Rupert's Land
The name applied to the territories of the Hudson's Bay
Company, particularly to that portion lying west of Hudson Bay and east
of the Rocky Mountains. The Company held these lands under royal charter
granted by Charles II in 1670. The first governor of the Company was
Prince Rupert, after whom the territories were named. The Company's
title was repeatedly challenged, but its validity was always upheld by
the law officers of the crown. In 1869 the territories were transferred
to Canada, for the sum of L300,000, the company retaining certain blocks
of land around their trading-posts and one-twentieth of the arable land
of the country. See also Hudson's Bay Company; North-West Territories.