Rupert's Land

This article is about the trading territory. For the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Church of Canada, see Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land. For the Anglican diocese, see Diocese of Rupert's Land. For the film, see Rupert's Land (film).

Rupert's Land, showing location of York Factory

Flag of Rupert's Land, with HBC denoting the Hudson's Bay Company

Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, which was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the sovereignty of the area. The area once known as Rupert's Land is now mainly a part of Canada, but a small portion is now in the United States of America. It was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a nephew of Charles I and the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. In December 1821 the HBC monopoly was extended from Rupert's Land to the Pacific coast.

Areas belonging to Rupert's Land were mostly in present-day Canada and included the whole of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, southern Nunavut, and northern parts of Ontario and Quebec. It also included present-day United States territory, including parts of the states of Minnesota and North Dakota and very small parts of Montana and South Dakota. The southern border west of Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains was the drainage divide between the Mississippi and Saskatchewan watersheds until the London Convention of 1818 substituted the 49th Parallel.

Fur Trade

Further information: North American fur trade

Métis fur trader ca. 1870

In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was granted a charter by King Charles II, giving it a trading monopoly over the watershed of all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay, an area known as "Rupert's Land" (named in honour of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the king's cousin and the company's first governor). This covered an area of 3.9 million km² (1.5 million sq mi), over one-third the area of Canada today.

The Hudson's Bay Company dominated trade in Rupert's Land during the 18th–19th centuries and drew on the local population for many of its employees. This necessarily meant the hiring of many First Nations and Métis workers. Fuchs (2002) discusses the activities of these workers and the changing attitudes that the company had toward them. George Simpson, one of the most noted company administrators, held a particularly dim view of mixed-blood workers and kept them from attaining positions in the company higher than postmaster. Later administrators, such as James Anderson and Donald Ross, sought avenues for the advancement of indigenous employees.^[1]

Morton (1962) reviews the pressures at work on that part of Rupert's Land where Winnipeg now stands, a decade before its incorporation into Canada. It was a region completely given over to the fur trade, divided between the Hudson's Bay Company and private traders, with some incursions by the rival North West Company based in Montreal. There was strong business and political agitation in Upper Canada for annexing the territory; in London the Company's trading license was due for review; in St. Paul there was a growing interest in the area as a field for U.S. expansion. The great commercial depression of 1857 dampened most of the outside interests in the territory, which itself remained comparatively prosperous.^[2]

Law

Map of the Columbia District, also referred to as Oregon Country.

Baker (1999) uses the Red River Colony in the "District of Assiniboia" south of Lake Winnipeg, the only non-native settlement on the northwest prairies for most of the 19th century, as a site for critical exploration of the meaning of "law and order" on the Canadian frontier and for an investigation of the sources from which legal history might be rewritten as the history of legal culture. Previous historians have assumed that the Hudson's Bay Company's representatives designed and implemented a local legal system dedicated instrumentally to the protection of the company's fur trade monopoly and, more generally, to strict control of settlement life in the company's interests. But this view is not borne out by archival research. Examination of Assiniboia's juridical institutions in action reveals a history formed less through the imposition of authority from above than by obtaining support from below. Baker shows that the legal history of the Red River Colony – and, by extension, of the Canadian West in general – is based on English common law.^[3]

Following the forced merger of the North West Company with the HBC in 1821, British Parliament applied the laws of Upper Canada to Rupert's Land and the Columbia District and gave enforcement power to the HBC. The Hudson's Bay Company maintained peace in Rupert's Land for the benefit of the fur trade; the Plains Indians had achieved a rough balance of power among themselves; the organization of the Métis provided internal security and a degree of external protection. This stable order broke down in the 1860s with the decline of the Hudson's Bay Company, smallpox epidemics and the arrival of trade-whiskey, and the disappearance of the bison. The rule of law was, after the purchase of Rupert's Land by Canada, enforced by the North-West Mounted Police.^[4]

Missions

Peake (1989) describes people, places, and activities that were involved in 19th-century Anglican missionary activities in the prairie areas of Rupert's Land, that huge portion of Canada controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company and inhabited by few Europeans. Early in the century, fur trade competition forced the company to expand into this interior region, and some officials saw advantages in allowing missionaries to accompany them. Officially they did not discriminate among denominations, but preference was often granted to the Anglicans of the Britain-based Church Missionary Society. The prairie missions extended from the area of 20th-century Winnipeg to the Mackenzie River delta in the north. Notable missionaries included by David Anderson the first Bishop of Rupert's Land,^[5] the inept William Bompas and the Native American Anglican priests: Henry Budd,^[5] James Settee and Robert McDonald.^[6]

There were also Roman Catholic missions in Rupert's Land. One notable missionary was Alexandre-Antonin Taché, who both before and after his consecration as bishop worked as a missionary in Saint-Boniface, Île-à-la-Crosse, Fort Chipewyan and Fort Smith.^[7]

Hudson's Bay Company's surrender of its charter to the Crown

In 1869–1870, the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered its charter to the British Crown, receiving £300,000 in compensation. While it is often said that Hudson's Bay "sold" Rupert's Land as well as the North-Western Territory, the company had no land to sell: its Charter was essentially for a trading monopoly enforceable on British subjects. Control was originally planned to be transferred on 1 December 1869, but due to the premature action of the new lieutenant governor, William McDougall, the people of Red River formed a provisional government that took control until arrangements could be negotiated by leaders of what is known as the Red River Resistance and the newly formed Government of Canada. As a result of the negotiations, Canada asserted control on 15 July 1870.

However, Canada still did not have legal control because the Imperial Crown had made the transfer subject to treaties being entered into with the indigenous nations. While Canada did pass legislation on 12 May 1870 purporting to create the "Province of Manitoba", the absence of the treaties was soon noted, and it was decided in 1873 to pass a second Manitoba Act which would have legal certainty. Other "numbered treaties" followed, and treaty-making extended to the North-Western Territory, which comprised the regions northwest of Rupert's Land and to the north of the Colony of British Columbia.

The transaction was three-cornered. On November 19, 1869, the company surrendered its charter under its letters patent to the British Crown, which was authorized to accept the surrender by the Rupert's Land Act. By order-in-council dated June 23, 1870,^[8] the British government admitted the territory to Canada, under s. 146 of the Constitution Act, 1867,^[9] effective July 15, 1870, subject to the making of treaties with the sovereign indigenous nations to provide their consent to the Imperial Crown to exercise its sovereignty pursuant to the limitations and conditions of the Rupert's Land documents and the treaties. Lastly, the Government of Canada compensated the Hudson's Bay Company £300,000 ($1.5 million) for the surrender of its charter on the terms set out in the order-in-council.

The company retained its most successful trading posts and one-twentieth of the lands surveyed for immigration and settlement.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Morice, Adrian Gabriel (1912). "Alexandre-Antonin Taché". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 14. New York: Robert Appleton.

↑ Fuchs, Denise. "Embattled Notions: Constructions of Rupert's Land's Native Sons, 1760 To 1861". Manitoba History. Manitoba Historical Society. 2002–03 (44): 10–17. ISSN 0226-5036.
↑ Morton, W. L. (Autumn 1962). "Red River on the Eve of Change, 1857 to 1859". The Beaver (293): 47–51. ISSN 0005-7517.
↑ Baker, H. Robert (1999). "Creating Order In The Wilderness: Transplanting the English Law to Rupert's Land, 1835–51". Law and History Review. American Society for Legal History. 17 (2): 209–246. doi:10.2307/744011. ISSN 1939-9022.
↑ Spry, Irene M. (1968). "The Transition from a Nomadic to a Settled Economy in Western Canada, 1856–1896". Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. 6 (4): 187–201.
1 2 Sarah Tucker (1851). "The Rainbow in the North A Short Account of the First Establishment of Christianity in Rupert's Land by the Church Missionary Society: Chapter XIII. Rev. R. and Mrs. Hunt--Summary of the Missions--Ordination of the Rev. H. Budd". London: James Nisbet. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
↑ Peake, Frank A. (1989). "From the Red River to the Arctic: Essays on Anglican Missionary Expansion in the Nineteenth Century". Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society. 31 (2): 1–171. ISSN 0008-3208.
↑ Morice, Adrian Gabriel (1912). "Alexandre-Antonin Taché". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory Order Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
↑ "Constitution Act, 1867 s. 146". Justice Laws Website. Department of Justice. 18 October 2015.

External links

The Centre for Rupert's Land Studies - The University of Winnipeg
"Canada Buys Rupert's Land", CBC

Territories of the British Empire and the United Kingdom

Legend: Current territory; Former territory; * Now a Commonwealth realm; Now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations; Historical flags of the British Empire

Europe

1542–1800 Ireland (integrated into UK) 1708–1757 Minorca Since 1713 Gibraltar 1763–1782 Minorca 1798–1802 Minorca 1800–1813 Malta (Protectorate) 1813–1964 Malta (Colony) 1807–1890 Heligoland 1809–1864 Ionian Islands 1878–1960 Cyprus 1921–1937 Irish Free State

North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century

1579 New Albion 1583–1907 Newfoundland 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1607–1776 Virginia Since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1623–1883 Saint Kitts *(Saint Kitts and Nevis) 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis *(Saint Kitts and Nevis) 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua *(Antigua and Barbuda) 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony	1643–1860 Bay Islands Since 1650 Anguilla 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702–1776 New Jersey Since 1666 British Virgin Islands Since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *The Bahamas 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1671–1816 Leeward Islands 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1754–1820 Cape Breton Island 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada Since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	1818–1846 Columbia District/Oregon Country¹ 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1860–1981 *British Antigua and Barbuda 1862–1863 Stickeen Territories 1866–1871 British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983 *Saint Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1907–1949 Newfoundland³ 1958–1962 West Indies Federation

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Name of Canada.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America

1631–1641 Providence Island colony 1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵

4. Now the one the departments of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1862–1906 Lagos Colony 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1900 Oil Rivers/Niger Coast 1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1903–1976 Seychelles 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1960 Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (Nigeria) 1915–1931 South-West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1961 British Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century

1685–1824 Bencoolen 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757–1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1781-1784 Padang (Indonesia) 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1795-1819 Padang (Indonesia) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Sheikhdom of Kuwait 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century

1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Kingdom of Rarotonga/Cook Islands Federation⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 and 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)

14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).

Hudson's Bay Company

Canadian holdings Hudson's Bay Zellers Home Outfitters

U.S. holdings Creative Design Studios Lord & Taylor Saks Fifth Avenue Former holdings North West Company (1779-1821) G.W. Robinson (1972-1980) Shop-Rite (1972-1982) Marshall Wells (1976-1985) Designer Depot (2004-2008) Fortunoff (2008-2009) Fields (1978-2012) Markborough Properties (to 1996) Just Kids Acquired, folded in I. G. Baker Company (1891) J. F. Cairns Ltd. (1918) Smallman and Ingram (1944) Federal Stores Ltd (1952, via Zellers) Freimans (1972) Morgan's (1972) Simpsons (1991) Towers (1991, via Zellers) Woodward's (1993) Kmart Canada (1998)

Related Topics Hudson's Bay Rewards Hudson's Bay Company Archives NRDC Equity Partners Rupert's Land Saks, Inc.

Former colonies and territories in Canada

Norse	Named Territories Vinland Markland Helluland Sites L'Anse aux Meadows Point Rosee

French	Claims New France Acadia Isle St-Jean Île Royale Canada Domaine du roy Louisiana Pays d'en Haut Terre Neuve Important sites Port Royal Quebec Trois-Rivières Montreal Louisbourg Plaisance List of towns List of Forts

Spanish	Claims New Spain Important sites Fort San Miguel, Nootka Sound Expeditions Newfoundland Pacific Northwest

Scottish	Claims Nova Scotia (1621) Sites Port Royal Colony

Russian	Claims Russian America

American	Claims Oregon Country

English & British	Claims Newfoundland (1583) New Albion (?) Rupert's Land Nova Scotia (1710) Quebec Lower and Upper Canada New Brunswick Prince Edward Island Cape Breton United Canada New Caledonia Columbia District Queen Charlotte Islands Vancouver Island British Columbia (1858–66) British Columbia (1866–71) Stickeen North-Western Territory Red River Important sites Cuper's Cove Avalon (1620) York Factory Halifax Victoria Fort Langley List of HBC sites

Norwegian	Claims Sverdrup Islands

Related	Territorial evolution after 1867 Areas disputed by Canada and the United States Proposed provinces and territories of Canada Population of Canada

Category Portal WikiProject

Canadian Prairies

Physiographic regions

Manitoba Plain
Manitoba Escarpment
Saskatchewan Plain
Missouri Coteau
Alberta Plain
Cypress Hills
Rocky Mountain Foothills

Physical features

Parks and protected areas

World Heritage Sites	Head-Smashed-In Dinosaur

National	Parks Elk Island Grasslands Riding Mountain Waterton Lakes Historic Sites Bar U Ranch Batoche Cypress Hills Massacre Fort Battleford Fort Livingstone Fort Pelly Fort Walsh Forts Rouge, Garry and Gibraltar Frenchman Butte Frog Lake Linear Mounds Lower Fort Garry Riding Mountain Park East Gate Registration Complex Riel House Rocky Mountain House The Forks

Provincial (AB)	Parks Historic Sites

Historic regions

Aboriginal peoples

Plains First Nations

Blackfoot Confederacy

Iron Confederacy

Red River Métis

See also: Largest cities; Geography of Canada portal

Coordinates: 57°00′N 92°18′W / 57.000°N 92.300°W / 57.000; -92.300

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 154691788 LCCN: n81011277 GND: 4246980-6

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.