Furthermore, the Charter imposed the Hudson's Bay Company to trade exclusively with Great Britain while failing to give the Company exclusive right to trade in the area given to it, which would later prove to be detrimental to the HBC financial stability. ... Competition in the Western fur trade intensified after the first smallpox epidemic which ravaged the Canadian Plains in 1781-82, sharply reducing the Cree and Assiniboine population in the Red River area and eliminating most of the HBC and the NWC fur providers. ... The Métis originated from independent Canadian fur traders whom h...

• Word Count: 4195
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate