Prior to the establishment of the first trading posts in what is now Alberta, furs were transported by indigenous peoples to commercial trading posts established further east and south. They were able to familiarize themselves with European business practices and learn the basics of the language of traders. Although the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) established a monopoly on trade in 1670, it was not until 1754 that it commissioned Anthony Henday to explore the commercial potential of North Saskatchewan River. He met the Maskwacis nehiyaw chief named Wapinesew, who he nicknamed “French Leader”. After the Conquest, Canadian merchants formed companies and resumed their journeys westward. Their predominantly French-speaking Canadian voyageurs quickly spread by the thousands to every waterway of the vast Western Canadian river systems. In 1778, the powerful North West Company challenged the HBC’s monopoly by building trading posts on the Athabasca, Peace, North and South Saskatchewan rivers. In response, the HBC established Fort Edmonton (1795), Rocky Mountain House (1799) and Fort Dunvegan (1805). Competition became fierce and highly detrimental to the two large companies, forcing them to merge in 1821 under the HBC banner. The HBC retained its monopoly until 1870 when the area known as Rupertsland was sold to the new Canadian confederation.
