THE LAND OF YESTERDAY

At the start of the 19th century, Canada with its cold climate, often rocky terrain and large empty expanses made settlement to northern and western Canada foreboding. In 1820, only a handful of people lived west of the Great Lakes who were not Métis or Native, or engaged in the fur trade.

These regions were inhabited by the Native peoples, Metis and a small group of fur Traders who opposed settlement as settlement means development and owning land and these were conflicting interests.

In the north and west the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) claimed all lands drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. The North West Company, rivals of the HBC fought for control of the southern fur trade and trade beyond the Rockies, and set up posts wherever it could.

The HBC and NWC monopolized the fur trade but were fierce competitors in the lucrative fur trade. Tensions between the companies eventually reached a point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced to merge in 1821.

To the north the rocky Canadian Shield was a barrier to agriculture and even the woodlands south of Georgian Bay were often rock-strewn, and climatically not suited for farming.

After the War of 1812, attracted by rich and relatively inexpensive farmland an influx of settlers from Europe and the United States came to Upper Canada boosting population from 76,000 in 1811 to 432,000 by 1840.

The original landscape would be heavily forested by deciduous trees and would take a typical settlement family twenty plus years to clear an area the size of a city block.

The Province of Lower Canada had a population of 330,000 in 1814. Its largely rural economy based on the seigneurial farming practices had strong economic ties with Britain and the United States.

The Maritime provinces flourished due to close economic ties with Britain and the New England states of the U.S. The Maritimes was a major shipbuilding centre.

The original inhabitants, the Native peoples were dying of diseases introduced by the new settlers and forced out of good farmland.

As a result of being invaded by the United States during the American Revolution and again during the War of 1812 many in 19th century Canada viewed the Americans as a threat. As a consequence ties to Britain were strengthened.

By virtue of being neighbours there were many ties to the United States. The Americans were an important trading partner and many early settlers members of Loyalist were Americans. After the American Revolution about 40,000 loyalists settled in Upper and Lower Canada, and the Maritimes.

The ruling class in Upper and Lower Canada were often the Loyalists, members of the gentry and former British army officers. Their desire to consolidate wealth, land ownership and power, to emulate British society and class structure and to keep American-style government out of British North America sowed the seeds for rebellion in Canada.

Discriminatory land practices which favoured the ruling class and corrupt government, set the stage for violent confrontations between the classes. In Lower Canada with a French majority ruled by the English the unfairness of the colonial governing was even more disconcerting. Eventually, rebellions broke out in both Upper and Lower Canada