Includes bibliographical references (pages 458-472) and index.
Contents:
Epilogue: The dust of empire. The grand scheme ; Royal beginning ; Clash of empires -- Part two: Rise. The quiet monopoly ; The chilly rim of the bay ; Beyond the bay ; Great plains and bloody falls -- Part three: Zenith. The Nor'Westers ; The great river of the north ; The Columbia enterprise ; The great river of the west ; Companies at war -- Part four: Fall. The little emperor ; The king of old Oregon ; Loss of an appendage ; Two faces of the company ; The monopoly dies -- Epilogue: The dust of empire.
Summary:
"A thrilling new telling of the story of modern Canada's origins. The story of the Hudson's Bay Company, dramatic and adventurous and complex, is the story of modern Canada's creation. And yet it hasn't been told in a book for over thirty years, and never in such depth and vivid detail as in Stephen R. Bown's exciting new telling. The Company started out small in 1670, trading practical manufactured goods for furs with the Indigenous inhabitants of inland subarctic Canada. Controlled by a handful of English aristocrats, it expanded into a powerful political force that ruled the lives of many thousands of people--from the lowlands south and west of Hudson Bay, to the tundra, the great plains, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific northwest. It transformed the culture and economy of many Indigenous groups and ended up as the most important political and economic force in northern and western North America. When the Company was faced with competition from French traders in the 1780s, the result was a bloody corporate battle, the coming of Governor George Simpson--one of the greatest villains in Canadian history--and the Company assuming political control and ruthless dominance. By the time its monopoly was rescinded after two hundred years, the Hudson's Bay Company had reworked the entire northern North American world. Stephen R. Bown has a scholar's profound knowledge and understanding of the Company's history, but wears his learning lightly in a narrative as compelling, and rich in well-drawn characters, as a page-turning novel."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.