Hudson Bay, ‘land of fog and bog’, is the world's largest sea (637,000 sq km) within the boundaries of one country. The west shore is composed of lowlands while the east shore has steep margins. Twice-daily tides, highest on the west shore, can reach nearly 4 m at Churchill. The bay freezes in winter; ice persists until June. The boundary between the arctic and boreal climatic regions falls between York Factory and Churchill, roughly coincident with the tree line, continuous permafrost (60 m deep at Churchill), and with the 10o C summer isotherm. The tree line has moved north since the Little Ice Age ( AD 1450 – 1850 ). Cree Indians reside on James Bay and the southwest coast of Hudson Bay. Inuit occupy the west coast from 60 degrees north and the east coast north of 55 degrees. The bay and the waters draining into it were assigned by royal charter in 1670 to the Hudson's Bay Company and not relinquished until 1870 . During its first century the HBC operated posts only on the bay, notably Churchill, York Factory, Severn, Albany, and Moose Factory. At these posts, fur traders kept weather records over a longer period than anywhere else in North America (810,735 data points for York Factory and Churchill combined), and collected bird species for Linnaeus to describe in 1758 , exceeded in number only by Catesby's collections from South Carolina. William Wales observed the transit of Venus at Churchill in 1769 , helping to determine the distance from the earth to the sun. Christopher Middleton studied the effects of cold, and Dr Thomas Hutchins determined the congealing point of mercury, both efforts earning the prestigious Copley Medal. In 1929 , the Hudson Bay Railway reached Churchill, a shorter route than the Great Lakes for grain shipments to Europe. Churchill is a popular birding destination because of the juxtaposition of freshwater lakes and saltwater, boreal forest and subarctic tundra.
C. Stuart Houston
How to cite this entry:
C. Stuart Houston "Hudson Bay" The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. Ed. Gerald Hallowell. Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 23 July 2011
