3.1.6 Struggle for a Continent

In 1670 King Charles II of England gave the Hudson's Bay Company the sole right to trade across all the land that drains into Hudson Bay. For the next hundred years the Company competed with traders based in Montreal. The men who carried goods by canoe were known as voyageurs and coureurs des bois. They were tough and skilled, and they built strong alliances with First Nations.

Along the Atlantic seaboard, English colonies had started in the early 1600s. Over time these colonies became wealthier, and their population passed that of New France. Then came a long fight: through the 1700s, Great Britain and France each wanted North America. The question was settled at Québec City in 1759. There, on the Plains of Abraham, the British beat the French, and France's empire in America came to an end. Two commanders led their troops into that battle, and both were killed: the Marquis de Montcalm and Brigadier James Wolfe.