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The
Red River Colony: Lord
Selkirk has a Plan
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The great explorer,
Alexander Mackenzie, published a book in 1801 about his adventures
in the fur trade and his explorations in the North American west.
One person who read the book was Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk.
After reading the book, he had a plan! His plan was to help farmers
in Scotland who had no land on which to farm.
In 1811 Selkirk
bought enough of Hudson's Bay Company stock to gain control
of the company. In order to provide a new life for Scottish
farmers back home, Selkirk decided to give them a place to
live in North America. A huge area of land was bought from HBC
company - 300,000 square kilometres along the banks of the Red River
in what is now Manitoba.
Not everyone
was happy about Selkirk's plan, though. The Red River settlement
was part of the land that the North West Company lived and traded
fur on; they thought of it as their own. The Nor'westers
were angry. They believed that Selkirk and Hudson's Bay Company
were bringing the settlers on purpose to interfere with their fur
trade. The Métis
were also angry. They were worried that the settlers would drive
away the buffalo, which was their source of food.
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