[Craic] R & G “Bush Runner” History Quiz...Answers

[Rob Anderson]

Answers to Radisson & Groseilliers  “Post Super Bowl Lest We Forget Canada” Quiz:

QUESTIONS:

1.  What specific act of Champlain’s served to win the hatred of the Mohawks for
     the French and thereby change the course of Canadian history?
2. French name for Lake Ontario in the 1600’s?
3. What is the current name of the body of water that the Cree referred to as
    “the frozen sea?”
4. Why did Radisson go to the English to be his sponsors?
5. Who was Prince Rupert? 
6. First 3 Governors of the Hudson’s Bay Company?
7.  Why was York Factory called by that name?
8.  For whom was James Bay named?
9.  Three provincial capitals that were once Hudson’s Bay forts?
10. How much of Canada’s land mass was under the domain of the Hudson’s
      Bay Company?

Bonus: How much did the Hudson’s Bay sell for in 1986?
* Wikipedia research accepted.

ANSWERS:

1. Champlain pressured by the Montagnais asked Champlain to accompany
    them on a war expedition against the Mohawks, one of the 5 nations of the
    Iroquois.  You will recall that many of the Finger Lakes are named after these
    tribes.  Reluctantly, Champlain agreed and, somewhere near what is now
    Ticonderoga in NY, he unloaded his musket killing several Mohawks.
    Forget the American “shot heard round the world,” this was  “the shot
    heard across all the generations.”  The Mohawk and the Iroquois became
    stalwart enemies of the French from that day forward changing the destiny of
    the French in North America.

2. Lac St. Louis was the name on the maps in the mid 1600’s.  Later, the name
    Frontenac also briefly appeared on several maps.

3. Similar to the NYT crossword, this is kind of a trick question with the word
    “current.”  Years back, the Canadian Geological Society decided to strip the
     possessives from such places as Vancouver’s Island.  Thus, Hudson’s Bay
     took on its current name, Hudson Bay.

4. Radisson was stuffed by those in Quebec for trading illegally without a
    permit and the French officials basically took all of what would have been his
    immense profit from a huge haul of furs.  Angered by the heavy taxes
    imposed and frustrated by their inability to find backers for the Hudson’s Bay
    alternative to the inland fur trade, R & G went to Boston and thence to
    England for backing. Thus, they fatefully contributed to the formation of the
    Hudson’s Bay Company and the British dominance of what was to become
    Canada.
 
5. Prince Rupert was the cousin of King Charles II. Love that German dude...a
    real eccentric.  Little did he know that he started the British Empire with the
    oldest extant corporation in the world.  The model of a trading company
    claiming sovereignty would be replicated many times over by the British
    Empire.

6. A who’s who starting line up for the “company of couch adventurers,” none of
    whom ever visited North America. Prince Rupert was followed by the Duke of
     York who would become King James II and then the rags to riches ancestor
     of Winston Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.  Winston must have
     enjoyed knowing about that auspicious debut for the Churchills who were just
     starting their rise.

7.  York Factory.  “York” from the Duke of York.  “Factory” named after the factor,
     an English term for the middleman who negotiated the trading with the      
     indigenous peoples.  Ontario has its own Moose Factory.

8. Another pretty tricky question.  Although the Hudson’s Bay post called York
    Factory was named after James, the Duke of York and future King, James Bay
    was not named after him.  Instead, it was named after the sea captain,
    Thomas James, who explored the area in 1630-31.  Of added interest, “No
    Exit” on James Bay cost Hudson his life as he wouldn’t give up trying to find
    the passage west.  Adrift in his boat, he died reading Sartre’s play to his son.

9. The company expanded to the west coast and established Fort Victoria along
     with Fort Garry (Winnipeg) and Fort Edmonton.  As for Prince Rupert, there is
     even a city called Prince Rupert in BC.  Never heard the name until I
     came to Canada in the mid 60’s and wondered when looking at the vast map, 
     “Who is this guy?”  And what’s with Baffin Island?  And Moose Factory?

10.  The Hudson’s Bay Company had claims to about 40% of what became
       Canada not to mention apparently 1/12th of the world’s land mass.

Bonus: Like so much else in Canada, an American hedge fund guy named Jerry Zucker bought the corporation (50,000 employees in the early 1980’s) in 1986 for 1.1 billion and then proceeded to dismantle it closing down 178 retail Outlets in the north and ridding the company of all of its  stores in Europe. Recently, Lord and Taylor also closed in the US and Bay stores are just hanging in Canada although the stores have now been renamed Hudson Bay.

Bob

Bonus fact:  Beaver hats were actually felt hats not fur hats...made of felt using beaver fur.  When a cheap substitute using rabbit fur was introduced, so many toxic chemicals were needed that it gave rise to the term used to describe their addled fashioners, “mad as a hatter.”



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/craic-integralshift.ca/attachments/20210213/14b8ed32/attachment-0001.html>