Company, Crown and Colony: The Hudson's Bay Company and Territorial Endeavour in Western Canada

by Stephen Royle

Overview

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the great merchant companies. Granted sole trading rights to a huge part what is now Canada they were coerced in the mid nineteenth century to set up a colonial administration on Vancouver Island to protect British interests at a time of growing expansionism from America to the south and possible threats from a Russian Alaska to the north. 'Company, Crown and Colony' tells the story of the challenges they faced. Drawing on rich archival resources the author provides a detailed account of this turbulent period, revealing the difficulties faced by a leading merchant company as they sought to resolve their conflicting interests of commerce and settlement in a complex situation, and providing fresh and lively insights into the emergence of a region of North America that is today one of the principal commercial centres of Canada.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848851320
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/2010
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Stephen Royle is Professor of Island Geography and Director of the Centre of Canadian Studies at Queen's University, Belfast. A Member of the Royal Irish Academy, he is the author of a number of books including 'The Company's Island' (I.B.Tauris, 2007).

Table of Contents

Figures
• Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Companies, Colonialism and Frontiers in the New World
• Settlement and Society of Vancouver Island Colony
• Indigenous Peoples and the Hudson’s Bay Company on Vancouver Island
• The Economy of Vancouver Island Colony
• Company, Crown and Governors
• The Hudson’s Bay Company Governance of Vancouver Island
• Vancouver Island, Western Canada and the Outside World
• Conclusion: Company, Colony, Island and Frontier
• Appendix 1. Archives: ‘yours to explore’
• Appendix 2. Abbreviations
• Appendix 3. Dramatis Personae
• Appendix 4. First Nation Names
• Notes
• Index