
Divisions | |
Website | www |
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; French: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the largest and oldest corporation in Canada. As of December 2024, HBC has a Canadian division responsible for the namesake Hudson's Bay department stores (colloquially The Bay; La Baie in French), and an American division (Saks Global) that includes the full-line luxury stores Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue; the off-price department stores Neiman Marcus Last Call and Saks Off 5th; and the home furnishings website Horchow. It also owns or manages approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estate through its HBC Properties and Investments business unit.
After incorporation by English royal charter in 1670, the company was granted a right of "sole trade and commerce" over an expansive area of land known as Rupert's Land, comprising much of the Hudson Bay drainage basin. This right effectively gave the company a commercial monopoly over that area. The HBC functioned as the de facto government in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of the Deed of Surrender, authorized by the Rupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English- and later British-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to fine homeware in a small number of sales shops (as opposed to trading posts) across Canada. These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today.
In 2006, Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor. From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012. HBC's U.S. headquarters are in Lower Manhattan, New York City, while its Canadian headquarters are in Toronto. The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in the Netherlands, were sold by the end of 2019. The company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "HBC.TO" until Richard Baker and a group of shareholders took the company private in March 2020.
History
17th century
For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based in New France, operated a de facto monopoly in the North American fur trade. Two French traders, Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers (Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from the Cree that the best fur country lay north and west of Lake Superior, and that there was a "frozen sea" still further north. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According to Peter C. Newman, "concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from the St. Lawrence River, the French governor", Marquis d'Argenson (in office 1658–61), "refused to grant the coureurs des bois permission to scout the distant territory". Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government.
Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants in Boston to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into pack ice in Hudson Strait. Boston-based English commissioner Colonel George Cartwright learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing. Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of the Great Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship of Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king – Charles II. In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, the Nonsuch and the Eaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on the Nonsuch, commanded by Captain Zachariah Gillam, while the Eaglet was commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port at Deptford, England, but the Eaglet was forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland.
The Nonsuch continued to James Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fort at the mouth of the Rupert River. It later became known as "Rupert House", and developed as the community of present-day Waskaganish, Quebec. Both the fort and the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69, Nonsuch returned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay. The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay.
United Kingdom legislation
Hudson's Bay Company Act 1689 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Parliament of England | |
Long title | An Act for confirming to the Governor and Company trading to Hudson's Bay, their Privileges and Trade. |
Citation | 2 Will. & Mar. c. 15 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 20 May 1690 |
A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay" on 2 May 1670. The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named "Rupert's Land" after Prince Rupert, the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi), comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-central United States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land "purchase" in the 19th century.
The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House (1668, southeast), Moose Factory (1673, south) and Fort Albany, Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper: New Severn (1685), York Factory (1684), and Fort Churchill (1717). Inland posts were not built until 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of the Saskatchewan and Red rivers. Originally called "factories" because the "factor", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations in New Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the "Made Beaver" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: "the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB".
During the fall and winter, First Nations men and European fur trappers accomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled by canoe and on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and the Hudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized "Trading Ceremony" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf. During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post.
The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent a raiding party under the Chevalier des Troyes more than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointed Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt to resettle Fort Albany failed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and France were officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBC recovered Fort Albany; d'Iberville captured York Factory in 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.
In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Hudson's Bay (5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany again in 1709 during Queen Anne's War but was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. See Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.
18th century
With the ending of the Nine Years' War in 1697, and the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713 with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession. (The Kingdom of Great Britain had been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707).
After the treaty, the HBC built Prince of Wales Fort, a stone star fort at the mouth of the nearby Churchill River.In 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, a French squadron under Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse captured and demolished York Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.
In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade. The number of indigo stripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts.
A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by the East India Company over India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major competitor.
Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established by Samuel Hearne in 1774 with Cumberland House, Saskatchewan.
Conversely, a number of inland HBC "houses" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not "finished" until 1768. Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a "New Discovery" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location. Additional inland posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s. These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts.
In 1779, other traders founded the North West Company (NWC) in Montreal as a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the first joint-stock company in Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783. By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits.
19th century
The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the small Pemmican War in 1816. The Battle of Seven Oaks on 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute. In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable. Their combined territory was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory, which reached to the Arctic Ocean in the north and, with the creation of the Columbia Department in the Pacific Northwest, to the Pacific Ocean in the west. The NWC's regional headquarters at Fort George (Fort Astoria) was relocated to Fort Vancouver by 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.
Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management of Sir George Simpson (1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km (3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees.
Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its own paper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in the Red River Colony.
Competition and exploration
Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair and Andrew McDermot (Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by the Red River Trails to Norman Kittson, a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled the maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast until the 1830s.
Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River. Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief Factor John McLoughlin of the company's Columbia District, was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.
Additional early presence in present-day United States
Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites: Spokane House, Fort Okanogan and Fort Nez Percés. Fort Colville located further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825.
Fort Umpqua was established in 1832 in present-day southern Oregon after the Willamette River had been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State of Washington, resulting in Fort Nisqually a few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites.
The HBC established Fort Boise in 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the American Fort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of the Oregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail.
HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development of Northern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as the Siskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading post at Yerba Buena (San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company was French Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city of Stockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser known Peter Skene Ogden and Samuel Black.
The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859.
Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North as Fort Stikine in the Alaska Panhandle by present-day Wrangell. The RAC-HBC agreement (1839) with the Russian American Company (RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. The Puget Sound Agricultural Company subsidiary was created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually, Fort Cowlitz and Fort Langley in present-day southern British Columbia.
The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by the first successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led by Marcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into the Willamette Valley of Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the 49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store at Oregon City. He later became known as the "Father of Oregon".
Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia)
The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northern British Columbia with noteworthy sites: Fort Alexandria, Fort d'Épinette (Fort St. John), Fort St. James, Fort George and Fort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops).
Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as the Rocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from the Fort George regional headquarter on the southern shore of the Columbia River all the way to the Fraser River. The three boats 40some crew led by the James McMillan were first to officially ever make it to Puget Sound from the continent, to reach its northern end into Boundary Bay and to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The first Fort Langley was subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity.
The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline with Fort Simpson (1831) on the Nass River, Fort McLoughlin (1833) and the Beaver (1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: "By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over".
The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur rich New Caledonia district in current day northern British Columbia: "monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains".
By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the looming Oregon Treaty border negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC built Fort Victoria at the southern end of present-day Vancouver Island in southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. The Fort Rupert (1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland, Fort Hope and Fort Yale (1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on the Fraser River as far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuilt Fort Langley (1840) on the Lower Fraser to Fort Kamloops by 1850 and the rest of the transportation network to York Factory on the Hudson Bay along with the New Caledonia district fur returns.
End of monopoly
The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly. Guillaume Sayer, a Métis trapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The Court of Assiniboia brought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led by Louis Riel Sr. gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, Judge Adam Thom did not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, "Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!" ("Trade is free! Trade is free!"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River.
Another factor was the findings of the Palliser Expedition of 1857 to 1860, led by Captain John Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement.
In 1863, the International Financial Society bought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather the financial collapse of 1866 which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America.
In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer of CA$10 million, the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses. HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments. The deal, known as the Deed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, the North-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of the Rupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province, Manitoba, to the Confederation on 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force.
During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West.
Shift to department stores
See also: Hudson's Bay (department store)The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established in Fort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops in Fort Victoria (1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884), Vancouver (1887), Vernon (1887), Edmonton (1890), Yorkton (1898), and Nelson (1902). The first of the grand "original six" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.
20th century
The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business. During the Russian Civil War, the company briefly operated in the Siberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with the Soviet government until departing in 1924. The company co-founded Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company (HBOG) in 1926 with Marland Oil Company (which merged with Conoco in 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand. The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic.
Indigenous health
The medical scientist Frederick Banting was travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheeler Distributor were responsible for spreading the influenza virus down the Slave River and Mackenzie River. Less than a decade after the 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north. Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with a Toronto Star reporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record. The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia. Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them.
The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: "For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods." He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that "the result was a diet of 'flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'"
The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks "false and slanderous", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at the King Edward Hotel to demand a retraction. Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic. As A. Y. Jackson, the Group of Seven painter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: "He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes."
Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior:
He noted that "infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth"; that "white man's food leads to decay of native teeth"; that "tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay"; that "an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell"; and that "the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The "proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer.
Latter 20th century
In 1960, the company acquired Morgan's allowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay. The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores. HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967.
In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law, Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto.
In 1972, the company acquired the four-store Shop-Rite chain of catalogue stores. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales. In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquired Freimans department stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay.
In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum.
In 1978, the Zellers discount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers. Also in 1978, Simpson's department stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991. (The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but became Sears Canada in 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner.
In 1979, Canadian billionaire Kenneth Thomson won control of the company in a battle with George Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million. Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG to Dome Petroleum in 1981. In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares.
Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (now North American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adopted The North West Company name three years later.
The HBC acquired Towers Department Stores in 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, and Woodward's stores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores. Kmart Canada was acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers.
In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailing fur in response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose. In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers.
21st century
In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, a Nova Scotia-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company. Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswoman Anita Zucker, widow of Jerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution, Dominion Textile.
It had been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 2001 to 2005. On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release, the HBC announced that Zucker would replace Yves Fortier as governor and George Heller as CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO.
On 16 July 2008, the company was sold to NRDC Equity Partners for just over $1.1 billion, a private equity firm based in Purchase, New York, which already owned Lord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States. The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008.
In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billion initial public offering (IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as "Hudson's Bay". The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Company coat of arms, designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving a wordmark from the original HBC flag), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand.
In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of an online flash sales site, the Gilt Groupe, for US$250 million. HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gone bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany.
On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach "amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies". A July 2019 hack of Capital One, which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC.
In June 2019, a consortium including chairman Richard Baker, Rhône Group, WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private. The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc. said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan. In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private.
Aside from Hudson's Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Saks Off Fifth, HBC sold Galeria Kaufhof, Galeria Inno, Gilt Groupe, and Lord & Taylor by August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firm Signa Holding. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold to Le Tote for $75 million. The remaining stores in the Netherlands were sold by the end of 2019.
By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales of Galeria Kaufhof, Galeria Inno, Gilt Groupe, and Lord & Taylor as the most recent steps. A feature article by Bloomberg News mentioned that CEO Helena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, "had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay". She was selling assets "to put the company on more solid financial footing" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC "has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into irrelevance".
In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker. Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange, with Richard A. Baker replacing Foulkes as CEO.
In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products.
Acquisition and sale of other chains
From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores called Designer Depot. Similar to the Winners and HomeSense retail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold. Another HBC chain, Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012. Established in 1950, Fields was acquired by Zellers in 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio. In early 2019, HBC announced that all 37 Home Outfitters stores would be phased out by year end.
In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture to Macy's for a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase of Neiman Marcus Group Inc. It did not proceed with either deal. On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC and Sycamore Partners were preparing bids to buy Kohl's.
Zellers
In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailer Target Corporation and shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013. Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open. The Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers. Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio to Target Canada in 2011. By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores.
In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023.
Lord & Taylor
On 24 January 2012, the Financial Post reported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolved Hudson's Bay Trading Company and that the HBC would now also operate the Lord & Taylor chain. At the time, the company was run by president Bonnie Brooks. Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer.
In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagship Lord & Taylor store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to WeWork Property Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor. The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces.
In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business to Le Tote Inc., which was to pay CA$99.5 million in cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additional CA$33.2 million two years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote. The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value of CA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as "Not a clean exit". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated at CA$77 million cash per year.
Saks, Inc.
On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buy Saks, Inc., operator of the U.S. Saks Fifth Avenue brand, for US$2.9 billion, or $16 per share. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013. The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon. After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions.
Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno
HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary, Galeria Inno, from Metro Group in September 2015 for US$3.2 billion.
On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firm Signa Holding for Kaufhof and other real estate. An unnamed source told CNBC that the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros. This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal. In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt merged as part of a spin off.
HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firm Signa Holding in June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC. At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end.
Neiman Marcus
On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquire Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations.
Operations
The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has an HBC Rewards program, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house.
The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009.
Olympic outfitter
The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands.
On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier, Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004. The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold to Target Canada).
HBC's 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics uniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy red letter jackets and Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material.
HBC's apparel for the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The "Red Mittens" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold for CA$10, with one-third of the proceeds going to the Canadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the "Canada" hoodies.
The HBC's 2010 Winter Olympics apparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like a Cowichan sweater. After a meeting between HBC representatives and Cowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations.
Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the 2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended the Vancouver Olympics, noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing the Games with their "Canada" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year). HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games.
In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the 2022 Winter Olympics, Lululemon would replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter.
Archives
See also: Hudson's Bay Company ArchivesThe legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year.
On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba.
At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs. More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building.
In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations "Memory of the World Programme" project, under UNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc.
Corporate governance
The Company's flag from 1682 to 1707The Company's flag from 1707 to 1801Flag of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1801 to 1965As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are:
- Richard A. Baker
- Robert C. Baker
- Eric Gross
- Steven Langman
- David G. Leith
- William L. Mack
- Lee S. Neibart
- Denise Pickett
- Wayne Pommen
- Earl Rotman
- Matthew Rubel
- Andrea Wong
Corporate hierarchy
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart.
- Hierarchichal order pre-1821
# | Job Title |
---|---|
OFFICERS | |
1 | Chief Factor |
2 | Second |
3 | Master |
4 | Sloopmaster Surgeon |
5 | Writer |
6 | Apprentice |
SERVANTS | |
1 | Tradesman Steersman |
2 | Canoeman Bowsman |
3 | Middleman |
4 | Labourer |
- Hierarchical order 1821–1871
# | Job Title | Pay per year |
---|---|---|
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS | ||
1 | Governor of Rupert's Land | Performance Pay |
2 | Chief Factor | Two shares |
3 | Chief Trader | One share |
GENTLEMEN | ||
4 | Clerk | £75–100 |
5 | Apprenticed Clerk | £25–27 |
NON-GENTLEMEN | ||
6 | Postmaster | £40–75 |
7 | Guide Interpreter Sloopmaster |
£30–45 |
8 | Apprentice postmaster | |
SERVANTS | ||
9 | Tradesman Steersman Boatman Bowsman Middleman Labourer |
£16–40 |
Progression
In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720.
Governors
Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company:
- 1670–82 Prince Rupert of the Rhine
- 1683–85 James Stuart, Duke of York – resigned as governor to become James II, King of England.
- 1685–92 John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough
- 1692–96 Sir Stephen Evance
- 1696–1700 Sir William Trumbull
- 1700–12 Sir Stephen Evance
- 1712–43 Sir Bibye Lake
- 1744–46 Benjamin Pitt
- 1746–50 Thomas Knapp
- 1750–60 Sir Atwell Lake
- 1760–70 Sir William Baker
- 1770–82 Sir Bibye Lake Jr.
- 1782–99 Samuel Wegg
- 1799–1807 Sir James Winter Lake
- 1807–12 William Mainwaring
- 1812–22 Joseph Berens
- 1822–52 Sir John Henry Pelly in 1826, Simpson becomes governor of the Canadian region.
- 1852–56 Andrew Wedderburn Colvile
- 1856–58 John Shepherd
- 1858–63 Henry Hulse Berens
- 1863–68 Sir Edmund Walker Head
- 1868–69 John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
- 1869–74 Sir Stafford Henry Northcote
- 1874–80 George Joachim Goschen
- 1880–89 Eden Colvile
- 1889–1914 Donald Alexander Smith
- 1914–15 Sir Thomas Skinner
- 1916–25 Sir Robert Molesworth Kindersley
- 1925–31 Charles Vincent Sale
- 1931–52 Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper – first governor to visit HBC operations in Canada.
- 1952–65 William "Tony" Keswick
- 1965–70 Derick Heathcoat-Amory
- 1970–82 George T. Richardson
- 1982–94 Donald S. McGiverin
- 1994–97 David E. Mitchell
- 1997–2006 L. Yves Fortier
- 2006–08 Jerry Zucker
- 2008 Anita Zucker – first female governor.
- 2008–present Richard Baker
Miscellany
Rent obligation under charter
Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give two elk skins and two black beaver pelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads:
...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted.
The ceremony was first conducted with the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with King George VI in 1939, and last with his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo in Assiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four "rent ceremonies" took place in or around Winnipeg.
HBC explorers, builders, and associates
- James Knight (c. 1640 – c. 1721) was a director of Hudson's Bay Company and an explorer who died in an expedition to the Northwest Passage.
- Henry Kelsey (c. 1667 – 1 November 1724), a.k.a. the Boy Kelsey, was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. In 1690, Henry Kelsey embarked on a 2-year exploration journey that made him the first white man to see buffalo.
- Thanadelthur (c. 1697 – 5 February 1717) was a woman of the Chipewyan nation who was a guide and interpreter for Hudson's Bay Company.
- Samuel Hearne (1745–92) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson's Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan.
- David Thompson (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader that worked for both the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Trading Company. He is best known for his extensive explorations and map-making activities. He mapped almost half of North America between the 46th and 60th parallels, from the St.Lawrence and Great Lakes all the way to the Pacific.
- Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk (20 June 1771 – 8 April 1820) was a Scottish peer. He was a Scottish philanthropist who, as HBC's majority shareholder, arranged to purchase land at Red River to establish a colony for dispossessed Scottish immigrants.
- Isobel Gunn or Isabella Gunn (c. 1780 – 7 November 1861), also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), noted for having passed herself as a man, thereby becoming the first European woman to travel to Rupert's Land, now part of Western Canada.
- George Simpson (1787 – 7 September 1860) was the Canadian governor of Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power, a period which began in 1821 following the company's merger with the North West Trading Company.
- John McLean (c. 1799 – 8 September 1890), a Scoto-Canadian trapper and trader who successfully crossed the entire Labrador Peninsula, opening up an overland route between Fort Smith on Lake Melville and Fort Chimo on Ungava Bay; first European to discover Churchill Falls on the Churchill River.
- Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (6 August 1820 – 21 January 1914), at various times Chief Factor of the Labrador district, Commissioner of the Montreal district, and President of the Council of the Northern Department, who pacified Louis Riel during the Red River Rebellion of 1870, thus enabling the transfer of Rupert's Land from the HBC to the fledgling government of Canada. Later, he became Governor of the HBC.
- Dr. John Rae (Inuktitut Aglooka ᐊᒡᓘᑲ English: "long strider") (30 September 1813 – 22 July 1893) was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition.
- William Keswick (15 April 1834 – 9 March 1912) and grandson Sir William Johnstone Keswick (1903–90) served at HBC; the former as a director and later as governor from 1952 to 1965. The Keswick family are the Scottish business dynasty that controls Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson, one of the original British trading houses or Hongs in British Hong Kong.
HBC sternwheelers and steamships
Main article: Hudson's Bay Company vessels- Beaver (1835–74)
- Otter (1852–95)
- Anson Northup (1859–60)
- Caledonia (1891–98) – She ran aground on rocks at Port Simpson during a storm and her hull was destroyed. Her engines were put into the Caledonia 2
- Caledonia (2) (1898–1909) – Her machinery was from the Caledonia 1
- Mount Royal (1902–07)
- Princess Louise (1878–83)
- Strathcona (1900)
- Port Simpson (1907–12)
- Hazelton (1907–12)
- Distributor (1920–48)
Rivals
The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals.
Years | Company | Fate |
---|---|---|
1551–1917 | Muscovy Company | Taken over by Soviet Russia and now operates as charity. |
1581–1825 | Levant Company | Dissolved |
1600–1874 | Honourable East India Company | Dissolved |
1602–1800 | Dutch East India Company | Went bankrupt and assets taken over by Dutch government |
1621–1791 | Dutch West India Company | Bought by the Dutch government |
1672–1752 | Royal African Company | Replaced by the African Company of Merchants, which folded in 1821. |
1711–1850s | South Sea Company | Abolished by bankruptcy and the Louisiana Purchase |
1779–1821 | North West Company | Merged with the HBC |
1799–1867 | Russian-American Company | Folded with the sale of Russian America to the U.S. and commercial assets in North America sold to Hutchinson, Kohl & Company (now as the Alaska Commercial Company) |
1808–1842 | American Fur Company | Folded |
See also
- Beaver hat
- British colonization of the Americas
- Frontier (2016 TV series)
- Home Outfitters
- Hudson's Bay Company vessels
- Hudson's Bay point blanket
- Hudson's Bay tokens
- James Douglas (governor)
- List of department stores by country § Canada
- List of Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
- List of trading companies
- New Caledonia (Canada)
- North-West Rebellion
- The Romance of the Far Fur Country
- Voyageurs
References
- ^ "HBC Corporate Headquarters". Hudson's Bay Company. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
- "Our Company". Hudson's Bay Company. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- Shaw, Hollie (6 March 2013). "The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years". Financial Post. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- "HBC Introduces Development Division To Optimize Real Estate". PYMNTS.com. 21 October 2020.
- Patterson, Craig (20 October 2020). "Hudson's Bay Company Announces Division to Redevelop Real Estate Assets". Retail Insider.
- Chan, Kenneth (21 October 2020). "Hudson's Bay launches new real estate division to redevelop its stores". Daily Hive.
- ^ "The Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
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- Christy, Miller (1888). "Douglas, Thomas (1771-1820)" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 350–353.
- "Our History: People: Women: Isobel Gunn". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- Harris, Charles Alexander (1897). "Simpson, George" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 269–270.
- "Our History: People: Builders: Sir George Simpson". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- Wells, Garron (1982), "John McLean", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XI, Toronto: University of Toronto.
- Martin, Joseph E. (2017). "Titans". Canada's History. 97 (5): 47–53. ISSN 1920-9894.
- Rix, Herbert (1896). "Rae, John" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 151–153.
- "Our History: People: Explorers: Dr. John Rae". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- Hacking, Norman R.; Lamb, W. Kaye (1976). The Princess Story: A Century and A Half of West Coast Shipping. Vancouver: Mitchell Press Ltd.
- Watson, Robert (March 1928). The Anson Northup, First Steamboat on the Red River. The Beaver. pp. 162, 163.
- The Beaver. June 1925. p. 121.
- Horner, Russ (23 June 2016). "HBC: Supply Chain Department at N.A.'s Oldest Firm is a Modern Day Leader". Social Media for Business Performance. University of Waterloo Centre for Extended Learning. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
Bibliography
- Galbraith, John S. (1957). Hudson's Bay Company As an Imperial Factor 1821–1869. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- Newman, Peter C. (1985). Company of Adventurers. Vol. I. Markham, Ontario: Viking, Penguin Books of Canada. ISBN 978-0-6708-0379-8.
- Rich, Edwin Ernest (1958). The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 – 1870. Vol. I. Hudson's Bay Record Society.
Further reading
- Bryce, George (1968). The Remarkable History of Hudson's Bay Company. New York: B. Franklin.
- Buss, Helen M (2003), Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast, University of British Columbia Press, ISBN 978-0-7748-0973-3
- "The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History". Periodical. An Illustrated Canadian History Magazine Published by the HBC 1920 – 1994. By CNHS Since 1994. Winnipeg. 1920.
- Cowie, Isaac (1913). The Company of Adventurers: a Narrative of Seven Years in the Service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867–1874, on the Great Buffalo Plains. Toronto: William Briggs.
- Dillon, Richard H. (2012) . Siskiyou Trail: Hudson's Bay Company Route to California. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-1-6180-9063-8.
- Elle, Andra-Warner (2009), Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada's Fur Traders, Heritage House, ISBN 978-1-894974-68-4
- Gibson, James R., ed. (2019). "Opposition on the Coast": The Hudson's Bay Company, American Coasters, the Russian-American Company, and Native Traders on the Northwest Coast, 1825-1846. The Champlain Society. doi:10.3138/9780772764430. ISBN 978-0-7727-6441-6. S2CID 231624945.
- Hearne, Samuel (1795). A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay, to the Northern Ocean. London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell Publishers. – 2011 reprint: A Journey to the Northern Ocean: The Adventures of Samuel Hearne at Google Books
- Laut, Agnes C. (1908). The Conquest of the Great Northwest. New York: Outing Publishing.
- MacKay, Douglas (1936). The Honourable Company: A History of the Hudson's Bay Company. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
- Maurice, Edward Beauclerk (2006) . The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN 978-0-5477-5432-1.
- Murray, Alexander Hunter (1848). Expedition to Build a Hudson's Bay Company Post on the Yukon, 1847–48.
- Newman, Peter C. (1987). Caesars of the Wilderness: Company of Adventurers. Vol. II. Markham, Ontario: Viking, Penguin Books of Canada. ISBN 978-0-6708-0967-7.
- Newman, Peter C. (1989). Empire of the Bay: An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Company. Markham, Ontario: Viking, Penguin Books of Canada. ISBN 978-0-6708-2969-9.
- Newman, Peter C. (1991). Merchant Princes: Company of Adventurers. Vol. III. Markham, Ontario: Viking, Penguin Books of Canada. ISBN 978-0-6708-4098-4.
- Newman, Peter C. (2002). An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Company (Previously published as Empire of the Bay). Toronto: Penguin Canada/Madison Press. ISBN 978-0-6708-2969-9.
- Newman, Peter C. (2005). Company of Adventurers: How the Hudson's Bay Empire Determined the Destiny of a Continent. Toronto: Penguin Canada. ISBN 978-0-1430-5147-3.
- Opp, James (2015). "Branding 'the Bay/la Baie': Corporate Identity, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Burden of History in the 1960s". Canadian Historical Review. 96 (2): 223–256. doi:10.3138/chr.2675. S2CID 160967383.
- Reed, Charles B. (1914). Masters of the Wilderness. Chicago Historical Society, University of Chicago Press.
- Rich, Edwin Ernest (1959). The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670 – 1870. Vol. II. Hudson's Bay Record Society.
- Rich, Edwin Ernest (1966). Montreal and the Fur Trade. Beatty Memorial Lectures (reprint ed.). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-9431-9.
- Rich, Edwin Ernest (1967). The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
- Simmons, Deidre (2007). Keepers of the Record: The History of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3291-5.
- Tichenor, Harold (2002). The Blanket: An Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Point Blanket. Toronto: Quantum Books for Hudson's Bay Company. ISBN 978-1-8958-9220-8.
- Van Kirk, Sylvia (1999) . Many Tender Ties: Women in the Fur- Trade Society, 1670–1870. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer. ISBN 978-1-8962-3951-4. – 1983 edition: Many Tender Ties: Women in the Fur- Trade Society, 1670–1870 at Google Books
- Van Kirk, Sylvia (1984). "The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670–1830". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 7 (3): 9–13. doi:10.2307/3346234. JSTOR 3346234.
- Van Kirk, Sylvia (1991). "The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670–1830". In Strong-Boag, Veronica; Fellman, Anita Clair (eds.). Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History (2nd ed.). Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman. ISBN 978-0-7730-5097-6.
- White, Bruce. M. (Winter 1999). "The Woman who Married a Beaver: Trade Patterns and Gender Roles in the Ojibwa Fur Trade". Ethnohistory. 46 (1): 109–147. JSTOR 483430.
- Willson, Beckles (1900). The Great Company (1667–1871): A History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay. London: Smith, Elder and Company. – Also: The Great Company, 1667–1871: Being a History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay at Google Books
External links
- Official website
- HBC Heritage website Archived 7 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- Hudson's Bay Company Archives – held by the Government of Manitoba
- Works by Hudson's Bay Company at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Hudson's Bay Company at the Internet Archive
- John Work Papers. 1823–1862. 0.42 cubic feet (1 box). At the Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Contains records from Work's service as an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company at various company settlements, including Fort Vancouver, Fort Colvile, Spokane House, Fort Simpson, Fort Nisqually, and Fort Victoria.
- Hudson's Bay Company papers at the University of Oregon
- The Other Side of the Ledger: An Indian View of the Hudson's Bay Company
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, The Hudson's Bay Company Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- H. Bullock-Webster fonds – An artistic rendition of the Canadian fur trade, from the UBC Library Digital Collections, depicting social life, activities and customs in Hudson's Bay Company posts in the 19th century
- Elizabeth F. Washburn Journal on her experiences on board the Hudson's Bay Company's supply ship "Rupertsland" at Dartmouth College Library
- Documents and clippings about Hudson's Bay Company in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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