Selkirk, Earl of (1771-1820), was a Scottish colonizer who opened the Canadian West for settlement during the early 1800’s. He founded the Red River Colony, the first permanent settlement in what is now Manitoba (see Manitoba (The Red River Colony) ).
Selkirk, whose given and family name was Thomas Douglas, was born on June 20, 1771, on St. Mary’s Isle in Kirkcudbrightshire (now Dumfries and Galloway Region), Scotland. He became the fifth Earl of Selkirk in 1799.
In 1803 and 1804, Selkirk sent about 900 Scottish peasants to settle in the Canadian colonies of Prince Edward Island and Upper Canada. He established the Red River Colony in 1812 with about 100 people. But the farming colony interfered with the local fur trade. In 1815, trappers of the North West Company, a fur-trading firm, and a group of metis (people of mixed white and Indian ancestry) drove out the settlers. Troops led by Selkirk regained control of the colony in 1817. He died on April 8, 1820.
