
History
The untold story of the Hudson’s Bay Company
A look back at the early years of the 350-year-old institution that once claimed a vast portion of the globe
- 4473 words
- 18 minutes
History
In this special bonus episode of Explore, canoe expert James Raffan introduces listeners to HBC Governor George Simpson and his unique style of “management by canoe”
Sir George Simpson spent much of his early days as HBC Governor in a canoe, paddling to trading posts and forts, carrying out record-breaking canoe journeys across North America. It was all part of what James Raffan describes as Simpson’s “management by canoe.”
“That was a big departure for the Hudson’s Bay Company,” says Raffan. “It was a Company of Adventurers who were moving the game pieces on a board in London with very little direct connection and Simpson just turned that completely around and salvaged the [company’s] business interests.”
In doing so as HBC Governor from 1826 to 1860, Simpson expanded the HBC fur trading empire to include an area equivalent to 1/12th of the earth’s landmass, with trading posts as far away as Hawaii, Alaska and Oregon as well as much of what is now Canada.
History
A look back at the early years of the 350-year-old institution that once claimed a vast portion of the globe
People & Culture
James Raffan finds beauty in a place where one in 10 children will not graduate high school
History
In a 1938 radio recording, Charles Camsell, the founding president of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, details what it was like growing up at an HBC fur trading post
Exploration
Explorer and “canoe evangelist” James Raffan reflects on the symbolic importance of the canoe to Canada and his most recent expedition in the Marshall Islands