The Red River Settlement& The Purchase of Rupert’s Land

Vocabulary words

Red River SettlementMétis

Rupert’s LandHudson Bay Company

The Red River Settlement

• Was peaceful after the violence of the early 1800s and The Incident at Seven Oaks

• The Settlement was made of Métis, Country born Europeans and New European Settlers.

• By the 1860s 80% of the population was Métis

Daily Life in the Settlement

• Life was NOT easy• The settlement made its living from supplying

the HBC with goods.

Daily Life

• HBC maintained a monopoly on the Fur Trade

• This upset the Metis… and in 1849 4 Metis were arrested for trading furs… the charges were eventually dropped.

• After this trial the Metis believed the Monopoly had been broken.

A Self Sufficient Society

• Extremely isolated, had to depend upon themselves

- Fruits and veggies were rare, pemmican was a staple.

• Small town attitude.

• Women and Men worked side by side to survivein the harsh environment.

Change on the Horizon• 1850s Canada began looking West for more

farmland… remember population growth in Canada West.

• 1860s more Canadian settlers began moving to Red River Area

• Most of the new settlers were part of an anti-French, anti-Catholic order: The Orange Order.

Dr Schultz

• A business man starts up a newspaper in the settlement in 1860: The Nor’Wester

• Promoted hatred among the settlers directed at the Metis with the paper

Economic Crisis

• The influx of settlers coincided with

- Crop Failures- Dwindling Buffalo Herds- The HBC losing interest in the area

The Purchase of Rupert’s Land

• Canada West wanted control of Rupert’s Land- Realized its economic potential

• 1869, HBC sells Rupert’s Land for 1 500 000.00

• HBC also is given 2.8 million hectares

• …and is allowed to continue fur trade

Canada goes from this…

…to this

• Put yourself in the shoes of a Métis resident living in the Red River area at this time.

What are some concerns you have with Canada buying the territory?

Métis Perspective

Canada & HBC

• 1867 Began negotiating the sale of Rupert’s Land

• By 1868 the government sent land surveyors into the Red River area

• Ignored Metis living in the region

• Began laying out grid for towns and farms

Canada hadn’t even bought the area yet!

…fairly different systems

Seigneurial vs Grid

Why’d the HBC do that?

o Administering the territory and running the business was too expensive

o Furs supply was running low and the company wanted to diversify its operations