The Hudson’s Bay Company

The story of The Hudson’s Bay Company, which once claimed and traded on millions of acres in Canada and the United States, is fraught with intrigue and exploitation. It begins in October 1666, when King Charles II of England granted an audience to two men. Médard Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson were brothers-in-law and adventurers who were desperate to tell the king about the “great store of beaver” they’d discovered across…