Question

The royal charter gave the HBC "exclusive" trading rights in a vast area of Canada.

What is meant by "exclusive trading righters"?

Can someone please help me. Thanks very much.

Answer 1

No company but Hudson's Bay Company could "trade" furs in those areas, which were the lands that drained into Hudson's Bay. The restriction applied only to fur trading, but HBC sold a wide variety of products. In other areas of Canada, such as British Columbia, the watershed of the Great Lakes and the Maritime provinces, these exclusive trading rights did not apply. Other trading companies established competing trading posts in the other areas.