Compagnie du Nord facts for kids
The Compagnie du Nord (also called the Northern Company) was a French company that traded furs. It started in Québec City in 1682. A group of Canadian business people created it. Their main goal was to compete with the English Hudson's Bay Company. Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye helped start it. He worked with Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers.
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Why the Compagnie du Nord Started
For a long time, the Ottawa people were important traders. They moved beaver furs from western tribes to the French in the east. But then, the English Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) started in 1670. The HBC allowed western tribes to trade directly with them at Hudson Bay. This meant the French were losing out on the best furs.
The French wanted to control the fur trade in the Hudson Bay area. So, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, who was the Governor-General of New France, sent people to the Bay. One person he sent was Father Charles Albanel in 1674. Albanel was supposed to start a mission. He also tried to convince Médard Chouart des Groseilliers, who worked for the HBC, to come back to the French side.
Albanel was arrested by the English. But he and Groseilliers ended up on the same ship to England. Groseilliers was convinced to leave the HBC. In France, they met Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who also worked for the HBC. They met with a French minister named Jean-Baptiste Colbert. They all planned how France could get more furs from the Hudson Bay area.
Colbert pardoned Radisson for working with the English. Radisson and Groseilliers went back to New France in 1676. They wanted to discuss their plans with Governor Frontenac. But Frontenac was not very excited. He had different ideas. He wanted to build forts around the Great Lakes instead. This would help the French trade with western tribes there.
Frontenac's plan was not good for many merchants in Montréal and Québec City. Their profits from fur trading would move to these new forts. Things got worse in 1678. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was allowed to explore the Mississippi Valley for furs. This meant the Montréal and Québec merchants had to look north for their profits.
Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, one of these merchants, sent Louis Jolliet to Hudson Bay in 1679. When Jolliet returned, he saw that many Native American groups were trading directly with the English. They used to trade with the French through the Ottawa people. This, plus Frontenac's growing anger, pushed La Chesnaye to create the Compagnie du Nord.
The company was finally formed after July 1682. That's when Frontenac was replaced by Joseph-Antoine de La Barre. La Barre was much more supportive of trading furs in the Hudson Bay.
Early Years of the Company (1682–1685)
In its first few years, the Compagnie du Nord was not a formal company. It was more like a group of partners. There were no strict rules about how much money you had to invest to be a director.
In July 1682, Radisson and Groseilliers sailed to Hudson Bay. They had a crew of thirty people, including Groseilliers' son, Jean-Baptiste Chouart. They arrived on August 19, 1682. Soon after, two English expeditions arrived. One was from New England, and the other was from the HBC. Both wanted to set up trading posts.
The French knew the English were there, but the English didn't know about each other. The French managed to burn both English forts. They also took prisoners from both expeditions. After staying the winter, Jean-Baptiste Chouart stayed to watch over the French fort. Radisson and Groseilliers returned to Québec with prisoners and 2,000 fur pelts. They arrived on October 20, 1683.
Even though they almost pushed the English out of the Bay, the company didn't make much money. They couldn't even pay their crew. To make things worse, another company called the Company of the Farm took their 2,000 pelts. The Farm had a right to tax all beaver furs. This tax was called the droit du quart. The Compagnie du Nord argued that Hudson Bay was not under the Farm's control.
La Chesnaye argued their case. Governor La Barre agreed with the Compagnie du Nord in November 1683. But the final decision was up to the King. In April 1684, La Barre's decision was overturned. The Compagnie had to pay the tax. This meant their small profits from the expedition disappeared.
After this ruling, Radisson became unhappy with the French. He went back to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. In August 1684, he helped the English set up two new trading posts. One of these was York Factory on the Nelson River.
A Compagnie-funded expedition led by Claude de Bermen de la Martinière found this out. They arrived on September 22, 1684. They saw the new English posts and that the old French post was destroyed. Radisson had even convinced Chouart to leave the Compagnie and work for the HBC. La Martinière barely escaped capture by the English. He even managed to take some cargo from an English ship. But the expedition still left the Compagnie in 273,000 livres of debt.
These failures made the Compagnie realize something important. They couldn't compete with the Hudson's Bay Company without a special royal charter. The HBC had one, and it gave them special rights. Philippe Gaultier de Comporté was sent to France to ask the King for a charter. He asked for money and the right to use military force.
Comporté's request was successful. The Compagnie received its charter on May 20, 1685. Also, Governor La Barre was replaced by Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville. The King told Denonville to fully support the Compagnie.
The Compagnie's Strongest Years (1686–1693)
With the new charter, the Compagnie could now fight military battles in the Hudson Bay area. They prepared an expedition led by Pierre Chevalier de Troyes. Their goal was to take back control of the Nelson and Hayes Rivers.
Two forts were built to help this expedition: Fort St. Joseph and Fort St. Anne. They were on Lake Abitibi and Lake Timiskaming. Troyes planned to stop at these forts for supplies. The expedition had many experienced voyageurs (travelers). They made good progress despite tough travel conditions. Between June 19 and July 26, 1686, three English forts surrendered to the French.
However, Troyes did not recapture the English posts in the Nelson-Hayes region. So, even though the Compagnie made some profit and almost controlled the Bay, they were not happy.
It was very hard to travel overland to these three new forts. The Compagnie was in a tough spot. They still wanted to control the Nelson-Hayes region. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville suggested using ships. He thought a naval approach was best for supplying the forts and controlling the Nelson-Hayes area. He even thought they should give up the three forts in the Lower Bay if needed.
Iberville led a naval expedition in the spring of 1688 with the King's support. They captured two HBC ships and spent the winter at the Bay. In the spring of 1689, he sailed to La Rochelle in France. He was arrested for not paying the droit du quart tax in Québec. But he was released and returned to Québec. The Compagnie made a profit of 40,000 livres from this expedition. Their control over the Lower Bay region was also confirmed.
In 1689, the English joined a war against the French called the Nine Years' War. French leaders told Governor Frontenac (who was back in charge) to support the Compagnie's plan. They wanted to attack Fort Bourbon (now York Factory). But the Compagnie was frustrated because France didn't send enough military help.
Iberville sailed in June 1690 to capture Fort Bourbon. But his expedition was not well-equipped. Three heavily armed HBC ships met them in the Nelson-Hayes region. Iberville had to retreat. He found that the HBC had already burned an English post on the Severn River. This expedition was fully paid for by the Compagnie. It was a huge financial disaster for them.
The Compagnie was running out of money and time. They were worried about the English taking over. They asked the King for help to capture Fort Bourbon and push the HBC out of the Bay. The King agreed on April 7, 1691. He sent a strong warship called the Hazardeux and offered to pay for much of the expedition.
But the Hazardeux arrived in Québec on July 13. The ship's commander, François du Tast, refused to sail. He said it was too late in the season, and there was a risk of ice. In February 1692, the French court tried to get the expedition to leave earlier. But getting merchant ships ready caused another delay.
A large warship called the Poly finally sailed on May 14. It had 36 guns and 130 crew members. But it didn't arrive until August 19 because of bad crossing conditions. Again, it was too late to send the expedition that year. The Poly was sent out again in early April 1693. But bad weather delayed its arrival at Québec until July 23.
All these delays gave the English plenty of time to resupply their forts and capture French ones. By 1693, the Compagnie had lost all its forts on the Bay. They were back to where they started in 1686.
The Final Years (1694–1700)
The repeated failures to capture Fort Bourbon caused problems. There was a disagreement between the French directors of the Compagnie and the Canadian directors. In 1693, the French suggested that the Compagnie should be controlled from La Rochelle, France. They argued that Québec caused delays. They also said it was cheaper to prepare expeditions in France. This made it hard for the Canadians to convince the French directors to give more money for a 1694 expedition.
Because of this disagreement, the French King decided to work directly with Iberville. The King and Iberville would share the costs. Iberville would have the Poly and another warship, the Salamandre. The Compagnie was specifically excluded from any profits from this expedition. If the expedition made enough money, Iberville would get direct trading rights in the Bay until July 1697.
The French authorities gave the Compagnie a chance to rejoin the Hudson Bay trade. But internal arguments forced the Compagnie to step back until 1697. However, they still gave 15,000 livres to Iberville's expedition after he asked them to.
Iberville, with his brother Joseph Le Moyne de Sérigny, sailed from Québec on August 10, 1694. They arrived at Fort Bourbon on September 24. The fort surrendered on October 14. Iberville stayed the winter at the Bay. He made a profit of 160,000 livres. This profit was not taxed by the droit du quart. But the French only held the fort for a short time. The English took it back on September 6, 1695.
Iberville was asked to recapture Fort Bourbon in 1697. Again, the Compagnie du Nord was not included in the plans. This was a royal project, so the expedition sailed directly from La Rochelle on July 8. It reached the Nelson-Hayes region on September 4. After nine days of fighting with English warships, the English surrendered Fort Bourbon on September 13.
Even though the French now controlled Fort Bourbon, the Compagnie still couldn't manage the trade from the region. They didn't have enough money. Equipping expeditions cost a lot, from 100,000 to 180,000 livres.
What Happened Next
The Compagnie was clearly not able to handle the Hudson Bay trade anymore. So, the French King decided to create a completely new company for it. The Company of the Farm agreed to sell its extra beaver furs to a group of Canadian merchants. The Compagnie du Nord's charter was officially taken away on January 10, 1700.
With both the main fur trading companies losing their rights, the King created the Compagnie de la Colonie on October 10, 1700. This new company took over the trading rights from both the Farm and the Compagnie du Nord.
The Compagnie du Nord had many chances to remove the English from Hudson Bay. But its main legacy is its financial failure. However, this doesn't mean its directors or other people involved failed. La Chesnaye did not go bankrupt. In fact, he became the main shareholder in the Compagnie de la Colonie.
Not much is known about Groseilliers after he worked with the Compagnie. Even the year he died is debated. Radisson died in England in 1710. Iberville died in 1706 in Havana, after adventures in Louisiana and the Caribbean.
See also
- List of trading companies
