Synopses & Reviews
The Hudsons 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.
About the Author
Stephen Royle is Professor of Geography and Director of the Centre of Canadian Studies at the Queen's University, Belfast. A past President of the Geographical Society of Ireland 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 Hudsons Bay Company on Vancouver Island * The Economy of Vancouver Island Colony * Company, Crown and Governors * The Hudsons 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