THERE ARE MANY WAYS to tell the story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which claimed and traded on some eight million square kilometres of the Earth’s surface, including large parts of Canada and the northwestern United States. It can start with Indigenous hunters, whose sustainable methods of trapping were exploited by HBC traders for a profit. It can start with European consumers, men and women desperate for the waterproof skins of the beaver, which had been hunted to near extinction in Europe.
It can even start with the now-iconic Hudson’s Bay point blanket, something you’re bound to find in cottages and cabins across Canada. The English made wool blanket — cream, with thick coloured stripes — harkens back to the 18th century when it was the company’s most popular traded good.
This story is from the May/June 2020 edition of Canadian Geographic.
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This story is from the May/June 2020 edition of Canadian Geographic.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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