How the Hudson's Bay Company controlled trade

Founded in 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company dominated the regional supply chain: imported food, ammunition, clothing, and other necessities passed through its hands, while furs flowed back toward Europe. A brief comparison with its 2025 liquidation attributes the company's failure to American private-equity owners demanding returns that the changing business could not sustainably produce. Transport costs and risk in the historical fur trade were real, though they could also be used to justify heavily padded margins. The value of that trade explains why the company attracted armed competition within less than two decades. Its factories were trading posts with varying degrees of fortification and manpower, built to secure a lucrative commercial network in a sparsely populated region.