1.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
2.
Manitoba
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Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is one of the three provinces and Canadas fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years, in the late 17th century, fur traders arrived in the area when it was part of Ruperts Land and owned by the Hudsons Bay Company. In 1869, negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba led to an uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada. The rebellions resolution led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province, Manitobas capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is Canadas eighth-largest census metropolitan area. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, four of the provinces five universities and all four of its professional sports teams are in Winnipeg. The name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Cree, the name derives from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit, a place referring to what are now called The Narrows in the centre of Lake Manitoba. It may also be from the Assiniboine for Lake of the Prairie, the lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies. Thomas Spence chose the name to refer to a new republic he proposed for the south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel also chose the name, and it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870 and it adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, and is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline. The Port of Churchill is Canadas only Arctic deep-water port and the shortest shipping route between North America and Asia, Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the worlds second-largest bay, Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Ruperts Land. It was a area of the Hudsons Bay Company, with many rivers. The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, Manitobas major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipegs east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg. This basins rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, major watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill rivers
3.
River
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A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water, small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the term river as applied to geographic features. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location, examples are run in parts of the United States, burn in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always, Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Potamology is the study of rivers while limnology is the study of inland waters in general. Extraterrestrial rivers of liquid hydrocarbons have recently found on Titan. Channels may indicate past rivers on other planets, specifically outflow channels on Mars and rivers are theorised to exist on planets, a river begins at a source, follows a path called a course, and ends at a mouth or mouths. The water in a river is confined to a channel. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may be wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing. Rivers can flow down mountains, through valleys or along plains, the term upriver refers to the direction towards the source of the river, i. e. against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term describes the direction towards the mouth of the river. The term left bank refers to the bank in the direction of flow. The river channel typically contains a stream of water, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting streams of water. Extensive braided rivers are now found in only a few regions worldwide and they also occur on peneplains and some of the larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite rare
4.
Provinces and territories of Canada
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Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
5.
Bow River
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The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It begins in the Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies where it meets the Oldman River and these waters ultimately flow through the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. The Bow River runs through the city of Calgary, taking in the Elbow River at the site of Fort Calgary near downtown. The Bow River pathway, developed along the banks, is considered a part of Calgarys self-image. First Nations peoples made varied use of the river for sustenance before settlers of European origin arrived, such as using its valleys in the buffalo hunt. The name Bow refers to the reeds that grew along its banks and were used by the local First Nations peoples to make bows, the river is an important source of water for irrigation and drinking water. Between the years 1910 and 1960, the Bow River and its tributaries were engineered to provide hydroelectric power and this significantly altered the rivers flow and certain ecosystems. The rivers source is from the Bow Glacier, which is part of the Wapta Icefield, the outflow from this source flows into Bow Lake in the Canadian Rockies. It flows south to the village of Lake Louise then turns east, the Ghost Lake reservoir is formed upstream from the town of Cochrane. The Bow then flows eastward to the city of Calgary, it continues on to form the South Saskatchewan River when the Bow joins with the Oldman River near Grassy Lake in southern Alberta. Its waters are shed in the Hudson Bay through the Saskatchewan River, Lake Winnipeg. Communities along the Bow include Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore, Cochrane, Calgary, the Bow Falls are on the rivers course, near Banff. The Bow River has a length of 587 km and a drainage area of 26,200 km2. The fur trader James Gaddy and the Hudsons Bay Company explorer David Thompson are traditionally considered to be the first people of European origin to discover the Bow River and they camped along the Bow with a group of Piikani during the 1787–88 winter. Before they arrived, First Nations populations had lived in the Bow region for thousands of years, among them were the Nakoda, Tsuu Tina, and the Blackfoot Confederacy, consisting of the Kainai, Piikanai, and Siksika peoples. The Kutenai had migrated westwards, possibly in the eighteenth century. First Nations used the valleys for the buffalo hunt, in which herds of buffalo were driven over cliffs or into valleys where they could be killed more easily with bows and arrows. Of all the First Nations groups that lived in the Bow River area, while other groups likely caught fish during harder times, they primarily hunted buffalo during the summer season when fishing would have been most plentiful
6.
Red River of the North
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The Red River is a North American river. It empties into Lake Winnipeg, whose waters join the Nelson River, the Red is about 885 kilometres long, of which about 635 kilometres are in the United States and about 255 kilometres are in Canada. The river falls 70 metres on its trip to Lake Winnipeg, in the United States, the Red River is sometimes called the Red River of the North. This distinguishes it from the so-called Red River of the South, long a highway for trade, the Red has been designated as a Canadian Heritage River. The watershed of the Red River was part of Ruperts Land, the Red was a key trade route for the company, and contributed to the settlement of British North America. The river was used by fur traders, including the French and the Métis people. Following that, they took over French territory in Canada, settlers of the Red River Colony established farming along the river, and their primary settlement developed as Winnipeg, Manitoba. What became known as the Red River Trails, nineteenth-century oxcart trails developed originally by the Métis, supported the fur trade and they contributed to further development of the region on both sides of the international border. The Red River begins at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers, on the border of Wahpeton, North Dakota and Breckenridge, Minnesota. Downstream, it is bordered by the cities of Fargo, North Dakota– Moorhead, Minnesota. It continues north to the province of Manitoba in Canada, manitobas capital, Winnipeg, is at the Reds confluence with the Assiniboine River, at a point called The Forks. Together with the Assiniboine, the Red River fully encloses the basin of Devils Lake. The Red flows further north before draining into Lake Winnipeg through the Nelson River, the mouth of the Red River forms a freshwater river delta called the Netley-Libau Marsh. The Netley Marsh is west of the Red and the Libau Marsh is east, forming a 26, southern Manitoba has a comparatively long frost-free season, between 120 and 140 days in the Red River Valley. The Red River flows across the lake bed of the ancient glacial Lake Agassiz. As this continental glacier decayed, its meltwaters formed the lake, over thousands of years, sediments precipitated to the bottom of the lakebed. These lacustrine soils are the parent soils of todays Red River Valley, the river is very young, it developed only after Lake Agassiz drained, about 9,500 years ago. The word valley is a misnomer, while the Red River drains the region, it did not create a valley wider than a few hundred feet
7.
Devils Lake (North Dakota)
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Devils Lake is a lake in the U. S. state of North Dakota. It is the largest natural body of water and the second-largest body of water in North Dakota after the artificially created Lake Sakakawea, in 2011, it reached an unofficial historical high elevation of 1454.30 feet. The lake can reach 1458.0 before naturally flowing into the Sheyenne River via the Tolna Coulee, the city of Devils Lake, North Dakota, takes its name from the lake. The Spirit Lake Reservation is located on the southern shores. The name Devils Lake is a translation of its Lakota name. Devils Lake is located in Ramsey County and Benson County in northeastern North Dakota, the Spirit Lake Tribe occupies most of the southern shore and has been adversely affected by flooding since the 1990s. Devils Lake is the endorheic, or closed, lake of a basin of some 3,800 mi². The lake collects around 86 percent of the water runoff. Above a level of some 1,447 ft AMSL the lake spills into neighboring Stump Lake, at 1,458 ft the combined lake flows naturally into the Sheyenne River, though the lake has not reached this level in approximately 1000 years. The Sheyenne River is a tributary to the Red River, which flows into Canada, current dike protection is set at 1454 ft. Under normal conditions, Devils Lake is shallow, saline, during periods of excessive precipitation, however, the lake can be quite deep, eutrophic, with decreased salinity due to dilution. Because Devils Lake is endorheic, the lake tends to be higher in salinity than are lakes with outlets to river systems. This is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, lower water levels increase salinity threatening fish and wildlife. Devils Lake is well known for its variations in lake levels. This owes in part to its nature as a closed-basin lake. The release of water is dependent upon evaporation and seepage, the low, flat terrain around Devils Lake consists of various coulees, channels, and basins, which may be separated during times of low water, or connected during high water. Thus the boundaries of the lake can vary greatly from year to year, the draining of wetlands to develop agricultural land in the area has aggravated flooding at Devils Lake. Drainage of the wetlands and conversion of the basins native prairie to cropland has resulted in water moving more rapidly into the lake
8.
Thompson, Manitoba
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Thompson is a city in northern Manitoba. As the Hub of the North it serves as the regional trade, Thompson is located 830 km north of the Canada–United States border,739 km north of the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and is 396 km northeast of Flin Flon. It has a population of 13,123 residents, the Thompson area was first inhabited by nomadic Paleo-Indian hunters 6000 BC. Europeans conducted a geological survey in Thompson in 1896. The modern history of Thompson began in 1956 when on February 4, the community was founded in 1957 following an agreement with the Government of Manitoba and Inco Limited. Thompson is a community and is named after Incos chairman. The population has been estimated as high as 26,000 residents prior to the recession in the 1970s, the 1957 agreement required that Inco provide financial assistance towards the Kelsey Generating System, and a spur line to connect the community with CNs Bay Line near Thicket Portage. Thompson was incorporated as a town in 1967 on Canadas Centennial Anniversary, Thompson came to be known as The Hub of the North, as it functions as a centre for politics and commerce in the region. However a decline in population occurred during the decades, levelling off around 13,000 people. The City of Thompsons 2010–2014 Strategic Plan identifies Public Safety as a core strategy, as a result, the City of Thompson has formed the Public Safety Standing Committee that is responsible for providing recommendations on initiatives and plans to enhance the safety of residents. The Action Plan includes the construction of a northern Restorative Justice facility, despite these efforts, Thompson has repeatedly ranked as one of Canadas most violent cities and is referred to as the Crime Capital of Canada by many media outlets including the Winnipeg Free Press. Its most prominent local industry is the mining, milling, smelting and refining of nickel, with additional nickel concentrates coming from Voiseys Bay, Manitoba Hydro, Calm Air, MTS and the provincial government employ the majority of the people in Thompson. Many federal and provincial government agencies have offices in Thompson, Thompson has a large retail sector, providing such things as clothing for all ages, a pet store, jewelry stores, travel agencies, vehicle dealerships, and grocery stores. Calm Air Airlines and Perimeter Aviation provide direct service between Winnipeg and Thompson, there has been intermittent jet service to Thompson, with the runway at the Thompson Airport able to accommodate a Boeing 737. Thompson Transit is the transit service operated for the city by Greyhound Canada. VIA Rail provides passenger service at the Thompson railway station which is on the Hudson Bay Railway, the city is served by Thompson Airport. Calm Air has its headquarters in the city, there is already the ECWTF car test facility owned by Ford. On October 30,2010, held the opening of the project
9.
Norway House
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Norway House is a population centre of over 5,000 people some 30 km north of Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of the eastern channel of Nelson River, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The population centre shares the name Norway House with the community of Norway House and Norway House 17. Thus Norway House has both a Chief and a Mayor, the community is located 456 km by air north of Winnipeg,208 km by air east of The Pas, and 190 km by air south of Thompson. To drive from Winnipeg it is approximately 800 km, from Thompson it is about 300 km, major economic activities include commercial fishing, trapping, logging, and government services. Seasonal unemployment varies, with peaks as high as 70%, after the arrival of Europeans in North America, the Hayes River became an important link in the development of Canada. After Anthony Hendays explorations, Joseph Smith was sent in 1756, from York Factory and he ascended the Nelson River seeking Lake Winnipeg. He reached Little Playgreen Lake on September 21 that year, in 1816 Lord Selkirk sent out a band of Norwegians, apparently ex-convicts, to build a road from York Factory to Lake Winnipeg and a series of supply posts. They built Norway House at Mossy Point in 1817 replacing the former Jack River post at that location, in 1822 Governor Simpson passed through Norway House in the depth of winter on his way to Cumberland House. Simpson traveled through Norway House to the Columbia District in 1824-25 and he investigated a quicker route than previously used, following the Saskatchewan River and crossing the mountains at Athabasca Pass. This route, which passed through Norway House, was followed by the York Factory Express brigades. In 1825 or 1826 much of the post was destroyed by fire, in 1830, Cumberland House, formerly the most important post in the interior, was supplanted by Norway House. From the 1830s, the Councils of the Hudsons Bay Company and these meetings would involve planning decisions for the following year and promotions from clerk to Chief Trader and from Chief Trader to Chief Factor. Such promotions were within the authority of the Governor and Committee, the recommendations of the council would be given to Governor Simpson who would make his recommendations to London. The last of the great Northern Council meetings that were started by Simpson a half earlier, was convened at Norway House by Donald Smith in July 1870. Surviving buildings include the Archway Warehouse, the Gaol and the Powder Magazine, the northern community of Norway House had a population of 308 in 2011 a decrease of 38. 0% since 2006. The community included 155 private dwellings on an area of 110.15 square km. Norway House 17 had a population of 4,758 in 2011 an increase of 16. 9% since 2006, the community included 1,179 private dwellings on a land area of 72.99 square km. These two adjoining communities form a centre of 5,066
10.
Churchill, Manitoba
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Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 110 kilometres from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn. Churchill is located along the Hudson Bay at the 58th parallel north far above where most Canadian populated areas are located, Churchill is located far from any other towns or cities, with Thompson, approximately 400 km to the south, being the closest larger settlement. Manitobas provincial capital, Winnipeg, is approximately 1,000 km south of Churchill, a variety of nomadic Arctic people lived and hunted in this region. The Thule people arrived around the year 1000 from the west, the Dene people arrived around the year 500 from farther north. Since before the time of European contact, the region around Churchill has been inhabited by the Chipewyan. Europeans first arrived in the area in 1619 when a Danish expedition led by Jens Munk wintered near where Churchill would later stand, only 3 of 64 expedition members survived the winter and sailed one of the expeditions two ships, the sloop Lamprey, back to Denmark. Danish archaeologists in 1964 discovered remains of the ship, the Unicorn. The discoveries were all taken to Denmark, some are on display at the National Museum in Copenhagen, the trading post and river were named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who was governor of the Hudsons Bay Company in the late seventeenth century. The fort was mostly to capitalize on the North American fur trade. It dealt mainly with the Chipewyan natives living north of the boreal forest, much of the fur came from as far away as Lake Athabasca and the Rocky Mountains. As part of the Anglo-French dispute for North America, in 1731–1741 the original fort was replaced with Prince of Wales Fort, in 1782 the fort was captured by the French, led by La Pérouse. Since the British, under Samuel Hearne, were outnumbered and in any event were not soldiers. The French made an attempt to demolish the fort. The worst effect was on the natives, who had dependent on trade goods from the fort. Extensive reconstruction and stabilization of the remains have taken place since the 1950s. In 1783, Hearne returned to build a new fort, a short distance upriver, due to its distance from areas of heavy competition between the North West Company and the Hudsons Bay Company, it remained a stable, if not profitable, source of furs. Between the years of decline in the fur trade and surfacing of western agricultural success, Churchill phased into, initially Port Nelson was selected for this purpose in 1912
11.
First Nations
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The First Nations are the predominant Aboriginal peoples of Canada south of the Arctic. Those in the Arctic area are distinct and known as Inuit, the Métis, another distinct ethnicity, developed after European contact and relations primarily between First Nations people and Europeans. There are currently 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. Under the Employment Equity Act, First Nations are a group, along with women, visible minorities. First Nations are not defined as a minority under the Act or by the criteria of Statistics Canada. Within Canada, First Nations has come into general use—replacing the deprecated term Indians—for the indigenous peoples of the Americas, individuals using the term outside Canada include supporters of the Cascadian independence movement, as well as U. S. tribes within the Pacific Northwest. The singular, commonly used on culturally politicized reserves, is the term First Nations person, North American indigenous peoples have cultures spanning thousands of years. Some of their oral traditions accurately describe historical events, such as the Cascadia earthquake of 1700, written records began with the arrival of European explorers and colonists during the Age of Discovery, beginning in the late 15th century. European accounts by trappers, traders, explorers, and missionaries give important evidence of early contact culture, in addition, archeological and anthropological research, as well as linguistics, have helped scholars piece together understanding of ancient cultures and historic peoples. Combined with later development, this relatively non-combative history has allowed First Nations peoples to have an influence on the national culture. Collectively, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples constitute Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, First Nations came into common usage in the 1980s to replace the term Indian band in referring to groups of Indians with common government and language. Elder Sol Sanderson says that he coined the term in the early 1980s, others say that the term came into common usage in the 1970s to avoid using the word Indian, which some Canadians considered offensive. No legal definition of the term exists, some Aboriginal peoples in Canada have also adopted the term First Nation to replace the word band in the formal name of their community. While the word Indian is still a term, its use is erratic. Some First Nations people consider the term offensive, while others prefer it to Aboriginal person/persons/people, the term is a misnomer given to indigenous peoples of North America by European explorers who erroneously thought they had landed on the Indian subcontinent. The use of the term Native Americans, which the United States government and it refers more specifically to the Aboriginal peoples residing within the boundaries of the United States. The parallel term Native Canadian is not commonly used, but Natives and autochthones are, under the Royal Proclamation of 1763, also known as the Indian Magna Carta, the Crown referred to indigenous peoples in British territory as tribes or nations. The term First Nations is capitalized, unlike alternative terms, bands and nations may have slightly different meanings
12.
Hudson's Bay Company
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The Hudsons Bay Company, commonly referred to as The Bay, is a Canadian retail business group. HBCs head office is in the Simpson Tower in Toronto, Ontario, the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HBC. It was once the worlds largest landowner, with the area of the Hudson Bay watershed, known as Ruperts Land, having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at York Factory on Hudson Bay, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English, undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged relationships with many groups of aboriginal peoples. Its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in areas of Western Canada. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a business selling everything from furs to fine homeware. They quickly introduced a new type of client to the HBC – one that shopped for pleasure and not with skins, in July 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which also owns the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor. From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a company of NRDC, Hudsons Bay Trading Company. Since 2012, the HBC directly oversees its Canadian subsidiaries Hudsons Bay and Home Outfitters, on 29 July 2013, the HBC announced its takeover of Saks, Inc. operator of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013, in September 2015, HBC acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary from Metro Group for $3.2 billion U. S. In May 2016, HBC announced it would expand to the Netherlands by taking over up to 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann sites by 2017, v&D was an historic Dutch department store chain that went bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. HBC said the expansion would cost CAD $340 million and create 2,500 jobs in the stores, the Dutch stores would operate under the Hudsons Bay and Saks Off Fifth brands. In January 2016, HBC announced it would also expand deeper in the space with its acquisition of online flash sales site. In the 17th century the French had a de facto monopoly on the Canadian fur trade with their colony of New France. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay, despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later returned with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested for trading without a licence and fined, determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of businessmen in Boston, Massachusetts to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plans 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
