Canada Company

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The Canada Company was a large chartered British company set up in 1824 to aid the colonization of Upper Canada. Scottish novelist, John Galt, was the company's first Canadian superintendent. The government of Upper Canada sold the company 10,000 km² of land for 341 000 pounds. Most of this land was located in the Huron Tract, around what is now London, Ontario. Galt selected Guelph, Ontario as the company's headquarters. The company surveyed and subdivided this massive area, built roads, mills, and schools and advertised it to buyers in Europe. The company then assisted in the migration of new settlers, bringing them to the area by means of a boat, which the company also owned, on Lake Ontario.

The company's mismanagement and corruption, and its close alliance with the Tory elites, was an important contributing factor to the revolt of 1837.

The company disassembled in the 1950s.

[edit] Bibliography

H. B. Timothy, 1984.The Galts, a Canadian odyssey,Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-8457-9

[edit] See also

• British-American Land Company, the Lower Canada equivalent of the Canada Company