HIST113 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Red River Colony, The Maritimes, Mercantilism
Document Summary
Competition between the companies leads to: increased expansion in canada, violence and anarchy between companies, a battle in selkirk colony (red river colony) Selkirk colony: agricultural colony; scottish farmers brought to the area, hbc claimed the selkirk colony, major rivers come together here the location of the colony was on critical trade routes used by nwc, hbc land threatens nwc. Battle of seven oaks: many selkirk colonists get in a fight with the metis (aboriginals working with nwc, metis are encouraged by nwc to fight. After the battle, nwc & hbc pressured to merge by british because of the violence. Price and demand for fur starts to decline in 1800s. The companies merge and thus have a monopoly on the fur trade. Hbc, however, remains profitable: number of trading posts are reduced, number of employees are reduced, number of furs being put into the market are lower. There is a negative impact on aboriginal traders.
