I have May 2nd, 1670 in my brain – for me, it’s one of those trivia bits you can’t shake.
On this day in 1670, King Charles II of England granted a charter to ‘the Governor and Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson Bay’ – which was a landmark day in the history of our country and the plundering of Canada’s people and resources by Europeans, it also began a little business we’ve come to know as The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). The King’s cousin, Prince Rupert (the man, not the west coast port,) was named the company’s first Governor company, and the massive territory over which they had domain was given the name Rupert’s Land. The portion of Canada given away that day was enormous, as was the power. It’s all part of history now, though HBC.