Northwestern Company

North West Company - North West Company - a leather and fur trade company founded in 1784 or 1787 by a group of mainly Scottish merchants from Montreal. The Company was the largest competitor of the Hudson Bay Company. The areas controlled by the Company stretched west of the Hudson Bay Company areas, reaching west to the lower parts of the Rocky Mountains. In the north, the majority of the coast and many Arctic islands belonged to the company. To the south, it extended to the present-day states of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. Since the boundaries between the two companies were not clearly defined, conflicts often broke out between them, sometimes leading to armed conflicts. The company's chief executive was merchant, traveler and explorer Alexander Mackenzie. In the face of difficulties in correcting relations with Hudson Bay Company, the Northwestern Company attempted to extend its operations to areas under the control of the United States - formerly Louisiana and Oregon. Together with the American financial giant John Jacob Astor, a South West Company was formed in 1810. The relationship between the two companies did not last long because of the American war in the United States between 1812 and 1814. In the wake of this failure, conversations with the Hudson Bay Company were initiated, which led to the absorption of the Northwest Company by an older competitor in 1821.

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