Canada's Hudson's Bay Company

I am sorry to read that Canada's Hudson's Bay Company has filed for bankruptcy. In a way, this company was the beginning of Canada. It was founded in 1640, nearly two centuries before Canada became a nation.

I have one of the Hudson's Bay blankets. These blankets were once used as a kind of currency in the cold north of Canada. I have had this blanket since I was a child on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It hasn't been used since I was a child but was saved because it was valuable. 

The black lines on the blanket are so handlers know the dimensions of the blanket without unfolding it. 

I have a feeling that Bay Street, Toronto's financial district, is really named for Canada's original corporation but that couldn't be declared because it would look like the government was favoring The Bay over nearby Eaton's. Image from Google Street View.

Henry Hudson, who didn't have anything to do with starting the company, might have been a few centuries ahead of his time. He was an English explorer who first sailed for the Netherlands. He sailed up the Hudson River, which he got named for him. The result was the beginning of New York City, which might also have been named for him. What he was hoping to find was a way that led through to Asia. 

He later sailed for England, further north, and still looking for a way through to Asia. Hudson came to a vast bay and spent a winter in the southern part of the bay. When Spring came he was set to continue searching for a passage to the east. 

But his crew had had enough of it. They mutinied and put Hudson, and his few supporters, in a small boat. They gave them a few supplies and then cut them loose. The crew then sailed back to England. Not a trace of Henry Hudson has ever been found but he did get the vast bay, like the river, named for him. The company was later named for the bay.

Henry Hudson couldn't have known it but in a few centuries a thing called global warming would come along. Hudson hadn't been searching in exactly the right place but, further north, there was a frozen route through that would be partially opened by global warming. It is what we now call the Northwest Passage. 

In the center of the following image, from Google Earth, is the vast Hudson Bay. The yellow dot is approximately where Hudson's ship is believed to have spent the winter. The southern extension of Hudson Bay is called James Bay. The two red dots are at either end of the Northwest Passage.