North West Company is formed
Preliminary design for a coat of arms for the North West Company, 1800 to 1820. Library and Archives Canada, c008711
1779
Following the fall of New France in 1763, British and Anglo-American businessmen established numerous small independent fur-trading companies in Montréal. On April 24, 1779, several firms merged to form the North West Company. Although initially a loose association of merchants, by 1795 the company controlled approximately 80 percent of the northern fur trade, and was aggressively exploring the continent’s Western and Arctic regions. It was swallowed up by its rival — the Hudson’s Bay Company — in 1821.
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