Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land", was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, that was "de facto" owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years. 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.

Areas once belonging to Rupert's Land include all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, southern Nunavut, northern parts of Ontario and Quebec, as well as parts of Minnesota and North Dakota and very small parts of Montana and South Dakota.

Colonial history

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, thereby making the HBC de facto owners of the whole of Rupert's Land. This covered an area of 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million sq mi), over one-third the area of Canada today.

On 19 November, 1869 the Hudson's Bay Company sold Rupert's Land to the newly formed Canadian Government for £300,000. Control was originally planned to be transferred on December 1 of that year, but due to setbacks caused by the Red River Rebellion the government assumed control on 15 July, 1870. The region then became known as The Northwest Territories.

ee also

*49th parallel north
*British Arctic Territories
*Hudson's Bay Company
*Hudson's Bay Company Archives

Further reading

* cite book
last = Davis | first = Richard Clarke
coauthors = Richard I. Ruggles
title = Rupert's Land A Cultural Tapestry
location = Waterloo, ON, Canada
publisher = Wilfrid Laurier University Press | year = 1988
isbn = 0889209766
* cite book
last = Gillespie | first = Greg
title = Hunting for Empire Narrative of Sport in Rupert's Land, 1840-70
location = Vancouver, BC, Canada
publisher = UBC Press | year = 2007
isbn = 9780774813549
* cite book
author = Hudson's Bay Company
title = An Ordinance for the More Effectual Administration of Justice, In the Colony of Rupertsland
location = London | publisher = J. Brettell
* cite book
last = Stubbs | first = Roy St. George
title = Four Recorders of Rupert's Land; A Brief Survey of the Hudson's Bay Company Courts of Rupert's Land
location = Winnipeg, MB, Canada
publisher = Peguis Publishers | year = 1967
* cite book
last = Tucker | first = S.
title = The Rainbow in the North A Short Account of the First Establishment of Christianity in Rupert's Land
location = London
publisher = J. Nisbet and Co | year = 1851