Hudson’s Bay

Henry Hudson was a sea Explorer from England that explored mainly during the early seventeenth century. In 1607 Henry Hudson set sail on a ship named the ‘Hopewell’ in order to find a northwest passage to Asia through the Arctic Ocean by way of the North Pole. After ending up in Greenland, Hudson traveled northward and discovered Jan Mayen Island.

Hudson Bay was named after the explorer Henry Hudson who discovered and explored the bay in 1610 while on his ship the ‘Discovery’. On Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage he maneuvered his way around the west coast of Greenland and into the bay. Henry Hudson mapped much of the eastern coast of the bay.

Hudson’s ship, the Discovery, became trapped in icy waters over the winter. The crew survived on shore near the southern tip of James Bay until the ice was cleared in the spring. Hudson wished to continue exploring the remainder of the area, but his crew had mutinied on June 22, 1611.

More than sixty years later a shipped called the Nonsuch arrived at the Bay and successfully traded with Cree for beaver pelts. The Cree is a name used to refer to a lrge group of closely-related Algonquin languages that are spoken by more than 45,000 speakers spread across Canada, from Labrador o Alberta.This commerce led to the formation of the Hudson’s Bay Company which still exists to this day. At one point, the British crown awarded a trading monopoly to the Hudson Bay watershed which was called Rupert’s Land, to the Hudson Bay Company.

The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest corporation in Canada as well as the second oldest company in North America. The initials ‘HBC’ have been satirically interpreted as the phrase ‘Here Before Christ’, as the Hudson Bay Company had been exploring and functioning as de facto government in may regions of the continent before there was any large scale settlement. The Hudson Bay Company has been in control of the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries.

However, this land was then given back to Canada as part of the Northwest Territories when the trade monopoly was broken up in 1870. Because of these changes, it is common for people to interchange both the terms Hudson Bay and Northwest Territories incorrectly.

The Hudson Bay resides in northeastern Canada and drains a large portion of Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario as well as the southeastern area of Nunavut. The Hudson Bay is a very large body of water covering more than 1.23 million square kilometers. The International Hydrographic Organization has the Hudson Bay as being a part of the Arctic Ocean.

The Hudson Bay is also connected on the east by the Hudson Straight, to the Atlantic Ocean. On the north side, the Foxe Channel and Hecla Straight connect Hudson Bay to the Arctic Ocean. Foxe Channel is not considered part of Hudson Bay.

The region surrounding Hudson Bay is a lowland known as the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The Hudson Bay lowlands cover 324,000 square kilometers and is drained by several rivers. The Hudson Bay Lowlands has developed a distinct vegetation which is known as muskeg. Much of the Hudson Bay Lowlands were shaped by ancient glaciers over great periods of time. For example, there are clear indications of past beachfronts that can be seen from the current shore.

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