The fur trade begins almost as soon as Europeans started exploring North America. Britain and France devise ways to obtain furs from the colonies due to a huge demand for fur at home. In 1670 the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) is established under British control. The company obtains trading rights to all the land that drains into Hudson's Bay. The area becomes known as Rupert's Land.

Inter-tribal trade is well established on the plains when European goods such as guns, metal tools and horses arrive. The Cree are eager to trade furs for European goods and this has a significant impact on their culture and lifestyle. Trading becomes the main focus for the Cree, who function as middlemen between the Europeans and different native groups. The Cree bring European goods to inland tribes in exchange for furs. They then trade the furs with the British at forts set up along the shore of Hudson's Bay.

Intense competition for furs encourages France to send traders westward to trade with the Plains tribes. When these European men set out, they are not prepared for the harsh life of the wilderness. They soon discover that Cree women can provide all the skills and knowledge needed for survival. These women cook, forage for food, craft clothing, hunt, fish and, more significantly, make moccasins and snow shoes. Travelling through the woods in the winter would be impossible without this special footwear. To ensure their survival and forge alliances with the native tribes, French traders begin to marry or live with Cree women. Many native leaders support the marriages since they ensure access to trade goods and a market for their furs. The children of these couples are known as Métis. The bilingual Métis became a nation of hunters, trappers, guides, and interpreters to the fur trade.

In the 1760s, the French posts close and competition among the fur buyers ends. The Hudson's Bay Company and its competitor, the North West Company, merge. In doing so, they create the most powerful and expansive fur trading company in the world. The company's empire grows to include almost all of modern Canada. The HBC governs over the territory until it transfers the land in 1870 to the Government of Canada. From then on, the HBC starts to evolve into its present form, the department-store chain The Bay.

Today the Hudson's Bay Company is Canada's oldest corporation and its largest department store retailer. It owns and operates four retail divisions: the Bay, Zellers, Fields, and Bay Specialty stores. In 1970, it celebrated its 300th anniversary.