The Selkirk Concession was a land grant issued by the Hudson's Bay Company to Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811. The land grant included the portions of Rupert's Land or the watershed of Hudson Bay bounded to the north-east by the Rainy River, Lake of the Woods, Winnipeg River and Lake Winnipeg, to the north between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis by a line of 52°30′N latitude, to the north west by the 52°N parallel between Lake Winnipegosis and the Assiniboine River, and to the west by a line from the intersection of the Assiniboine River and the 52°N parallel running south to southern boundary of Rupert's Land. This covered portions of present day southern Manitoba, north-eastern North Dakota, north-western Minnesota, in addition to small parts of eastern Saskatchewan, north-western Ontario, and north-eastern South Dakota [1] [2].
Douglas planned to create an agricultural colony in the area, and to do so he would populate the territory with impoverished people from Scotland and Ireland. In return he was to provide the Hudson's Bay Company with 200 employees per year, allow for the company to set up trading posts in the colony and to give land for company employees when they retired. In 1812 the first settlers arrived when Miles MacDonell brought a small group of Scots to the colony.
From the onset the colony met resistance from fur traders of the North West Company as well as from the local Métis population, culminating in the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. This confrontation involved Cuthbert Grant of the Métis and Governor Robert Semple. This battle claimed the lives of 23 men, including that of Robert Semple.
As an agricultural project, the colony, commonly known as the Red River Colony but also referred to as the District of Assiniboia, had limited success, but with the promise of free land there was no shortage of settlers to the area. By the 1850s the Hudson's Bay Company lost interest in providing financial aid to the colony, which was followed by a second spate of troubles with the Métis. These troubles resulted in the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70, which eventually led to the creation of the province of Manitoba.