This website is about the history and cultural heritage of Canada. And mostly about expeditions, the land and peoples discoveries. We all must know our past to create a bright future and not to repeat the mistakes our ancestors did. Past history can offer us life lessons, and not only strategic ones which can give us ideas and resources for our future choices and decisions.

Most of all, young people should learn what people older than them, and the deceased ones have achieved in their lives. The past can offer them answers in their inner seekings, and most profound questions. Freedom, self-reliance, wars and peace, love and togetherness; these all are topics which young people can learn about.

Indigenous People History

The indigenous people’s story is a complex chapter of world history because they were considered friends until they became a threat. When invaders started considering them a threat, they did their best to confine them in camps, and finally killed them.

The native Americans of North America are the example to sustain this idea; everybody knows they were killed by diseases which the invaders carried, and by the invaders themselves. The story is longer, but the course of events was simple; invaders discovered native people, started interacting with them, and this contact led to their death one way or another.

Vikings Discover Canada

Vikings were a warrior nation which has fascinated us during the years, and we have many books or films inspired by their culture. They had a different lifestyle, traditions, and belief than the rest of Europe, mostly because they had no interaction with other nations. They went on vast expeditions to discover farming land and to steal the riches of other countries; sometimes they even took slaves and women for their desires.

Their expeditions to the West helped them discover first Greenland, and then the part of Canada they called Vinland. This discovery was way before Columbus reached America, and it is believed to be the first contact with natives of Northern America.

John Cabot Reached Newfoundland

John Cabot was a Venetian spice merchant who believed in the existence of an alternative route to Asia, other than the one Columbus tried before himself. His efforts with King Henry the Sixth succeeded in gaining some scholarship to pay for his Western expedition.

He left from Bristol for Asia even though his first attempt was aborted. He agreed with the king to sell him the goods he would buy from the vibrant Asian markets. Everyone wanted to find a shorter route to the Asian continent.

Hudson Bay Company is Formed

The Hudson Bay Company (HBC) is a critical name on the economic domain in Canada. People call it for short “The Bay” or “La Baie” for French speakers. This company is almost 200 years old, and it was founded in London, England in 1670 as a fur trading company which was doing business in Canada. It has its headquarters in Brampton, Ontario, and it has become an essential player in the marketing of the product.

Founded as a fur trading company, nowadays it is a retail company selling a large variety of products to its customers. It contains multiple subdivisions, and it has operated in North America for almost 200 years. During its peak season, it controlled the fur trade using English lands and later, some North Canadian parts controlled by the British. During the XIXth century, it evolved into a mercantile company which today, sells a lot of different products.

HBC’s history is a lengthy one, but it is now an established company that has a fair share of the market.