Red+River+Colony

The Red River Colony/Settlement was part of the land that the Northwest Company lived and traded fur on.1 Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, provided a safe place for Irish and Highland Scottish peasants.2 They got their land taken away by the enclosure movement of the settlers in British North America.3 Selkirk paid attention to the fertile Red River Valley.4 His motives extended beyond, when he purchased controlling interest in the financially struggling Hudson's Bay Company.5 Selkirk secured 300,400 square kilometers of land which is now Manitoba and the Northern reaches Minnesota and North Dakota.6 In 1812, the first settlers arrived in the small colony at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, where Winnipeg now stands.7 The Red River Colony was viewed as nothing more than a Hudson's Bay Company plot to destroy the St. Lawrence fur trade.8 The Irish and Scottish peasants had to wait unitl after winter was over to continue their journey to their new land.9 During this time, they built boats so they could take them inland to the new colony.10 When spring came, they began their journey.12 Eventually when they reached the Red River Colony they were tired and exhausted, but their was no time to rest.13 The Nor'westers were angry and the Metis were worried that the settlers would drive away the buffalo, which was their source of food.14 Settlers built a fort and called it Fort Douglas.15 It was fall by this time, so the growing season was over.16 The only food and supplies the settlers would have for the winter was what they brought.17 The settlers faced starvation during the winter.18 So as they headed South they followed the buffalo.19 They returned to the colony when spring came, and the hardships were not over.20 The settlers only had hoes as farming equipment.21 So their crops were not successful.22 The governor tried to help them by making it illegal to take food out of the colony, because there was so little food.23 However, this just caused more problems for the settlers.24 The Nor'westers were angry with the new law.25 They needed to take food when they went on fur trading trips.26 Due to this, they then destroyed Fort Douglas and all the building around it.27 This started violence for the colony for the first time.28 Lord Selkirk appointed a new governor, Robert Semple, when he heard that Fort Douglas had been destroyed.29 Selkirk arrived at the Red River settlement with many more settlers, to rebuild the fort.30 Trouble was not over.31 Semple wanted to end the violence, he wanted to use his authority to make Nor'westers to stop fighting.32 There was a proclamation that was against the Metis from acting violently towards the Red River Settlement, so Semple read it to them.33 After the Battle of Seven Oaks broke out about 20 men lay dead after this.34 The colony was never really successful agriculturally.35 In 1850, The Hudson's Bay Company lost interest in paying for the settlement.36 So the Metis ended up outnumbering the Scottish and Irish.37 This led to the creation of the province of Manitoba.38 Footnotes 1 Roger, Riendeau, __A Brief History of Canada__, Markham, Ontario, 2000, pg 100 2 Ibid pg 100 3 Ibid pg 100 4 Ibid pg 100 5 Ibid pg 100 6 Ibid pg 100 7 Ibid pg 100 8 Ibid pg 100 9 Canadiana.ca/hbc/stories/colony1_e.html 10 Ibid 11 Ibid 12 Ibid 13 Ibid 14 Ibid 15 Ibid 16 Ibid 17 Ibid 18 Ibid 19 Ibid 20 Ibid 21 Ibid 22 Ibid 23 Ibid 24 Ibid 25 Ibid 26 Ibid 27 Ibid 28 Ibid 29 Ibid 30 Ibid 31 Ibid 32 Ibid 33 Ibid 34 Ibid 35 Ibid 36 thecanadianencylopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=0006725 37 Ibid 38 Ibid
 * __ The Red River Colony __**