North West Company was a Canadian fur-trading company based in Montreal in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. It became the main competition of the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company (see Hudson’s Bay Company ). North West Company traders explored and mapped little-known regions of northern and western Canada.
Britain took control of French Canada in 1763, and the organization of the fur trade in Montreal changed. During the 1770’s, various groups of Montreal fur merchants began to combine their operations to compete more effectively with the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1784, following a period of joint ventures, these groups collectively adopted the name North West Company.
The North West Company also competed with other Montreal fur-trading companies, such as the XY Company and John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company. It united with the XY Company in 1804 and bought Fort Astoria (now Astoria, Oregon) from Astor in 1813. Competition between the North West and Hudson’s Bay companies then became especially strong. By 1821, both organizations faced financial difficulties, and the natural resources upon which they depended were diminishing. That year, they merged under the name Hudson’s Bay Company.
