Fort Douglas (Manitoba)
Fort Douglas was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near present-day Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada .
Fort Douglas was built in 1812 as part of the creation of the Red River Settlement at the confluence of the Assiniboine in the Red River in the immediate vicinity of Fort Gibraltar of the competitor North West Company (NWC). The Red River Settlement was a project by HBC board member Thomas Douglas (usually called Lord Selkirk ), who wanted to settle Scottish farmers who had become landless here (see Highland Clearances ). The fort took his name from him and became the seat of the first governor of Assiniboia , Miles Macdonell .
When Macdonnell forbade any export of supplies from the Red River Settlement in 1814 ( Pemmican Proclamation ), this was an open declaration of war against the NWC, which under these circumstances could not equip a single fur trade expedition. After the first seizures of pemmican , NWC employees burned down Fort Douglas together with the Métis , their pemmican suppliers. It was rebuilt, but not renewed after it was burned down again in the conflict known as the Pemmican War in 1816.
Web links
- John Morgan Gray: Douglas, Thomas, Baron Daer and Shortcleuch, 5th Earl of Selkirk . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
Coordinates: 49 ° 54 '15 " N , 97 ° 7' 54.8" W.