Rupert's Land

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Rupert's Land was a territory in British North America, consisting of much of modern Canada.

[edit] Colonial history

It was originally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, and was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew of Charles I and the first governor of the company.

The charter granted to the Company by King Charles II gave it a monopoly over the watershed consisting of all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay, an area of 3.9 million km² (1.5 million mi²), over one-third the area of modern-day Canada.

In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and the Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined territory that was further extended by a license to the watershed of the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

In 1870 the trade monopoly was abolished and trade in the region was opened to any entrepreneur. The company ceded Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion of Canada as the Northwest Territories as part of the Rupert's Land Act of 1868.

[edit] Anglican Church

Rupert's Land is also an ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the Canadian Prairies and much of the Canadian Arctic. It is also the name of an Anglican diocese, in Manitoba.

[edit] See also

• 49th parallel north