 Company coat of arms | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | North American fur trade |
| Founded | 1779 |
| Founder | Benjamin Frobisher, Joseph Frobisher, Simon McTavish, Robert Grant, Nicholas Montour, Patrick Small, William Holmes, George McBeath |
| Defunct | 1821 |
| Fate | Merger |
| Successor | Hudson's Bay Company |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Lower Canada |
Area served | United States territory, New Spain, Russian America, British Canada |
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced by the British government to merge.