English Victory
Difficulties with the English over control of land and the fur trade began in the early 1600's and continued for nearly a century and a half. The English made a major advance into Canada after the Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670 and began fur trading in the territory called Rupert's Land, which bordered on Hudson Bay. The Hudson's Bay Company soon dominated trade in this fur-rich region. Four wars between France and England in Europe—first for maritime supremacy and later for overseas possessions—extended to the colonies.
During King William's War (the North American phase of the European war called the War of the Grand Alliance), 1689–97, the main fighting between France and England took place in the English colonies, which were attacked by the French and their Indian allies. In Queen Anne's War (the War of the Spanish Succession), 1702–13, hostilities broke out between settlers in Acadia and Britain's New England colonies. During King George's War (the War of the Austrian Succession), 1744–48, French troops from Louisbourg and Quebec attacked Nova Scotia and Saratoga, New York. British forces then captured Louisbourg, but it was returned to France at the war's end.
The final struggle between the British and French for control of the North American continent was the French and Indian War, 1754–63. (The European phase was called the Seven Years' War and began in 1756.) The decisive victory in this conflict was the taking of Quebec, the administrative capital of New France. During the battle on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, British troops under General James Wolfe captured Quebec, defeating French forces under the Marquis de Montcalm. The fighting continued until Montreal surrendered in 1760. Under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which completed the British conquest of New France, the French ceded to Great Britain all of their territory in Canada except a group of islands, including St. Pierre and Miquelon, off Newfoundland. In Canada at that time, there were about 60,000 French settlers and some 500 Britons, most of the latter being fur traders working for the Hudson's Bay Company.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, set the boundaries of Quebec (roughly the Valley of the St. Lawrence River from Nova Scotia on the east to Lake Nipissing on the west); made the Island of St. John (later renamed Prince Edward Island) and Cape Breton Island part of the colony of Nova Scotia; and reserved the territory in the center of what is now Canada for the Indians. The proclamation also established a government for Quebec. Major General James Murray was appointed its first British governor.
In 1774 the British parliament passed the Quebec Act, which gave French Canadians important privileges. In order to encourage their loyalty to Britain, they were allowed to keep their own language, religion, and laws. The act also established new boundaries for the province; it was to include all the territory north to the Hudson's Bay Company lands, as well as the Indian lands southwest to the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The claiming of the Indian lands angered many colonists in the Thirteen Colonies (the colonies that were to become the United States) and was a cause of the American Revolution.
British settlers began coming to Canada in large numbers during the American Revolution. About 60,000 residents of the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Britain moved to what are now New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the southern part of Ontario. These immigrants, known as United Empire Loyalists, and their descendants exercised a strong and lasting influence on Canada. They were the first large group of British settlers in the region and were mainly responsible for the creation of what was to become Ontario.
