Selkirk Concession
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The Selkirk Concession was a land grant issued by the Hudson Bay Company to Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811. The land was 300,000 km² of territory in what today are portions of Manitoba, North Dakota and Minnesota. It was known as the Red River Colony after the primary river in the territory.
Douglas wanted to create an agricultural colony in the area, and to do so he would populate the territory with impoverished people from Scotland and Ireland. In return he was to provide the Hudson Bay Company with 200 employees per year, allow for the company to set up trading posts in the colony and to give land for company employees when they retired. In 1812 the first settlers arrived when Miles MacDonell brought a small group of Scots to the colony.
From the onset the colony met resistance from fur traders of the North West Company and the local Métis population, which culminated in the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. This confrontation was between Cuthbert Grant of the Métis and Governor Robert Semple; 22 men lost their lives in the battle.
As an agricultural project, the colony had limited success, but with the promise of free land there was no shortage of settlers to the area. By the 1850s the Hudson Bay Company lost interest in providing fianancial aid to colony, which was followed by a second spate of troubles with the Métis. These troubles resulted in the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70, which eventually led to the creation of the province of Manitoba.
