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The Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay were a series of conflicts in the 17th and 18th centuries between England and France for control over the area around the Hudson Bay.
Beginning in 1672, the French sought to drive out the English Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading posts, which were established on Hudson Bay starting in 1668. This conflict continued during King William's War and mostly ended in 1713, when France recognized British sovereignty over the Bay in the Treaty of Utrecht. The last notable conflict occurred in 1782, with the French capture of Fort Churchill (Prince of Wales Fort).
Since the posts were held by, at most, a few dozen traders and labourers, they could easily be captured by a small group of soldiers; however, it was difficult to send soldiers to the Bay and impractical to keep them there over winter. The short ice-free season made it difficult to take all the posts in one year. Thus, the posts changed hands more or less at random whenever one side or the other sent a force into the Bay. Only in 1697 did significant British and French forces meet on the bay when the Battle of Hudson's Bay was fought.
England's Glorious Revolution lead to a renewed war with France for nine years. Below is a list of incidents during the war:
The Hudson's Bay Company is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, and now owns and operates retail stores across the country. The company's namesake business division is Hudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay.
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French colonist parents.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/1640–1710) was a French coureur des bois and explorer in New France. He is often linked to his brother-in-law Médard des Groseilliers. The decision of Radisson and Groseilliers to enter the English service led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company. His career was particularly notable for its repeated transitions between serving Britain and France.
Médard Chouart des Groseilliers was a French explorer and fur trader in Canada. He is often paired with his brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who was about 20 years younger. The pair worked together in fur trading and exploration. Their decision to enter British service led to the foundation of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. This company established trading posts and extensive relations with the First Nations in western Canada. It was highly influential in making the region amenable to British colonization. Radisson, with Groseiliers, also mapped many of the Great Lakes and trading routes used by settlers.
Charles Albanel, born in Ardes or Auvergne, was a French missionary explorer in Canada, and a Jesuit priest.
Events from the 1660s in Canada.
York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-southeast of Churchill.
Waskaganish is a Cree community of over 2,500 people at the mouth of the Rupert River on the south-east shore of James Bay in Northern Quebec, Canada. Waskaganish is part of the territory referred to as "Eeyou Istchee" encompassing the traditional territories of Cree people in the James Bay regions of what is now Northern Quebec and Ontario.
John Abraham was a governor of the now abandoned Hudson's Bay Company settlement at Port Nelson on Hudson Bay, located in the northern part of the modern province of Manitoba.
The Battle of Hudson's Bay, also known as the Battle of York Factory, was a naval battle fought during the War of the Grand Alliance. The battle took place on 5 September 1697, when a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron commanded by Captain John Fletcher. As a result of this battle, the French took York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Pierre de Troyes was a captain that led the French capture of Moose Factory, Rupert House, and Fort Albany on Hudson Bay 1686.
Port Nelson was a settlement on Hudson Bay, in Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Nelson River. Its peak population in the early 20th century was about 1,000 people but today it is a ghost town. Immediately to the south-southeast is the mouth of the Hayes River and the settlement of York Factory. Note that some books use 'Port Nelson' to mean the region around the mouths of the two rivers.
Charles Bayly,, the first overseas governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, likely spent his early years in the court of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. He was an English born French Roman Catholic in this Protestant court and this implies that his father was part of the Queen's staff.
The Compagnie du Nord was a French colonial fur-trading company, founded in Québec City 1682 by a group of Canadien financiers with the express intent of competing with the English Hudson's Bay Company. It was founded by Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye with the assistance of Pierre-Esprit Radisson and his brother-in-law Médard Chouart des Groseilliers.
Fort Saint Jacques, Fort Rupert, or Fort Charles was a fur trading post on James Bay at the mouth of the Rupert River. It was located in what is now Waskaganish, Nord-du-Québec region, Quebec, Canada.
The Hudson Bay expedition of 1686 was one of the Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay. It was the first of several expeditions sent from New France against the trading outposts of the Hudson's Bay Company in the southern reaches of Hudson Bay. Led by the Chevalier de Troyes, the expedition captured the outposts at Moose Factory, Rupert House, Fort Albany, and the company ship Craven.
The 1688 Battle of Fort Albany was one of the Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay. In the Hudson Bay expedition (1686) the French had, in time of peace, marched overland from Quebec and captured all three English posts on James Bay. The French had left a garrison at Fort Albany and needed to send a ship to resupply it and take out the furs. The Hudson's Bay Company learned of its loss in January 1687 and appealed to the king. This led to about a year of diplomatic negotiations. In 1688 the Company sent five ships to the Bay. Two went to its remaining post at York Factory, one went to reestablish Rupert House which the French had burned and two went to Fort Albany on the west shore of James Bay. Their instructions were to re-establish the English trade and not to use force against the French unless the French did so first.
Zachariah Gillam (1636–1682) was one of a family of New England sea captains involved in the early days of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Asleep by the frozen sea is a phrase coined by Joseph Robson to describe the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from its foundation in 1670 until the establishment of its first inland post in 1774. Unlike the French who sent Coureurs des bois inland to trade, the HBC built posts on Hudson Bay and waited for the Indians to bring furs to them. The decision to abandon this policy and move inland gradually turned the HBC into an informal government for western Canada and led ultimately to the confederation of western and eastern Canada.
Fort Albany was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post established in 1679 near the site of the present day Fort Albany First Nation. The fort was one of the oldest and most important of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. It was also involved in Anglo-French tensions leading to the Battle of Fort Albany in 1688.