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

[Greg Gillis]

Thanks Bob, great stuff!  You should check out Dr. Barry Strauss out of
Cornell, excellent books on Assassination of Julius Caasar, Spartacus War,
Military Commnanders: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and latest the 10 Roman
Emperors.  All excellent books thoroughly researched and read more like
novels than history textbooks.

Greg


On Sat, Feb 13, 2021 at 1:11 PM Rob Anderson via craic <
craic at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

>
> 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.”
>
>
>
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