II.

Founding

Rupert’s Land was established because investors in the HBC, including Prince Rupert, a cousin of King Charles II, wanted to tap into rich sources of furs, especially those of beaver. Many fur-bearing animals were found in the homelands of indigenous peoples around Hudson and James bays. In this period, hats made from beaver felt, the soft fur underlying the coarse outer hairs of a beaver’s pelt, were the height of elite men’s fashion in Europe. The British, French, and Dutch all wanted access to reliable fur supplies (see Fur Trade in North America).

The HBC charter defined Rupert’s Land to include all of the Hudson Bay watershed, the land surrounding the waterways that drain into Hudson Bay. Europeans had no idea how large this area really was; it turned out to reach from the Rocky Mountains in the west to present-day northern Québec in the east and south into what is now North and South Dakota and Minnesota in the United States. Its size remained undiminished until 1818, when the 49th parallel became the border between Rupert’s Land and the United States. In Canada, Rupert’s Land included all of present-day Manitoba, and large parts of Ontario, Québec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories.