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Company of Habitants

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The Company of Habitants (Fr.: Compagnie des Habitants or the Communauté des Habitants), was a fur-trading company chartered in 1645 in the French Colony of Canada to succeed the Company of One Hundred Associates.

History

The Colony of New France was officially established during the reign of Henry IV under the operation of several fur trading companies, eventually ceding control to the Company of One Hundred Associates in 1627, which was made up of investors back in France who would be charged with supplying ships and provisions to transport a certain number of colonists to settle in the territory every year, and cover administrative costs for the colony, in return for being granted a monopoly on the entire fur trade in Canada. For a number of different reasons the quota of new settlers coming from France was continually not being met and the population of New France fell far behind that of the rival English colonies in North America, as well as the early Dutch colony of New Netherland.

The small group of businessman and nobles in the young colony came up with the idea to take over the mandate of settling and administering Canada from the Company of One Hundred Associates and profit on the monopoly of the fur trade themselves. They managed to convince the Crown of their plan and were granted a charter in 1645. Initially the company was overseen and owned by a small number of notable businessman and nobles in the colony, who would cover the costs of shipping 20 colonists to Canada a year, as well as all administrative expenses of the colony, and an additional 1,000 livres in rent on top of all expenses.[1]

Not long after this, the royal authorities back in Paris became weary of such large revenues from the Canadian fur trade being managed and profited on in a far away, sparsely settled territory, and citing "extravagances" by the twelve original owners and directors, took back control of the company just two years later in 1647, and replaced them with a regulatory council, made up of the Governor and several other officials to act solely as an arbitrary body for oversight, with the company shares soon after being opened up to the general public.

The shares were slowly sold off in the following years to the Company of Rouen, with the control of the fur trade and responsibility of colonization shifting back to the Company of One Hundred Associates, and both companies would eventually be dissolved in 1663 by King Louis XIV, who finally took the colony under direct control of the government and made it a province of France, substantially increasing the settlement and development of Canada in the following years.[2]

Personnel

The company was founded and initially managed (and virtually entirely owned) by a board of twelve directors that included:

Two years after its formation a regulatory council replaced the owners and directors, which was composed of the Governor of New France, the Governor of Montréal, the Superior of the Jesuits in Canada, and they were assisted by the syndics, or locally elected legal representatives, of the three major towns of Québec, Trois-Rivières, and Montréal.

See Also

References

  1. ^ Bélanger, Claude. "Quebec History". Compagnie des Habitants. Marianopolis College. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  2. ^ "Communauté des Habitants". Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec. Culture et Communications Québec. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
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