How did the Hudsons Bay Company control the northern lands?
The Charter granted HBC a trading monopoly in an area that comprised all the land that drained into Hudson Bay, and established the HBC as a propriatory colony. In other words, HBC owned the land, governed the land, and had the exclusive right to conduct business within the land. The territory thus owned by HBC was enormous. It included about a third of modern-day Canada, as well as substantial parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, and was known as ‘Rupert’s Land,’ after King Charles’ cousin, Prince Rupert.
