Rupert's Land

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Rupert's Land, showing location of York Factory

Rupert's Land was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, most of it now part of modern Canada. It was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew of Charles I and the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

[edit] Colonial history

In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was granted a charter by King Charles II, giving it a trading monopoly over the watershed of all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay, thereby making the HBC de facto owners of all of Rupert's Land. This covered an area of 3.9 million km² (1.5 million mi²), over one-third the area of modern-day Canada.

In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and the Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined territory that was further extended by a license to the watershed of the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

In 1870 the trade monopoly was abolished and trade in the region was opened to any entrepreneur. The company ceded Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion of Canada as the Northwest Territories as part of the Rupert's Land Act of 1868.

[edit] Anglican Church

Rupert's Land is also an ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the Canadian Prairies and much of the Canadian Arctic. It is also the name of an Anglican diocese, in Manitoba.

[edit] See also

v • d • e

British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations

Legend
Current territory · Former territory
* now a Commonwealth Realm · now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe

18th century
1708-1757 Minorca
since 1713 Gibraltar
1782-1802 Minorca

19th century
1800-1964 Malta
1807-1890 Heligoland
1809-1864 Ionian Islands
1878-1960 Cyprus

20th century
since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia

North America

16th century
1583-1907 Newfoundland

17th century
1607-1784 Thirteen Colonies
since 1619 Bermuda
1670-1870 Rupert's Land

18th century
Canada (British Imperial)
   1763-1791 Quebec
   1791-1841 Lower Canada
   1791-1841 Upper Canada

19th century
Canada (British Imperial)
   1841-1867 Province of Canada
   1849-1866 Vancouver Island
   1858-1871 British Columbia
   1859-1870 North-Western Territory
   1862-1863 Stikine Territory
*Canada (post-Confederation)
   1867-1931 Dominion of Canada

20th century
*Canada (post-Confederation)
1907-1931 Dominion of Newfoundland

Latin America and the Caribbean

17th century 1605-1979 *Saint Lucia 1624-1966 *Barbados 1625-1650 Saint Croix 1627-1979 *St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1629-1641 St. Andrew and Providence Islands¹ since 1632 Montserrat 1643-1860 Bay Islands since 1650 Anguilla 1651-1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1655-1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655-1962 *Jamaica since 1666 British Virgin Islands since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670-1973 *Bahamas 1670-1688 St. Andrew and Providence Islands¹ 1671-1816 Leeward Islands 18th century 1762-1974 *Grenada 1763-1978 Dominica since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	19th century 1831-1966 British Guiana (Guyana) 1833-1960 Windward Islands 1833-1960 Leeward Islands 1860-1981 *Antigua and Barbuda 1871-1964 British Honduras (Belize)* 1882-1983 *St. Kitts and Nevis 1889-1962 Trinidad and Tobago	20th century 1958-1962 West Indies Federation
¹ Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia.

Africa

18th century 1792-1961 Sierra Leone 1795-1803 Cape Colony	19th century 1806-1910 Cape Colony 1816-1965 Gambia 1856-1910 Natal 1868-1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874-1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882-1922 Egypt 1884-1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884-1960 British Somaliland 1887-1897 Zululand 1888-1894 Matabeleland 1890-1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1890-1962 Uganda 1890-1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891-1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891-1907 British Central Africa 1893-1968 Swaziland 1895-1920 British East Africa 1899-1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	20th century 1900-1914 Northern Nigeria 1900-1914 Southern Nigeria 1900-1910 Orange River Colony 1906-1954 Nigeria Colony 1910-1931 South Africa 1911-1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1914-1954 Nigeria Protectorate 1915-1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919-1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) ² 1920-1963 Kenya 1922-1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) 1954-1960 Nigeria since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory
² League of Nations mandate.

Asia

18th century 1757-1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1795-1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796-1965 Maldives	19th century 1819-1826 Singapore 1826-1946 Straits Settlements 1839-1967 Aden 1841-1997 Hong Kong 1841-1941 Kingdom of Sarawak 1858-1947 India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) 1882-1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885-1946 Unfederated Malay States 1891-1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892-1971 Trucial States protectorate 1895-1946 Federated Malay States 1898-1930 Weihai Garrison	20th century 1918-1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920-1932 Iraq² 1921-1946 Transjordan² 1923-1948 Palestine² 1946-1948 Malayan Union 1946-1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1948-1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia)
² League of Nations mandate.

Oceania and the Pacific

18th century 1788-1901 New South Wales 1794-1843 Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)	19th century 1803-1901 Tasmania 1824-1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824-1901 Queensland 1829-1901 Western Australia 1836-1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands 1840-1907 *Colony of New Zealand 1850-1901 Victoria (Australia) 1874-1970 Fiji 1877-1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884-1949 Territory of Papua 1888-1965 Cook Islands² 1888-1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1889-1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)³ 1892-1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands⁴ 1893-1978 British Solomon Islands⁵	20th century 1900-1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900-1974 Niue³ 1901-1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907-1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1949-1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea⁶
³ Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand. ⁴ Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu. ⁵ Now the *Solomon Islands. ⁶ Now *Papua New Guinea.

South Atlantic

17th century since 1659 St. Helena	19th century since 1815 Ascension Island⁷ since 1816 Tristan da Cunha⁷ since 1833 Falkland Islands⁹	20th century since 1908 British Antarctic Territory⁸ since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands^8, 9
⁷ Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha). ⁸ Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). ⁹ Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April-June 1982.